THE NEXT MORNING, TESSA is complaining about how Dad took her car keys. I roll my eyes. I mean, what did she expect? He literally caught her climbing through a window when she was supposed to be sound asleep in bed.
“I should have Easton pick me up for school. Really stick it to Dad.”
Brushing my hair, I chuckle. “As amusing as that may be to watch, I really don’t recommend it. He’ll send you away, and, while you may not care, I do. I’ve seen his search history, Tess. He’s been looking at schools.” I look myself over in the mirror and then turn to face her. “Come on. My car is back from the shop. I’ll drive you.”
Despite her obvious frustrations with the whole situation, she takes my advice and follows me outside. Throughout the ten-minute drive to Haven Grace Prep, I’m pretty sure she only stops talking to take a breath twice. The rest of the time is filled with her ranting about what an asshole our father is, and how our mother lacks a backbone because she never stands up to him. She’s not exactly wrong, but being on the bad side of the people who support us financially just doesn’t sound like a great idea to me.
“All right, I’m going across the street,” she says, as soon as I put the car in park.
“Tess,” I groan. “Can’t you lay low for at least a day? If you’re late to school again, Dad will find out and know exactly where you were.”
“He doesn’t scare me.”
It takes all the patience I have not to try to shake some sense into her. Instead, I put one hand on her shoulder. “All-girl boarding schools don’t have guys. With your overactive sex life, you’d literally have to become a lesbian.”
She cringes. “Gross. Pussy freaks me out.”
“Exactly.” I smile triumphantly. “So, will you just come inside with me?”
Pondering it for a moment, I think she’s about to agree when she shakes her head. “No, I’m going across the street. But you should come with me.”
“Absolutely not. Why would I do that?”
“To make sure I get to school on time. You can tell me when we have to go, and I promise to listen.”
I toss my keys into my purse and open the door. “No. Not happening.”
She meets me at the trunk. “Please? I just want to see him for a second.”
Her bottom lip juts out, and I hate her for pulling that move. Under no circumstances do I want to see Knox again—not after he humiliated me at the diner, only to act like less of an ass later that night. Okay, maybe I lied, and maybe I do want to see him again, but that’s exactly the problem. Out of all the lies he spews, only one is true. I don’t belong anywhere near him. Still, the thing I want least in this world is losing Tessa to boarding school.
“Okay, but only for a minute.”
“Yay!” She cheers. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Looping her arm in mine, the two of us head across the street and behind the public school. It only takes a second before I spot him—leaning up against the brick wall, looking like the pure definition of a bad boy. A cloud of smoke flows from his mouth as he laughs at something Zayn said, and I could easily find myself getting lost in that smile. Hating him would be so much easier if he wasn’t obnoxiously good looking.
“Laney.” Tess gets my attention. I’ve stopped in my tracks. “What are you doing? Let’s go.”
“R-right. Sorry.”
As soon as we’re steps away, my sister releases my arm and cuddles into her boyfriend. I roll my eyes playfully, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I don’t intend on trying to fit in here. Knox has made it crystal clear that I shouldn’t be hanging around them. I’m just giving Tessa a few minutes with Easton while making sure she gets to school on time. That’s all.
“What, no hi?” a familiar, yet cocky, voice asks.
I look up to find Knox giving me one of his smoldering looks. It’s impossible to turn away from, and I need to remind myself to breath as I try to maintain my composure.
“Hi.”
He snickers under his breath, but it’s loud enough for me to hear. “So, are you making this a new habit of yours?”
“What?”
“Tagging along with Tessa wherever she goes?”
It’s only been a couple minutes and he’s already on my nerves. “No.”
Looking me up and down once, he locks his gaze with mine. “That’s too bad.”
It takes everything I have not to react as a feeling I’m not used to flutters inside my stomach. Letting myself be even the slightest bit swayed by him is a bad idea, yet I’m pulled in two different directions. One part of me wants to stay as far away as I can. Forget his name and act like he doesn’t exist. Another, however, craves his presence like a drug. It wants to spend every waking moment learning all there is to know about him. His happy memories. His every insecurity. His favorite things. I want it all.
“Well, maybe if you weren’t such a jerk all the time, I could stand to be around you.”
He places his hand on his chest and feigns hurt. “Ouch. You wound me.”
The sarcasm drips from his lips like a poison, taunting and threatening to cause damage if I let it. His goal is to pull me down to his level, and I’m up too high to fall that far.
“Knox, can’t you be nice for once in your life?” Tess questions, attempting to come to my defense.
He chuckles. “What would be the fun in that? Besides, if Little Laney can’t handle it, she should stay away—like I told her to Friday night.”
“Go fuck yourself,” I snap, fury building over at the fact that he thinks he has any say over what I do.
His brows raise. “Damn Bambi, those are some harsh words. Where’d you learn those?”
It’s too much. No matter how calm I try to stay, he weasels his way under my skin and nips at every nerve I have. It’s been all of five minutes, and he already has me ready to explode.
“Tess, don’t be late for school. I’ll meet you there.”
With that, I turn around and walk away, in an attempt to leave the anger and rage behind me. Knox is an asshole. The worst of the worst. He knows how to get a rise out of me, and he feeds on that. I’ve always tried to make it a point to be kind to others, but with him, it’s like I just want to punch his gorgeous face.
I’m halfway back to HGP when a hand wraps around my wrist. Judging by the way my skin burns at the contact, I don’t even have to look to know who it is. What I don’t expect, however, is to see the vulnerable look in Knox’s eyes as I turn around.
“What do you want?”
He sighs and releases me. “I’m sorry, okay? I thought we were playing around.”
I shake my head. “You weren’t. You’ve been treating me like a pariah since the second we met, telling me to go away and that I shouldn’t be anywhere near you or your friends.”
“Well, you shouldn’t.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, I go to walk away again but he stops me. “I’m not saying it as a bad thing. You have your life together. You deserve more than to get wrapped up in our shit.”
“Isn’t that for me to decide?”
He shrugs. “If I thought you’d make the right choice, sure. But I see that look in your eyes, the way fire mixes with fear, and I don’t think you’d choose correctly.”