I threw punch after punch, my knuckles burning with the impact. He brought his hands up, wrapping one of his fists inside the other and hammering down into my stomach.
I lost my breath, and he took the short reprieve to draw a switchblade out of his jeans and sliced me across the bicep.
Goddammit!
I whipped my body back, leaning away.
The hot sting of the cut quickly spread, and my arm turned cold. I realized it was the blood hitting the night air, cooling my skin.
But the rest of me was hot as fuck, my blood pumping so hard. I grappled for my helmet on the ground and slammed him over the top of the forehead with it.
Hard.
His knife fell to the ground, and he covered his bleeding hairline with shaky hands.
Damn coward.
I liked fighting, and I liked trouble, but pulling a f**king knife?
That made me want to damage more than just his window.
Standing up and gripping my arm to stop the blood flow, I carried the helmet over to his piece of shit Honda and smashed his windshield until it was so splintered that it looked like it was crusted in a winter’s worth of frost.
I walked back, tasting the blood in my mouth and hovering over the piece of shit on the ground. “You’re not welcome at the Loop anymore.” I meant for my voice to come off strong, but my breathing was still ragged.
And the damn blood from the cut was dripping off of my fingertips now. I probably needed stitches.
Madoc had already dumped the first guy, bloodied and unconscious, over by the car and was now stepping over to get the other one off my lawn.
“Jared.” I heard him say, almost a whisper.
I turned my eyes to him, but then saw he was concentrated on something else. Following his gaze toward the Brandt’s yard, I stopped breathing.
Fucking. Hell.
Tate was standing there, on the walkway leading up to her porch.
Just standing there and staring at us. A little scared, a little confused, and in her goddamn, f**king underwear!
What the hell?
Madoc was here. Two other guys—although unconscious—were here.
My blood boiled and heat immediately rushed to my pants.
I hardened my jaw and breathed hard.
She wore a tight, black band T-shirt and some of those cotton boy short underwear. Red ones. Fucking red.
She was covered, but just barely.
It didn’t matter, though. You could still make out everything, and she was perfect. My heart was jackhammering so hard and fast at her skimpy attire that I just wanted to peel everything off of her and sink my hands into her body here and now.
Was she trying to kill me?
Get in the f**king house, Tate! Jesus.
Then my eyes fell to the gun in her right hand.
A gun?
No.
I narrowed my eyes, forgetting her legs and her beautiful hair spilling around her.
She wasn’t helping us. She wouldn’t do that.
She was waiting for the cops or something.
Tate didn’t give a shit, and she was just sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.
But then I blinked.
If she’d called the cops, I doubted she’d be walking around in her panties, carrying a gun.
Why the hell would she help us?
Maybe she didn’t stalk out here in her underwear to taunt me. Maybe she was just in that much of a hurry.
But before I could even sift through my thoughts, she quirked an annoyed eyebrow and stomped back up her front porch and through the door to her house, giving me a great view of her ass.
Madoc laughed, and I shoved him in the shoulder before stalking off towards my house.
I had a hard-on and a bloody arm, and I wasn’t sure what I needed first: stitches or a cold shower.
Madoc had threatened to call the cops, so Ryland and his friend sped away—broken windshield and all—while I woke up my mother.
I hated waking her—hated stressing her—but I was still technically a minor on her health insurance, so I needed her at the hospital. Madoc went home to nurse his bloody nose, and it took ten stitches and my mother bitching at me for two hours before I was able to make it to bed, too. By the time I woke up three hours later, I was in more knots than before I slept.
Tate with a f**king gun.
What the hell was her game?
Grabbing my phone off its charger, I shook off the voice in my head that told me to slow down.
Need my help today? I texted K.C.
It only took her a second to respond. Help?
Liam, I shot back. Let’s make him jealous.
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, waiting for her answer.
I heard Tate’s Bronco start up next door, and I checked the clock to see that it was still early.
The lab.
I’d seen Tate coming out of the chemistry lab in the mornings and some afternoons. She was probably competing in the Science Fair in the spring and needed research done. It would look good on her college applications.
She was probably getting ready to apply to Columbia next year. New York was always where she always wanted to go.
K.C. didn’t text back, so I dropped the phone on the bed and went to the shower.
My arm was wrapped tight, but I still needed to get clean.
After my shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist and stopped short at the bathroom mirror, glimpsing my tattoos. I couldn’t help but smile, remembering how my mother had yelled at me the night before.
Fighting! she screamed. Getting arrested! And tattoos without my permission! she’d said as if that was the worst one of all.
I’d only laughed under my breath and laid my head back in the car, trying to sleep as she drove us home from the hospital.
I loved the tats, and I was going to get more. I wanted the scars on my back—the ones my father gave me—covered.
Walking back into my room, I dried my hair and noticed that I had another text.
What’s in it for u? K.C. asked.
Well, I couldn’t tell her the truth.
Fun.
I don’t know, she texted. Tate’s already mad at me.
Tate won’t know, I lied and threw the phone on the bed to go get dressed.
Chapter 16
“Do you want to come over tonight?” I rested my forearm on the wall above K.C.’s head and leaned into her, almost touching.
Her breath caught as I trailed my fingers on the sliver of skin peeking out between her shorts and shirt. “What are we going to do?” she played along, looking absolutely turned-on and helpless.
Her idiot ex-boyfriend was in the cafeteria, and we were outside the double doors, hot in each other’s space.
Her back was against the wall, but he could see her, and he could definitely see me.
I just wished Tate could see this, too.
My lips hovered just a hair away from hers as I ran my hand around her back, about to dive in for the kill. “We could play Monopoly,” I suggested, pressing my body into hers. “Or the Wii.”
Her eyes got wide, and her lips tightened, trying to hold back a laugh. While we looked like we were about to get it on, our conversation didn’t deliver.
“I don’t know,” she moaned. “I’m not very good at Wii.”
“It’s not that hard.” My whisper fanned over her lips. “Watch.”
And I pulled her into me, kissing her long and slow.
Her slender frame molded into mine, and she tilted her head to the side as I trailed a line to her ear.
She was easy in my hands. Small, soft, bending when I pulled…she knew what to do.
K.C. definitely wasn’t innocent. I could feel that.
But she was an easy target right now, and I didn’t go for that.
And… I definitely felt like I’d lost my heartbeat somewhere in the middle of making out with her.
Jesus.
My lips and hands went through the motions. Kiss, kiss, bite, squeeze…and nothing f**king happened.
What the hell?
I knew I wasn’t interested in her, but damn! I should feel some kind of jolt. Some kind of reaction. She had tits, after all.
But no. Nothing. I was dead. I was doing my Literature homework. I was playing golf.
I hate golf.
And that’s when I pinched my eyebrows together, still kissing her and realizing that I hadn’t pursued any girls in a couple of weeks.
The second bell rang. K.C. jumped, and I leaned back, still held hostage by the fact that the only time I’d gotten a hard-on lately was around Tate.
Christ.
I backed off K.C. and tipped my chin at her. “Text if you want to come over later. Liam will hear about it.” And Tate will see you, I thought to myself. “You don’t want him thinking you were sitting at home alone all night, do you?”
I knew that would push her.
But before she had a chance to answer, I slapped her on the ass, knowing Liam would see.
K.C. just smiled, her eyes wide with shock before she turned and ran to class.
I let out a sigh, watching her disappear down the hall.
I wasn’t going to class. I had a meeting with the f**king counselor this morning. College-talk time.
No, actually that was last year. Now, since I hadn’t made any plans, it was the make-a-decision-or-make-your-own-bed-and-lay-in-it talk.
“Hey, man.” Madoc came through the cafeteria doors before I’d even moved. “Was that K.C. that ran off? You haven’t tapped that yet?” He fastened the cap on his Gatorade.
I turned, knowing he’d walk with me. “Who’s saying I haven’t?”
“Uh, because you’ve never been seen with a girl after you’ve f**ked her. I doubt you even wait until the condom is off before forgetting their names.”
I halted in front of the staircase I needed to take. Was he serious? A judging tone, from him? “And you do?” I asked, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
Madoc had probably scored more tail than I had.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.” He shrugged it off. “I’m just saying, you never had to work this hard to get a girl into bed.”
Madoc looked at me expectantly through his bruised eyelids.
“I’m in no hurry. I might want to play around with this one for a while.” I couldn’t tell Madoc the truth.
I never told anyone anything.
“Tate’s going to be pissed,” he pointed out, like I hadn’t thought of that.
“The whole point.”
Madoc nodded. “Oh…so that’s the plan.”
Well, what the hell did he think I was doing? Actually dating K.C.?
Enough. “Thanks again for backing me up last night.” I changed the subject and turned to climb the stairs.
But Madoc spoke up again. “This thing?” he started, and I stopped. “With Tate? Why do we do it? I know I’ve asked before, but you don’t tell me shit. I just don’t get it.”
Jesus Christ.
I turned back around to face him, done talking about this.
He’d asked lots of times before, and each time I’d targeted that girl it was for a different reason.
I liked playing games.
I wanted control.
I was protecting her.
I never had an answer that satisfied me, let alone worth repeating. In my head, it always seemed reasonable, but saying it out loud sounded crazy.
But while Madoc was curious, he was also game. Anytime I wanted help spreading a rumor or messing with Tate over the years, he’d always stepped up. At my request and of his own volition.
The party a year ago where he threw her keys into the pool, and she’d broken his nose.