I swallow down the curse that wants to explode from me when I see the tears filling her eyes.
“He was here?”
She nods.
“Did he hurt you?”
“Not physically.”
“Hurting you in any way isn’t going to work with me, Poppy. How long has it been this bad?”
She shrugs and it pisses me off that she can try to brush this under the carpet like it’s nothing.
“He’s just a stupid boy, playing stupid games.”
“You really believe that?”
“What did he do at the mall?” I try again, still desperate to know the truth.
“Enough,” she barks, her eyes narrowing at me, a little of her normal fire returning. “This isn’t your fight.”
“It shouldn’t be yours either. Why haven’t you told anyone about this?”
“Why bother? What are they going to do about it?”
“What about your parents?”
“Pfft.” She rolls her eyes and it’s like she’s thrown fuel over the fire that’s crackling away in my belly.
“This is bullshit. He’s not going to get away with this.”
“No, Zayn. You need to stay out of it. This is my battle, not yours.”
Her small fists grip on to my shirt and pull me closer.
“Please, Zayn. Don’t do this. Don’t get involved.”
Our noses are only a breath apart, her scent fills my senses and her heat burns my skin.
“Poppy,” I groan. “I can’t help it.” I have no idea what exactly I’m admitting to, but it doesn’t really matter because the second my lips brush hers, all thoughts fall from my head.
Her muscles lock up for a beat and I start to think that she’s going to push me away, but instead of doing that she releases my shirt, and she slides her palms around my back and drags me closer until the length of my body is crushing hers against the wall.
My fingers tangle in her hair, allowing me to tilt her head to the side to deepen the kiss.
Her tongue meets mine, her kiss as desperate as mine.
With my hand gripping her waist, I pour everything I’m feeling into the kiss. The anger that she’s being treated this way, my frustration that she won’t just tell me the truth, my need to do something about it, to make it go away, to make her life easier.
“Zayn,” she mumbles against my lips as her hands flatten against my stomach to create some space between us.
“Stop fighting it, Pops.”
“I’m not fighting anything. We can’t do this.”
“You’re the only one who thinks that way.”
I press myself harder against her ensuring that she feels exactly what she does to me with just her kiss.
My lips trail down her jaw.
“I’m not sure your sister or my cousin would see it that way.”
“Fuck them. This isn’t about them.”
She shudders as I suck on the sensitive skin beneath her ear.
“No, Zayn. Stop.”
Her words are like an ice-cold bucket of water poured over me, and I immediately step back.
Her brows draw together as if she’s confused by me doing as she said but she soon recovers.
“You need to go.”
“Why is it so hard for you to let me help you?”
“Because I don’t need it.”
“Okay, so… tell me what he was doing here. What did he say to you?”
“The usual shit.”
“Fucking hell, Poppy.” I lift my hands to my head in frustration and tilt my face to the ceiling. “Do you really need to make it so hard?”
She doesn’t respond.
“If you don’t start talking, I’ll just assume the worst. I’ll be forced to think that when he accosted you yesterday that it was so he could put his hands on you. Is that what he did?” A thought hits me and my stomach turns over. “Did he? Did he touch you? Is that why you let me last night?”
The small amount of color that was in her face drains away.
“I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Zayn, no. It’s nothing like that.”
“You’re fucking lying. Just tell me the truth.”
“Keep your nose out of it.”
“No,” I seethe, closing the space between us once more. My eyes boring into hers and begging for her to confess while hers pleads with me to stop.
“I don’t need you or anyone else fighting my battles for me. Preston is a douchebag, we all know that, but I can handle him.”
“But—”
“No, Zayn. There are no buts here. Leave it the hell alone.”
“I can’t promise you that.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
My brows rise as I stare at her.
“Fuck this, Poppy. I’m not going to stand by while that prick treats you like you’re worth nothing.”
Stepping away from her, I storm toward the door before ripping it open.
“But what if I am?” Her voice is so broken that I almost step back inside and close the door, but I know I can’t. She doesn’t want me here.
“If you think that, then you’ve already let him win.”
The door clicks closed behind me as I walk away from her. Regret sits heavy in my stomach but it’s not as insistent as my need to go and find Preston and show him what I really think of him.
Anger surrounds me like a dark cloud as I make my way through the school. Kids litter the hallways, but one look at me and they pale slightly.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Jake asks when I pass him where he’s got Amalie backed up against her locker. It’s not unlike the move I just played on his cousin.
Something stirs within me, but I push it down.
“Nothing,” I bark, successfully proving that there is something wrong.
I crack my knuckles, my need to hurt someone starting to get the better of me.
“Coach has fucked off somewhere. The gym is empty if you need to…” He trails off, his eyes dropping to my hands.
Without saying another word, I blow down the hallway and toward the locker room.
There are a few kids getting dressed, ready for next period but none of them are brave enough to stop me as I make a beeline for the gym, or more specifically, the punching bag that’s waiting for me.
The second I see the red leather, I launch myself at it as if it’s Preston himself.
My roar of anger fills the empty space around me as I plow my fists into the leather, wishing that it was his face.
11
Poppy
I might be almost at the end of my last class of the day, but my head is still back in that practice room at lunch. The last person I expected to stumble across when I walked inside with the intention of hiding for an hour was Preston.
And it wasn’t just Preston, because he had Annie, a JV cheerleader, pressed up against the wall and was grinding into her like it was what she needed to keep her alive.
I went to leave, not wanting to ever see that, but the second he saw me, a sinister smile curled at his lips and he demanded that I stay and watch.
I should have walked straight back out, but his increasingly scary behavior meant that I couldn’t help believing that his threats are more than just words these days.