To my further shock, he settles into the seat directly next to mine. I glance back at Loni, but her attention has been snagged by an older man, I’m sure a friend or acquaintance of her dad. The unfortunate reality, though, is that I have no one to speak to in order to avoid talking to Liam. With a resigned sigh, I turn back to him, knowing I can’t simply ignore his presence. He’s looking at me with a half-smile, as if he knew I’d have no choice but to talk to him.
“Hey,” I say, feeling lame and unprepared for this confrontation.
“Hey,” he replies smoothly.
“How’ve you been?”
He shrugs. “I suppose fine. How’re you? Still getting a regular dicking from Saint?”
“Jesus Christ, Liam,” I growl. I’m not going to put up with his bullshit if this is what he’s going to talk to me about all night. I move to push to my feet, but he lays a hand on my arm to keep me seated.
“Hold on, I’m joking,” he blurts out, dipping his head slightly. “Sorry. I promise, I won’t be a dick. Just, don’t go.”
I settle back in my seat and glare at him. “Fine, but if you say one more thing like that to me, I’ll get Loni’s dad to kick your ass. Got it?”
“Got it.” Lips quirking, he nods. “Look, Mallory, I owe you an apology for more than that comment. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did to you and Saint hooking up. It’s your life, and you can do whatever you want with it.”
I’m suspicious of his apology, but I murmur, “I … appreciate that.”
He nods and opens his mouth to say more, but at that moment, the crowd erupts into a roar and I can’t hear a word. I shake my head to let him know I didn’t catch anything he just said. He leans in close, so his lips are right at my ear.
“I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting into with him. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
He leans back and meets my gaze, and I can see that he really means what he’s saying. I can’t help the small smile that curls my lips, or the wave of relief that rushes through me. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to hear me over the noise of the crowd, I simply nod.
I won’t tell him, though, that I’m not certain I do know what I’m getting into with Saint, and that I’m beginning to fear that I’m not going to get out of it with my whole heart intact.
The next morning, I walk into the dining hall for breakfast, and can instantly tell that something is different. And by different, I mean very, very wrong.
As soon as I walk in the door, the glares and whispers start up. Before Saint and I were a thing, this would’ve been nothing out of the ordinary. However, after weeks of being treated with near reverence, it’s a little startling to be thrust back out into the cold with no warning.
I move through the dining hall, and the whispers grow in volume, and the glares more vicious. My brows sink together as I try to figure out what may have happened to cause the other students to turn on me again.
Loni suddenly appears in my path and hurries up to me, her eyes wide and expression tight.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, Mallory!” she gasps, reaching me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, startled.
Before Loni can get a word out, however, a vicious voice snaps from behind me.
“Hey, slut. Have any good gangbangs lately?”
Releasing a deep breath through my nostrils, I clench my fists and slowly turn to face Laurel.
“What is it now, Bipolar Betty?” I snap. She’s clearly done being anything close to decent to me.
She’s smirking and looking so superior, I swear I can see her head swelling.
“Just couldn’t keep it in your pants, could you? Saint wasn’t enough for you?”
I’m totally lost, but I tilt my chin and give her a hard look. “What are you talking about?”
Laurel digs her phone out of her pocket and pulls something up on the screen. Turning it toward me, she jostles it in my face, showing me a photo. It’s from the night before. It’s of me and Liam.
He’s leaning over and whispering in my ear.
Oh. Oh, shit.
I only have one thought, and it has nothing to do with the assholes surrounding me, talking shit behind my back. I’m used to them and their crap. No, the only concern I have right now is for Saint because I know he’s going to be so pissed when he sees this.
“Fuck off, Laurel,” I say, turning from her, effectively dismissing her. I dig out my own phone from my pocket and shoot a text to Saint.
8:23 AM: There’s a picture floating around of me and Liam. You need to let me explain before you lose it.
Laurel is saying something to me, but I ignore her. She doesn’t matter now. No one matters in that moment but him. I wait for his response, my heart hammering in my chest.
“Are you listening, bitch?” Laurel’s barks at my ear.
I flinch away from her and face her with a snarl. “I said fuck off, what don’t you get about that?”
“You’ve fucked yourself, slut,” she hisses, ignoring my words. “Saint won’t protect you now. He’ll throw you out like trash because of this, or worse.”
Like I need her to tell me that.
“Laurel, you don’t seem to be getting it, so let me make this perfectly clear. I don’t give a fuck what you have to say. Go away.” I enunciate, just to grind home the fact that I think she’s an idiot.
Laurel’s nostrils flare, and when she speaks, it’s directed straight at me, “You’re about to crash hard, you uppity bitch, and I can’t wait to watch it happen.”
“Yeah, well, even if he does dump me, there’s no way in fuck he’s going to want you. His dad wants you two together, which means Saint can’t stand you.”
It’s a low blow, knowing their complicated history, but I have no patience for her and need to lash out. I need to hurt something to make my own anxiety calm down.
Her eyes widen and her face drains of color. I’ve hit my mark with deadly precision, I can tell.
She opens her mouth and closes it several times before she manages to growl, “You truly are a clueless slut.”
I shrug because I have no fucks to give about her opinion of me. “I learned from the best, baby girl.”
Her lip trembles, and she turns from me to storm away. I watch her completely flee the dining hall, and then glance back at Loni, who’s staring at me in shock.
A heartbeat of time passes in total silence before she begins to slow clap.
“That’s the most amazing thing I think I’ve ever seen,” she says with an awed shake of her head.
I chuckle under my breath, but I can’t give my friend my full attention. Glancing down at my phone, I see that Saint still hasn’t responded, and my stomach twists with dread.
By Monday morning, I’m a bundle of nerves. I never heard from him, and he didn’t show up to my room last night. When I went to his, he didn’t answer the door, no matter how hard I knocked. I didn’t sleep a wink, and instead was tossing and turning all night as a million different scenarios ran through my head of how this could play out between us.
Very few of those scenarios ended on a positive note.