I glare up at him, frustrated and angry and trying to figure out how I can get rid of him quickly. “That’s easy. I don’t want to talk to you,” I answer sharply, pushing out of his hold. “I figured the total silence on my part would’ve made that clear, but I guess I need to spell it out for you. Leave me the fuck alone.”
I step around him and frantically gaze around. My eyes land on a black Dodge Charger parked next to the sidewalk just a little ways down the street. I see Ghost sitting in the driver’s seat, a bored look on his face as he crooks a finger at me.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” Saint’s voice is an icy hiss in my ear.
I whirl back around to face him, gaping up at him as I struggle to think of something to say. His face is tight, his eyes are flashing, and his cheeks are flushed.
And the sadist in me abso-fucking-lutely loves seeing him like this.
“I feel like I’ve been saying this to you a lot lately,” I say. “But it’s none of your business.”
“Sonofabitch, Mallory. Are you fucking serious?” he demands. “You’re going out with that piece of shit?”
Better he thinks that I’m screwing Ghost than know the truth. The last thing I need is Saint doing something stupid to try and stop me from meeting up with Jenn. He can’t do anything to keep me from going on a date, though. And if he tries, I’ll shove my phone down his throat.
“Saint, I don’t have time for your games tonight.” I hold up my hand to stop him when he takes a step closer. “I suggest you go back to Rosalind and get your dick sucked there. I’m not interested anymore.”
I swing around to leave, but he grabs my arm and stops me.
“Mal, don’t.”
I freeze, but not because of his words. It’s because of how he says them. There’s a desperate tinge to his voice, almost as if he’s pleading with me. Bewildered, I stare back at him with eyes wide and lips parted.
“Saint…”
He pulls me closer, and I let him. “Don’t. Not with him.”
A part of me wants to stay. Wants to revel in his scent, still warm and intense. That part of me wants to let go of my anger and fall back into his arms like a fool. To go back to how things used to be—before he stood up in that auditorium and sliced me open with his cruel indifference and betrayal.
To my relief, that thought alone is enough to jolt me from my daze and launch me right back into reality where Saint remains a hateful bastard.
“No,” I mutter with a firm shake of my head. “You fucked up, so now you can fuck off.”
Yanking my arm from him, I give him my back and stagger toward Ghost’s car. Saint doesn’t try to stop me again. He doesn’t say a word as I open the passenger door and climb inside. I look back at him for a moment, and he’s still standing where I left him, gazing at me like he’s lost. Then, his expression morphs to anger, and he stabs his fingers through his hair.
“Your bitch ass boyfriend looks pissed,” Ghost chuckles as he pulls the car from the curb and speeds off down the street the moment I’m settled.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I say, peering out the window at Saint as we pass him by. He meets my gaze, but I quickly avert my attention. Soon enough, he’s out of sight and I relax somewhat and buckle my seatbelt.
Now that I’m not distracted by Angelview’s resident sociopath, though, I’m painfully aware that I’m in a car with a stranger. If Ghost is associated with Jenn, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s a criminal. Suddenly, I’m not so relaxed. My shoulders are stiff, and I don’t know what to say, or if I should even say anything. I seal my lips into a tight line and clasp my hands in my lap.
What if Ghost doesn’t know my mom at all? Or what if he does, but he coerced her into writing that note? What if he’s taking me somewhere to murder me, or he’s a trafficker?
Why didn’t I consider all these possibilities before I got into his fucking car?
Because I’m an idiot who makes stupid decisions like throwing an apple at the most powerful boy in school and making enemies of predatory football players. It’s amazing I’m not dead already.
We drive for what feels like hours but is in reality only about twenty minutes. It’s the most unpleasant twenty minutes I’ve ever spent in a car, even counting that teeth-clenching ride with Laurel and Gabe at the beginning of the school year. We end up in downtown LA, and it’s a relief when Ghost stops outside of a sleazy bar that looks like a good place to get stabbed in or pick up a raging case of crabs in the bathroom.
“We’re here,” he says simply, turning off the Charger and opening his door to step out into the street.
No surprise, he doesn’t offer to get my door for me.
I hurry to follow after him. He leads me up to the bar entrance, where a burly bouncer is standing guard. The two appear to know each other, as the bouncer greets Ghost with a fist bump before he nods down to me.
“Who’s the bitch?” He eyes me up and down, and I’m sure he can tell I’m underage. What was Ghost thinking, bringing me here? I’m not going to get into this place.
“New girl,” Ghost says in a pointed voice, his grin suggestive. “The boys are expecting her.”
The bouncer nods, as if that makes complete sense. I jab my tongue in my cheek, 99.9 percent sure that Ghost basically just told him I’m here to get gangbanged by his friends.
What the fuck have I gotten myself into?
After a moment, the bouncer steps aside to allow Ghost and me through. I avoid his knowing stare as I pass, embarrassed of what he’s probably thinking of me and more than a little terrified that maybe that’s exactly what Ghost has brought me here for.
The interior of the bar is lowly lit and crowded with people as rough and dangerous looking as Ghost. He doesn’t look back at me as we wind our through the crush of bodies. I’m not even sure he cares if I’m behind him or not, and I get more and more annoyed the further in we go.
At last, we reach a wall of booths and he comes to a stop.
Turning to me, he says, “Wait here.”
“Wait here?” I snap, gazing around. “What am I waiting here for?”
“Jenn,” he answers.
When he moves as if to leave me, I hurriedly ask, “Hold on, are you just going to abandon me here?”
He shrugs, and I know that’s exactly what he planned on doing. “I ain’t your fucking babysitter.”
I begin to panic because he can’t just leave me. I’ll be like a sheep left to the slaughter in this place. “I have a question for you, Ghost,” I start, frustration and anger mixing with my fear in a toxic combination. “Are you Jenn’s bitch, or is she yours?”
That gets a reaction out of him. His brow furrows and his eyes flash with irritation.
“I don’t take orders from no skinny ass crackwhore or her bitch daughter,” he growls before he storms off.
Shit. Me and my big mouth. He’s gone, and now he probably won’t come back. How the hell am I supposed to get back to the school?
I figure I have no other choice but to wait and pray Jenn shows up like she’s supposed to. Moving to one of the booths, I slide onto the cracked vinyl seat and try to make myself invisible so that no one approaches me. I’m scared shitless and can’t stop thinking about how the hell I’m going to get back to Angelview if Jenn bails on me since there’s only fifty or sixty bucks in my bank account.