“Are you seriously going to let her talk about me like that?” Kinsley shrieks.
Everyone at the table, sans me and Savannah, are struggling to hold in their laughter—making it very hard to keep my composure. Still, I turn my attention to her.
“You really want a knight in shining armor to come to your defense? I thought you were stronger than that.”
Savannah chuckles and levels her with a look. “She wouldn’t dare.”
Kinsley opens and closes her mouth before getting up and flouncing out of the room. The second she’s gone, the whole table breaks out in hysterics. Carter looks like he’s about to piss himself, and Wyatt’s face is bright red as he clutches his stomach and tries to breathe. In complete curiosity, I focus on Savannah.
“What do you have on her, anyway?”
She’s back to writing in her notebook, but she mumbles a response. “What do you mean?”
“There has to be some reason she’s afraid of you, or at least a reason you hate her so much.”
Shrugging, she packs up her things and gets up from the table. “Psychotic bitches just aren’t my forte.”
Leaving that as her explanation, she leaves the cafeteria. My eyes stay glued to her until she’s out of sight, and I’d be lying if I said a part of me didn’t want to go with her.
“Bro, you’re so fucked,” Jace comments.
“Huh?”
He shakes his head. “She has a boyfriend, and even if she didn’t, you don’t have a chance in hell.”
I roll my eyes. “Like I’ve told you before, stuck-up bitches aren’t my thing.”
“And yet you flirt with Kinsley.”
Little do they know, every single thing I’ve done since I got to this place was to get a reaction out of Savannah. Still, I don’t know where their loyalties lie. I may be their teammate, but they’ve known her for years.
A devious smirk appears as I chuckle. “What can I say? A mouth is a mouth.”
I SIT ON THE window sill, smoking a cigarette and watching as the rain pours down outside. I should be at practice right now, but it was canceled on account of the weather. The house has been empty since I got here. God only knows where my mother is—probably out with Justin. I have half a mind to just kill him and claim self-defense. With his record, I’m sure I’d get away with it, and then I wouldn’t have to worry about him showing up here anymore.
A car pulls into the driveway of the house across the street—Savannah’s old house—and for the first time, I get a glance at the person who lives there now. She’s a young woman, probably early thirties. Judging by the stickers on the back of her car, she has a husband, two young kids, and a dog. I wonder if she knows the things that have happened in that house. The kind of secrets it holds.
I knock on the door, anxious to show Savi the new walkie-talkies my dad bought me. After a couple seconds, I get impatient and go to knock again when it opens. Savannah’s dad smiles down at me.
“Hey, Grayson.”
“Hi, Mr. Montgomery. Is Savi here?”
He nods and opens the door wider to let me in. “She’s in her room. Go on up, and I’ll make you two a snack.”
I run up the stairs and into Savannah’s bedroom, only to find her sitting on the bed with tears in her eyes. Dropping the walkie-talkies to the ground, I climb up and sit beside her. I tuck my hand into my sweatshirt sleeve and use it to wipe the tears from her face.
“What happened?”
She sniffles. “A boy in school called me ugly.”
I don’t know who this boy is, or why he had the nerve to call the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen ugly, but I already want to punch him in the face. This is why I wanted us to be in the same class, so I could be there to protect her from things like this. But our parents insisted we have at least some distance from each other. Stupid parents.
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
A small smile graces her face. “My dad said boys who pick on you do it because they like you.”
If I wasn’t mad before, I am now. The idea of Savi spending time with any boy but me makes me want to lock her in my treehouse and never let her out. Catching me off guard, she looks up at me through watery eyes.
“Do you make fun of any girls in your class?”
I shake my head and watch as relief washes over her. She looks away and rests her head on my shoulder. “Good.”
“Yeah…good.”
I knew then that there was something more to her than just my best friend, and I made it a point to find out who made her cry. He wasn’t hard to find on the playground. It was fun to watch him go and apologize to Savannah. Even at eight years old, I was so protective of her.
How do you fight feelings that are basically wired into your brain? That girl has more control over me than I’ve ever been willing to give anyone, and it’s only a matter of time before she figures that out. From the desire to have her attention on me at all times, to the way I’ve almost given in to temptation—if I don’t get a grip, I’m screwed.
I’ve already let my guard down around Savannah once. There’s no way I can do that again. I damn near didn’t make it through the first time she wreaked havoc on my life. She’ll never get the opportunity to hurt me like that a second time. I won’t allow it.
Taking out my phone, I scroll down to the one contact I need to stop myself from continuing down memory lane. It only rings twice before a giggly voice comes through.
“Hey, you,” Kinsley greets.
“What are you up to right now?”
I can practically hear her grin. “Oh, you know. Just hanging out in my room—alone.”
“Good,” I murmur, putting my shoes on. “Send me the address. I’ll be right over.”
KINSLEY STANDS IN FRONT of me, wearing nothing but a T-shirt and panties. I growl as I push into the house and kick the door shut behind me. Within seconds, she’s all over me. My lips press into her neck, trying to ignore the fact that her skin just isn’t as soft as Savannah’s. That she doesn’t smell like Savannah. That she doesn’t turn me on just by existing. No, this is to forget her.
Grabbing my hand, she leads me up and into her bedroom. The pink walls and white decor remind me of an innocent little girl. Do her parents know she’s hardly the princess this room seems to describe? I wonder how many other guys have bent her over that bed.
“You have no idea how bad I’ve wanted this,” she tells me as she steps further into the room.
“Oh yeah? Why don’t you show me?”
She comes closer, grabbing onto my waistband and undoing the button and zipper. Her hand slips into my boxers and wraps around my cock. I kiss her roughly, letting my tongue tangle with hers in order to get myself to harden, but it’s no use. She’s not…
At the mere thought of Savannah, my dick comes to life. The thought of her doing this to me, being able to touch her like this—within seconds, I’m rock hard. I keep my eyes closed as Kinsley pulls my pants and boxers down to free me. She drops to her knees and takes me into her mouth. This may have started out as a way to forget, but instead, all I can picture is her.