“It’s not funny, Gray! I could have gotten really hurt!” I sit in the corner and cross my arms, pouting.
He looks over at me and smiles. My heart rate quickens at the sight of it, something that’s been happening more and more often lately. Just like that, I can’t possibly be angry at him anymore. Not when he’s smiling at me like I’m his favorite person. Still, I do my best to act upset.
“Oh, come on. I had to after the way you scared Delaney. I could hear her squeal from here.” He gets up and comes over to sit next to me, poking me in the cheek when I refuse to look at him. “Savi.” Poke. “Savi.” Poke. “Savi.”
This time when he goes to poke me, I slap his hand away. “Stop. I’m mad at you.”
He sighs and wraps his arms around me, pulling me into him. I try my best to control my breathing, but with him this close, I don’t stand a chance. Instead, I lean my head against him, and the tension leaves my body.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.
“You’re still a jerk.”
I can feel him relax, realizing he’s already forgiven. “I know.”
But that’s the thing about being best friends; we can never stay mad at each other for long.
EACH CLASS PASSES, AND I’m yet to get a second glance from Grayson, let alone get to talk to him. I can’t figure out whether he doesn’t remember me, or he doesn’t want to remember me. Even when we’re all in a group conversation, he keeps to himself and messes with his phone, not even looking up when someone says his name. If I didn’t recognize him, I’d think he just coincidentally has the same name as the boy who stole my heart all those years ago.
At the end of the day, I’m packing up my stuff when Carter and the others saunter off down the hall. I say goodbye, still distracted by making sure I have everything I need. The second day of school means homework starts, and I don’t have the luxury of slacking, unlike some of the people here. Just as I close my locker, I turn around to see Grayson leaning against his. His eyes bore into mine, but not in the way I imagined so many times over the years.
It’s clear he has no intention of saying anything to me, so I start to walk away. However, at the last second, I realize that I can’t let this fester. I need to know what’s going on. I stop and twist back.
“Do you really not remember me?” All the strength in the world wouldn’t be enough to mask the pain in my voice.
He shoves his phone into his pocket and steps toward me. “Oh, I remember you, Sweet Savi.” The nickname is spit from his mouth like venom, making my insides churn.
“Y-you do?”
“Of course I do. I remember every last thing about you.” He invades my space, pushing his body up against mine and placing his lips next to my ear. “But trust me when I say you’re going to wish I didn’t.”
4
Grayson
I push past Savannah, mentally pleading for her not to come after me. Seeing her again has threatened to knock me off my axis. She’s just as gorgeous as I remember, and that could be nothing but detrimental to my plans.
A part of me had hoped that she was just as unhappy as I have been. That her life was irrevocably changed by her actions, the way mine was. It may not have made up for the pain she caused, but it would have helped. However, when I heard Jace say that she wasn’t at practice last week because her father took her on vacation to Bora Bora, I could hardly contain the anger inside of me.
“Yo, Hayworth!” Carter shouts as I step outside.
I pull the pack of cigarettes from my pocket and put one in my mouth, lighting it as soon as I sit on the ledge. Kinsley scowls, making her distaste for my choices obvious.
“Smoking is bad for you, Grayson.”
I snort and blow the smoke right into her face. “Do I look like I give a fuck?”
Carter pats my shoulder as Jace laughs. “As long as you can play like you have been, I don’t give a shit what you do.”
A few minutes later, the door opens, and Savannah comes walking through it. She doesn’t even acknowledge us, or me for that matter, as she walks down the stairs and straight to a black Cadillac Escalade.
“Who’s that?” I question, nodding toward the car.
Kinsley turns around to see what I’m referring to and then rolls her eyes. “That’s Brady.”
Brady. I heard Carter say the name earlier, but I was too furious to even process the importance. It sounds familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Even with all the research I’ve done on Savannah, I don’t remember anything about him.
“Is he her boyfriend or something?”
Jace raises his eyebrows. “Why? You interested?”
An involuntary grunt leaves my mouth. “Nah. Stuck-up bitches aren’t really my thing.”
I level Kinsley with a look, hoping she gets the message. Emma narrows her eyes at me while Paige and Becca can’t seem to contain their amusement.
“Yeah, it’s her boyfriend,” Paige finally tells me. “She doesn’t really talk about him though. She’s protective of their relationship.”
I mull that over. There was a time where she was protective of our relationship too, before she went and fucked me over like it was the easiest thing in the world. I breathe in the nicotine, hoping for it to calm me down before I take my anger out on some undeserving fool. It’s important I save my wrath for the only one who truly deserves it. I want her to rue the day she turned her back on me.
I WALK IN THE front door, hearing the sound of my mom giggling in the kitchen. As soon as I enter the room, every bit of patience I built up on the drive home vanishes.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” I growl, referring to my mother’s shithead ex-boyfriend.
My mom frowns. “Grayson, be nice. Justin drove all the way from Campton to see us. The least you could do is be respectful.”
“Yeah, Grayson,” Justin taunts. “Show a little respect.”
I take a step forward, clenching my fist tightly. “Shut the fuck up, prick. You don’t get to speak to me after what you did to her.”
“Grayson Matthew!”
Turning my murderous stare from Justin to my mother, I shove my finger in his direction. “He doesn’t belong here. I want him gone, and you should, too.”
I don’t give her a second to answer before I storm out of the room and up the stairs. How dare she let him come here after the night I had to pry him off of her. He had been staying with us for a bit—which essentially was the PG way of telling your son that your boyfriend is moving in—when he came home wasted off his ass one night. My mom started yelling at him, pissed that he smelled like some other bitch’s perfume.
I had gone into my room until I heard a bang over my headphones—making the whole wall vibrate. I ran out to find him on top of her, with his hands around her neck as she was clawing at his arms. In a split-second decision, I charged at him full force. It knocked him over and freed my mom from his grasp, but that didn’t stop me. I pummeled my fist into his face so many times I lost track of when he went unconscious.
The cops came and arrested him that night, and my mother was granted a restraining order. He was sentenced to a year in prison, but judging by the fact that it’s only nine months later and he’s out, I’m assuming he’s on parole. The fucker is lucky I didn’t kill him that night. Had my mom not screamed at me to stop, I probably would have.