I sit in the cafeteria, ignoring the sharp glares from Cora. At least, I think it’s Cora. She’s a little too far away to see the finer details of her face. It's only been a little over a week since they’ve been home but I’m starting to tell the slight differences between them. For example, Cora is the ring leader. She’s the first to glare and the first to bite. Casey just goes along for the ride and to be perfectly honest, I think she’s starting to get bored of the whole ‘takedown Ocean’ plotline that they’ve got going on. Either that or she’s found someone else to keep her mind busy.
Hendrix laughs beside me as Jess continues to sulk. She’s been sulking all day and from what I can gather, things didn't go so well when she tried to push a relationship on Milo. The poor girl, falling for Milo wouldn’t be hard. He's so freakin’ sweet and adorable. She probably thought that she’d found the one. Though, that reminds me that I should probably give him a call to discuss this after school. I’ve sent a few texts demanding answers but he’s suspiciously ignoring them, and a guy like Milo is never far from his phone.
Hendrix turns to me, more than ready to have the word vomit come pouring out of her mouth with her thoughts on the bitch twins when the cafeteria doors slam open, making the whole student body turn to face the extremely scary looking dude with loud, shocked, and terrified gasps.
My eyes bug out of my head.
Oh, no.
Fucking Nic. What the hell does he think he’s doing?
His eyes scan over the girls and for a brief moment, I consider hiding behind them, not ready to face this bullshit.
Some of the girls look with interest, more than willing to jump on the daddy issues train. Others look around for the closest exit, terrified of the massive black widow spider tattoo that creeps around the side of his neck. I fucking love that tat. I was there when he got it done and thought it was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, hell, it still kinda is. His whole body is covered from head to toe, he’s literally a work of art. Add in the few piercings and the red bandana, he looks like someone who should be locked behind bars.
I scoff to myself. Considering he's in the heart of a high school with a gun tucked in the back of his jeans, prison is exactly where he belongs. What the hell does he think he’s even doing in here? If he wanted to see me so bad, he could have waited until after school. Common sense, right? Though, I never claimed that Dominic Garcia had any.
I wonder if these girls even know who he is. The tattoo kinda gives it away, but that would just lead them toward the Widows, they’d have no idea that this scary-ass mother fucker is the leader of one the most feared gangs in the country. They’d have absolutely no idea that this guy standing in their cafeteria, looking so deliciously inviting, could kill them with his bare hands. They’d have zero chills if they learned that Nic Garcia is the kind of man that nightmares are made of.
Yet, here I am still staring at him as though he holds my whole freakin’ heart. I shouldn’t trust him. I should be running out the exit and scrambling away until he finally leaves me alone but the fact that I'm sitting here, considering jumping off this stupid table tells me that I never learn from my mistakes.
I have Colton in my life, do I even need Nic? I should walk away. I should tell him to fuck off and never come back. Why do I have to love him like this? Why is it so hard to stop seeing him as my best friend?
A strangled moan comes from beside me and I glance down to find Drix fanning herself at the sight of the man-meat scanning the room with his dark, dangerous gaze. “Fuck me,” she breathes. “Who the fuck is that? I’d let that guy bend me over every fucking tabletop in this cafeteria and destroy my whole damn life.”
I clench my jaw, not about to get on board with Drix fucking Nic because that’s exactly what would happen. I think I’ve had more than enough of knowing about Nic’s sex life for now. I don’t need to be hearing about how fucking awesome he is in bed every day by someone who wouldn’t understand how much it would kill me. Besides, when it comes down to it, Drix couldn’t handle Nic. He really would destroy her and she'd break. She needs someone with a heart too big for his own good.
Taking a breath, I jump down from the table and look back at Drix. “Trust me, you need to stay far away from this one.”
I start walking toward Nic and he catches my movements immediately. His jaw clenches as I tune out the shocked gasps coming from Jess and Drix behind me. Though, if the girls at BSP haven’t already figured out that this guy is here for me, then there is something wrong with them. The girls here are clean-cut and would never be seen with a guy like this, especially in public. But me? I’m different.
I walk right up to Nic, keeping as close as possible and keeping my stare heavy on his. I don’t dare stop. There’s no way in hell I’m about to have this bullshit conversation in front of my whole school let alone Colton’s bratty twin sisters.
I step right past him, slamming my shoulder into his on the way. His jaw clenches and a soft groan comes out of him, but there’s no way a hit like that would hurt Nic. His shoulders are the size of fucking trees. The groan was purely out of frustration and the fact that I made it happen swirls in my gut and makes this moment just a little more bearable. After the shit he did, he doesn’t deserve for this to go smoothly, he deserves hell to rain down over him.
I step out of the cafeteria and Nic silently follows behind, knowing damn well not to say a single word until I tell him to start talking. I can’t believe it was only yesterday morning that I was sitting in his apartment and we were talking everything through. I felt like we finally had everything back on track, at least almost back on track. We were making progress and our relationship had the potential to be something special again and within the space of two seconds, it was destroyed.
What he did … fuck, it’s worse than lying to me about my father. He had people attack us, attack the place which is quickly becoming my home, attack Maryne. She’s gone because of him. I’ll never forget that he did this and our relationship will never be the same.
A direct attack on Colton is a direct attack on me, and I don’t intend to sit back and let him get away with it.
I make my way out to the parking lot with him a little too close for liking. It’s a risk. There’s no eyes or ears out here and Nic could grab me at any time and overpower me. He could take me back to Breakers Flats and force me to hear him out, but he’s smarter than that. He knows if he wants even the smallest chance of making things right between us, he needs to do things my way, and that’s not something he’s ever been able to do. Hell, that’s clear by the way he showed up here today.
I’ve been ignoring his texts and calls for a reason. I don’t like people forcing their timelines on me and deciding for me when I should be ready to talk things through and Nic is the worst for that. I like to sit and stew for a few days, figure out exactly what I want to say and how to say it, figure out how to make it hurt the most. This … this just feels like a trap.
I stop in the middle of the parking lot and spin around. He only just catches himself before slamming into me and the second his eyes seek out mine, his expression changes, and I see the real Nic, the one who has been plagued by guilt over what he has done.