“You know.” She lowers her voice being cautious. “That junior girl who had it bad for Henry when we were sophomores.”
“Oh, yeah. The one who transferred.”
“And I’m sure you know why she transferred.”
I shake my head. “Ro, I love Henry and he loves me. There’s nothing Callie can do to scare me away. There’s nothing she can do that’s going to change the way I feel.”
“Okay,” says Rosa. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
A second later, Callie stalks toward us and I clam up. Shit. Her face screams pure hatred. She’s huffing, like her entire body is full of hot air and that she’ll blow up if she can’t release some.
She narrows her eyes at Rosa. “Hi.”
Then her head turns toward me slowly, like she’s possessed. “It.” Her voice is trembling, fueled by rage. A second later she pulls her hand back and slaps me across the face.
Chapter 14
“In her first passion, a woman loves her lover, in all the others all she loves is love.”~ Lord Byron ~
It takes me a minute to react to the slap as an irritating tingle spreads across my cheek. Instinctively I touch my face and my mouth drops open.
“Stay away from my boyfriend,” Callie growls.
Rosa scowls at her and opens her mouth, but I don’t give her anytime to make a comment. In a blaze of aggression, I lunge for Callie and slam her into the ground. The loud thud from our bodies hitting the floor rings out and shakes the pictures hanging on the walls.
She gasps and tries pushing me away as I grab for her hair. There’s only a small part of me that’s attacking her for the slap. The rest is for the years of nasty comments, torture and the last bit is for Henry.
The sounds of his sobs pound through my brain enraging me further. “He doesn’t love you!” I shout. And I surprise myself by how crazy I sound.
Henry’s bedroom door flies open and Rosa is tugging on my arm. “Riley, come on! Stop!”
I’ve almost got Callie’s arms under control when Henry yells out, “Riley, what are you doing?”
He’s distracted me and I look over my shoulder, taking in the panicked look on his face. The second my eyes meet his, Callie yanks on my hair and rolls on top of me. She throws a punch and I dodge it.
Callie throws a second punch and I try to dodge it, but her fist slams into my shoulder. Henry has his hands around her waist, lifting her off of me and Rosa takes me by the arm and helps me to my feet. I lunge for her again and Rosa yanks me back. “Riley, stop!” she scolds me.
I scream. So loud and boisterous that it’s like the chanting of several thousand Romans cheering for their favorite gladiator. Henry gives me a stern look. “Ry, you need to chill.”
I’m outraged. “Are you defending her? She slapped me first!”
“I’m not defending anyone,” he snaps. “I’m saying you need to calm down.” He shakes his head and looks at Rosa. “Can you take her outside?”
“Sure,” says Rosa.
“I’m not going anywhere!” I bark.
“Yes you are.” Rosa places a death grip around my waist and I claw at her hands. “No way!” she yells. “I have three older brothers and guess who they practiced their wrestling moves with?”
“Let me go!”
“Nope.”
As Rosa drags me down the hall I’m seeing red. I forget about how much I love Henry. I forget about his unfortunate situation with his Mom. The only thing that I can think about is how he might be taking her side over mine.
I don’t care how long they’ve been together. I don’t care how she used to be because for as long as I’ve known Callie Banfield, she’s been an awful person. And I’ve known her for thirteen years.
Even though the fight between her and I seems catty, all of my rage boils down to how I’m a good person and she’s evil and she always seems to win. Henry is mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. And she doesn’t deserve him.