“You think he’s going to start shit with Landon again?” Marie asked, and started shifting on her seat, as if she were the one getting nervous about all of this.
“If he was smart he wouldn’t, but then again Devon is dumber than a bag of bricks.”
Landon may have gotten into trouble constantly where he used to live, disregard the rules his mom and her dad put in place now, but he worked out, and because of that he was huge.
Lyric would have thought for the amount of working out he did he would have stayed out of trouble, but because he was so in shape it seemed to make him even more dangerous and controlled.
She didn’t know if she should go over there, try to defuse a situation that may or may not happen, or just let it play out. If Devon got his ass kicked it would be his own fault, but then again she didn’t want Landon getting in trouble either.
And of course Devon walked right up to Landon. For a second Landon kept focusing on his phone, and from the distance Lyric could see Devon was saying something. Everything that came out of Devon’s mouth was asinine and ignorant. Grabbing her books and bag Lyric stood and started walking toward where Landon was.
“Where are you going?” Marie asked as Lyric was walking away. She didn’t respond, just kept moving toward where Landon sat, even if she didn’t know what she was going to say when she got there.
“You deaf and mute or something?” Devon said. The closer she got the more annoyed she was by the asshole, and how he ran his mouth.
“Fuck off,” Landon said, his focus still on his phone, his voice calm, stoic.
“Fuck off?” Devon said and started laughing. “This asshole thinks he can talk to me that way?” Devon was speaking to his friends now.
Lyric moved between him and Landon, and she noticed that Landon lifted his head and looked at her, his nostrils flaring slightly, as if he were upset she was here. Did he not realize she was trying to save him from getting into big trouble? Devon wouldn’t stop taunting until a fight broke out.
“Lyric, get the hell out of here.” Devon went to grab her arm, but before he could even touch her Landon was out of his seat and between her and Devon. She tilted her head back, looking up at Landon’s muscular form, surprised he’d been so swift.
“What the hell?” Devon said and started chuckling. “You trying to protect her or some shit?”
Still, Landon didn’t say anything.
“Come on, Landon. He’s not worth it.” She grabbed Landon’s arm, and even though he was so much bigger than she was, and even if they didn’t have the closest relationship, he allowed her to pull him back. Lyric knew that had to be hard for him to do.
“I’ll catch up with you later, Lyric,” Devon shouted out, and started making kissing noises her way.
She looked up at Landon and saw he had a clenched jaw. “He’s an asshole,” she said, but still Landon kept quiet and looked pissed. “You want to blow off the rest of the day?”
He turned and looked down at her. He was so much taller than her five-foot-five frame. At over six feet in height, and coupled with Landon’s sheer strength and muscle mass, she had to wonder why Devon tried starting shit with him anyway.
“You sure you want to fuck up your perfect attendance?” He lifted a dark brow.
“I don’t have perfect attendance, and I’m not some good girl that’s never ditched before.” She walked toward the doors and out of them, sensing Landon behind her. “Unless you want to stay here and risk getting suspended or expelled because some asshole got under your skin?” She stopped and turned to face him once she was outside.
The sound of students talking close by couldn’t still the beating of her heart. It felt like it would slam right through her ribs.
There was no denying Landon was attractive, with short dark hair and green eyes that were so vibrant they seemed almost unreal. Of course she’d heard girls talk about him, how they wanted to have him, but he’d always kept to himself at school, well, unless he was getting into trouble.
But at home it was a different situation. He always came home late, a lot of times with bloodied knuckles, and even a few times with the cops as his escort.
It annoyed her, pissed her off, too, because she saw the strain that put on his mom, how she worried and got upset that he was so reckless.
“Well?” she said, pulling her thoughts away from how much trouble he really was. She could have sworn the corner of his mouth kicked up slightly, but if it did it was gone as soon as it had arrived.