I shot a look at Cade, and he threw his hands up in protest. “I didn’t say anything.” How the fuck did word get around so quickly in this school? Brantley hadn’t even been nearby when I’d bent down and kissed her cheek. That soft, rosy fucking cheek.
Shiner chimed in after Cade. “And now you're staking a claim on the new girl in front of everyone? First your father, and now this?” He scoffed out a sarcastic laugh, whipping off his towel with no regard to anyone else in the locker room.
I cringed, looking away. “Shiner, no one wants to see your dick.”
He made a sarcastic noise. “Psh, they don’t call me One-Liner-Shiner for nothin’, Isaiah. Everyone wants to see my dick.”
We all paused, and then Brantley shook his head. “I thought about it, and nope, still don’t want to see your dick.”
Cade laughed under his breath as he pulled a shirt over his head. We all ignored Shiner as he got dressed.
“Seriously, though. What’s going on? Why did you make a scene like that? Are you trying to get Bain to fuck with her again? Because we all know the only reason he pulled that shit on Saturday was because he had watched you with her earlier that day.”
A few of our other players walked into the room, also drying off from the shower. I eyed them briefly before shooting the rest of the Rebels a look.
“She’s tutoring me because I’m on probation with the SMC.” I shrugged. “As for the other stuff…” I trailed off, nodding to our midfielders briefly. I told them, “Good game,” in a gruff voice and then began leaving the locker room. “I’ll explain later.”
I wasn’t going to lie; I’d had the sudden urge to jump the fence and wrap my arm around Gemma’s waist over the fact that Bain and Grayson were looking at her like they wanted a piece, but the main reason I’d put on the show was because they needed to know their place. At least, that was what I was telling myself.
Things with Grayson would slowly die off. He wasn’t near Gemma enough to be much of a threat. But Bain? There were only two choices: I could try to keep my distance and hope he’d move past his little game of using her to get to me, or I could get even closer to her and make sure he stayed the fuck away.
I knew Bain. I knew his games. I knew most of his moves before he did. I saw the way he was looking at her and then at me. There was the smallest glint of excitement in his eye. Leverage. He wanted to hold something over me. It was becoming clearer and clearer that Bain didn’t dislike me because of who I was in this school but more so because of who I was outside of it.
He’d told Gemma that he knew who I was, and I was beginning to believe it. It was possible that he wasn’t bluffing.
I couldn’t seriously consider Gemma and myself to be more than what we were now, even if my blood ran hot with her near. She couldn’t be my girlfriend or anything even remotely close to that. I wasn’t staking a claim on her like Shiner had said.
I didn’t stake claims on anyone, not only because no one held my attention for long, but because I’d never in a million years give myself the chance to feel something like that for someone.
Having a girlfriend, or even just a relationship with someone that went further than the surface, wasn’t in the cards for me. It was a no-go. It would be nothing more than a trap. Could people fall in love? Sure. Would I? No. I wouldn’t allow myself the luxury because if I did that, then that would mean there was one more person that could get caught in the web of some very dangerous and illegal shit.
My own mother was a casualty in my father’s little game, and even at age nine, when I was still so goddamn naive and impressionable, I knew I wouldn’t do that to another woman. I wouldn’t fall in love and bring an innocent being into a world full of lies and pain—almost always emotional but sometimes physical too. A rough swallow worked itself down my throat as broken and fragmented memories came rushing in at the sound of my mother’s bones snapping. That same cry for help I’d shouted years ago almost worked its way to my lips, but I clenched my fists until my knuckles went white, and I exhaled a deep breath.
I’d make damn sure that Gemma and I went our separate ways after I was taken off probation with the SMC, so that way, there wasn’t even an inkling of suspicion that she truly meant something to me after it was all said and done.
Because she didn’t. She was just a means to an end. A glimmer of hope that Jack would be fine—for now. But then, why was I trying to protect her so fiercely?
After letting the locker room door shut, rather aggressively, behind me, I scanned the hallway for Gemma but came up empty-handed. This addition to the school was built only a few years ago when my uncle had taken over the position of headmaster. Sports weren’t always a necessity at St. Mary’s, but my uncle fought with the SMC, arguing that sports were a great way to get aggression out that most of the students here were burdened with. That was why our lacrosse season was all year long. We had practice games during the off season with the schools that were close by to ‘give the students something to look forward to.’
After stalking down the hall, I pushed open the swinging door and was met with fat, thunderous clouds and a light mist of rain. I jogged along the sidewalk, past the bleachers, and made my way to the back entrance of the school, pulling open the brass-handled door, and slipping inside with even wetter hair. I flung the damp ends back and forth and let my eyes adjust to the dark entrance until I spotted Sloane and Mercedes a few yards away.
But no Gemma?
Mercedes was pulling her wild, spiral curls up into a bun when I approached them, and her cheeks instantly ripened with color. “Where’s Gemma?” I asked, ignoring the way she blushed.
Sloane looked sus
picious, her eyes crinkling on the sides. “She had to go with the headmaster.” She darted her attention away as if she were hiding her concern. “She looked…”
“Scared,” Mercedes answered quickly, actually looking me in the eye for once.
A weird notch of concern hollowed out in my chest, and I casually pushed it aside. A cool breeze wafted around our ankles as the door opened, allowing Cade and Brantley to walk through. I had no idea where Shiner was, but I could only guess it had to do with a set of warm lips.
My attention went directly to Sloane as she lightly growled under her breath at the sight of Cade. Then, she turned toward me. “I’m going to go look for Gemma.”
“No.”
She raised her dark eyebrows, her short hair swaying over her shoulders with the jerky movement of her head. “Excuse me?”