His eyes continue searching mine. “I’ll think about it,” he tells me, and just like that, he’s gone.
I close the door behind him before turning around and leaning against it. I find myself sliding down to the ground and burying my head into my knees. How did my afternoon turn out like this?
I was supposed to be enjoying my afternoon after I finished my huge pile of school work that Brooke has been dropping off each day. I was supposed to be sipping my iced chocolate which I’m sure by now is ruined. I was supposed to be lost in my Kindle.
What I wasn’t supposed to be doing is giving the man I love an ultimatum.
That’s the second time I’ve had to ask him to leave over the past few days and it makes me wonder how many times I’m going to get away with it before he doesn’t bother showing up again.
Chapter 8
A heavy fist slams into my locker on Wednesday morning. It’s my first day back after a week long suspension and to be honest, I was getting really used to being home every day. I mean, it occasionally got a little boring and I certainly missed seeing my girls and the guys all the time, but I stayed on top of my school work and was able to sleep in every day. By the third day, mom had run out of chores for me to do and I have to admit, that was the best damn part. My last few days were spent reading up on new releases and watching movies while Jesse texted me rude pictures.
I turn into the fist leaning up against my locker to find a furious Jackson, staring down at me with a glare sharp enough to cut the thickest metal. “Oh, the horror,” I sigh with thick sarcasm. “Please don’t beat me up or total my car.”
“Not funny,” he grunts. “Did you know?”
“Know what?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on him in return.
“About Jesse and my sister.”
A grin cuts across my face and before a word can even process in my mind, Jackson is slamming his fist into the locker again. “Damn it, Tora,” he demands. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What?” I scoff. “Why would I? It’s not my business to be telling you who your sister’s been screwing.”
His eyes widen in horror. “He’s screwing her?” he roars, making his voice bounce off every wall. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
Oh, shit.
Jackson turns and I hurry after him. I grab onto his arm and pull the brakes as hard as I can. “Stop,” I tell him. “He really likes her.”
“I don’t give a shit,” he says, dragging me along. I mean, if we were on a road and I was a car, my ties would be screeching along, leaving a thick, black line behind. “She’s too good for that piece of shit. No way is he going to defile my baby sister.”
“Jesse’s a good guy,” I tell him, though I should know better, Jackson isn’t going to want to hear that.
“Bullshit,” he growls over his shoulder, still dragging me along. “He’ll chew her up and spit her out like last night’s trash, and then guess who’s going to have to clean up the pieces? Me, that’s who. I’m not having it.”
I roll my eyes at his dramatics and give up. This fight is going to go down whether I like it or not so I might as well tag along and enjoy the show.
“What the hell is happening?” Brooke asks, walking the opposite way and turning around to watch me pass.
“Jackson just found out that Jesse is dating Kaylah,” I laugh. “He wants to kick his ass.”
“Oooooh,” Brooke grins, grabbing Elle’s hand and pulling her along. “I’m not missing this.”
I laugh as they hurry to catch up and realize, the further we get to the junior hallway, the more people start following along, each and every one of them not wanting to miss a fight between two of the school’s biggest bad boys.
Jackson storms into the junior hallway and I instantly zone in on Jesse at the other end, completely minding his own business for a change as he throws his shit into his locker. Jackson gets him in his sights and launches forward, until a petite blonde cuts through both our vision.
“Hey,” Jackson hollers through the hallway.
The blonde’s eyes widen before she flicks herself around. Within the blink of an eye, I can tell this is Jackson’s sister. Kaylah looks exactly like him, but a pretty, petite version. “What do you want?” she scoffs, studying the intense, pissed off rage deep within his eyes.
“Tell me it’s not true?” he demands.
“What’s not true?”
“That you’re dating that…. that thing,” he says in disgust, indicating down the hallway towards Jesse. Kaylah cringes as she watches her brother. “Shit, Kaylah,” he groans. “Anyone but him.”