Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

I push my way out and am just about safe when his voice rings out behind me. “Wait.”

Shit. So fucking close.

I stop in the doorway and look back at Colton, silently waiting. His eyes meet mine and there’s a strange vulnerability shining back at me. His gaze lingers on my new haircut before it drops to his bandaged knuckles. “You don’t need to worry about those guys hurting you again.”

“Guys?” I question. “You mean the dickheads from school?”

He nods and just like that, I know exactly where these cuts and bruises came from.

I step back into the bathroom, pulling the door closed behind me and feeling the tension rise in the room. “You beat them up? All five of them?”

He nods. “They hurt you. They took it too far.”

Emotion swells inside of me. Maybe it’s the lack of sleep or the confusion that’s been intensifying day by day, but one second I’m hesitating by the door, and the next I’m crossing the bathroom and curling my fingers around the back of his neck.

My lips press against his as his hands sweep around my waist, pulling me in tight against his exhausted body. He holds me tenderly almost as though I’m some kind of valued possession, the same way I’d imagine him to hold the love of his life, and despite knowing what a bad idea this is, I can’t bring myself to stop.

It’s not like the forceful, domineering kisses we’ve shared over the past week, this is something different, something more and it terrifies me.

Colton Carrington should not have that kind of hold over me but clearly, he does.

Not allowing myself to get drowned in his trap, I pull away, refusing to meet his eyes before scrambling through the door like a terrified little bitch.

Chapter 20

“And then … and then,” Milo howls, slapping a hand on the table as we wait for Mr. Hall to arrive at our Economics class. “Then he showed me the ring and made a point that he was going to keep it in his safe for when I was ready to pop the question.”

“Are you kidding?” I laugh as tears fill my eyes and I try my hardest to wipe them away, only they come straight back again. It’s hard to believe that the black and white party was only three days ago. It almost seems like it’s been a lifetime since I poured bourbon all over the four famous shitheads of Bellevue Springs. I’m seriously experiencing life at fifteen what the fucks an hour. I wonder if every weekend is going to be so full on or if this past one was just special because Colton had a point to prove.

Today has been a bit wild for a Tuesday. Not only were there rumors going around claiming that the five grease monkeys that attacked me were involved in some sort of gang mugging last night, but they’ve also mysteriously been suspended after I saw my mother slipping into the back of one of Charles’ many cars, leaving the school grounds.

I can only imagine how that meeting with Dean Simmons would have gone. Mom was fuming about it all night. The second she finished with her shift, she let it all out and it’s clear that it’s all she could think about all afternoon. I’m scared of my mother on a good day, but to be on the end of her anger after someone hurt her only baby in an environment where she’s supposed to be protected, I can guarantee that Simmons would have been shitting his pants. That woman knows how to get what she wants and she’s not afraid to take it with both hands.

“I wish I was kidding,” Milo says. “Mom couldn’t stop gushing about how my wedding day was going to be the best day of my life.”

“Anyone who thinks their wedding day is the best day of their life clearly has never experienced the joys of having two candy bars fall out of the vending machine at the same time.”

“Where the hell do you come up with this shit?”

I raise a questioning brow. “You can’t deny that I have a valid point.”

“Maybe,” he says. “But to be honest, none of the idiots around here would know that feeling. We don’t have vending machines.”

“Oh, that’s right. You guys have butlers and maids that fetch your candy bars for you.”

“Damn straight, wifey,” he grins widely. “Now, do you want to hear about our wedding or not?”

Milo continues with his story but my attention is drawn away as Colton walks into the room with Jude and Spencer at his back. Just like always, his eyes come to mine first, and just like always, I can’t tear my gaze away.

He scoffs and looks away as though having my attention is a humiliation that he can’t stand to have and it grinds on my nerves. He’s more than happy to have me patching him up all night, he’s more than okay to jump to my defense and beat the living shit out of five boys he’s most likely known his whole life, and he’s more than on board with the idea of kissing me at four in the morning, but having the rest of the world know that he has my attention is a no go.