Savage Love (Ash and Innocence 2)

I laughed. “I get it. I don’t know, though. I’ve been to several high schools now. Every school has popular guys, and they’re really all the same once you get down to it.”

“I’ve only lived here, so I couldn’t say. But all I know is no girl ever comes away from getting tangled up with the Greeks for the better. Well, I guess until Kennedy Stills, at least. But she’s the exception to the rule. Everyone else? They get used up and spit out.”

“I’ve known Cassian forever, though.”

“You knew him forever ago, you mean?”

I sighed. I was tired of being told who he was. I wanted to see it for myself. “Where would he be, anyway?”

“Cassian’s probably inside, I’d guess.”

“Let’s go, then.”

Reluctantly, Zoe followed me into the house.

The music was even louder inside, and people were draped all over the expensive furniture. It was all chaos, and I couldn’t help loving it a little bit.

We eventually found Cassian lurking in a multi-level room that was set up like a theater. I recognized Logan, Gage, Tristan, and Kennedy. There were a few other pretty girls as well, but I had no idea who they were.

Cassian stood when he saw Zoe and me. He had a beer bottle in one hand, which he lifted high and turned to get everyone’s attention. “Do you fuckers even know who this is?”

Logan squinted past him. “That’s Zoe. The one who is always breaking records.”

Zoe grinned beside me, clearly proud to be recognized.

“Not her. Her.” He thrust his beer toward me.

I was hardly comfortable being scrutinized by a room of people who looked like supermodels, or maybe more like a harem of vampires in the pale light.

“Cassian,” Kennedy said. “Be nice.”

He spread his arms to her. “Why wouldn’t I be nice? This is Charli Rhodes. I haven’t seen her since I was a kid.”

Tristan was watching carefully now, too. Why was everyone staring at Cassian like he was about to lunge forward and start throttling me?

He did look huge and imposing. High school boys weren’t supposed to be able to carry that much muscle on their frames. I tried to imagine the force he probably was on the football field, and I suddenly felt bad for the opposing teams.

He fixed his eyes on me, which were just as icy and blue as they’d always been. Except I didn’t feel the way I remembered when he’d look at me. I didn’t feel safe or like I was home.

I felt like prey.

Like a tasty morsel being dangled in front of something hungry.

Something dangerous.

“Uh, hi?” I waved, hoping to dispel some of the tension.

Two of the pretty girls detached themselves from the group and cut in front of Cassian to approach us. I had enough time to decide one was probably the popular cheerleader type—she had the sporty, short blonde hair and the posture that said she was full of pep. The other looked like the type whose only hobby in life was trying to be pretty. Tall, willowy, and almost not there.

The cheerleader stuck her hand out. “I’m Chelsea. Gage’s girlfriend.”

Gage tilted his head and made a face like he was about to object, then shook his head and shrugged, leaning back.

The willowy one smiled in a way that felt more like she was baring her teeth. “I’m Violet.”

Nobody’s girlfriend? I wondered which guy she was trying to sink those impressive teeth into.

Cassian clapped his hands and rubbed them together. Everyone was watching him again. I couldn’t help noticing the way he seemed to command a room, like it was impossible to forget he was there.

I knew I couldn’t. And why wasn’t my mouth working right? Why wasn’t I saying all the things that were bouncing around in my head? I missed you. I’m happy to see you. Can we go somewhere and talk alone? I can meet your friends later…

But nothing came out.

All I did was stand and stare with everyone else, like we heard the ticking of some unseen time bomb and were just bracing for the explosion.

“Come here, Charli.” Cassian didn’t ask me to come. It had been a command.

Something glinted in his eyes, too. Was he taunting me? Challenging me?

I laughed a little nervously, scanning the room and seeing how on edge everyone was. “Why?”

“Come. Here.”

I felt Zoe tug at my wrist, a clear, let’s get the hell out of here signal if I’d ever seen one. But I still didn’t have the answers I’d come for. I didn’t understand why the boy I grew up with was supposedly the devil as far as everyone in Silver Falls was concerned.

I took a step toward him.

His full lips curved up at the corners. “That’s it. Come on, Charli.”

I swallowed, then decided this was ridiculous. It wasn’t like he was going to hurt me. At worst, he had some kind of joke planned, and I would survive. I closed the remaining distance between us in a few confident steps.