Trick Me Twice

Pushing away from the table, I stood. Come here, I mouthed, holding out my hand to her.

A huge smile spread across her beautiful face, and she took a step towards me. Not quick enough, as far as I was concerned. I stalked towards her, and we clashed together in the middle of the crowded cafeteria. I lifted her into my arms, sliding my mouth against hers. Because I could. Because she was mine.

“You’re going to give me a reputation,” she murmured when I released her. Her cheeks were flushed, but she was smiling.

“I know you don’t like the attention. I’m just…fuck, I don’t know. Happy to see you.”

“Yeah. I know.” Understanding crossed her features, and she took my hand in hers. “I’m okay. I promise I’ll tell you if I’m not.”

“Good.” Keeping a hold of her hand, I led her to our table, but I paused before we got there. “Are you okay sitting here, or would you prefer us to sit alone?”

She stared up at me, an unreadable expression on her face, before she shook her head with a small laugh. “I’m not used to this sweet and considerate side of you, yet. But I have to say, I really like it.”

Laughing, I tugged her over to the table and pulled out a chair for her. I watched a shy smile curve over her lips as our friends greeted her. It was surprising how easily she’d been accepted into our group, but then, all our closest friends were aware of what had happened to her, and I doubted there was anyone that didn’t feel horror and even guilt for the part we’d all played in driving Raine away.

It went without saying that Tina was no longer a part of our group, after the news that she’d been the one behind defacing Raine’s locker.

“I guess I’ll sit here.” Lena threw herself into the seat next to Raine. Everyone stared at her, and finally she let out the world’s most long-suffering sigh. “Raine’s my friend. I’m eating with her.” She turned her attention to her food, and that was the end of the discussion.

“Is this real?” Raine’s voice was soft and only for me.

Shifting in my seat, I turned to face her. “It’s real. I can’t promise I’ll get it right all the time—in fact, it’s guaranteed I’ll fuck up more than once—but you’re worth it. I’m…changing for you. You know, working on being the man you deserve. For you.”

She smiled. “Okay.” Her voice lowered, and she slid her hand into mine. “I don’t want you to change, though. I mean, yeah, I guess there are one or two parts of you I’m not totally in love with…” She shot me a teasing grin, before continuing. “But everyone has their flaws. I do, I know. We’re all works in progress.”

“Wait, so there are parts of me you’re in love with?” I smirked at her, and she groaned, dropping her head to my shoulder.

“Why did you focus on that bit?” she mumbled against my blazer.

I laughed and kissed the top of her head. “You want to come over for dinner later? Mum’s making shepherd’s pie. You know how she always makes way too much.”

My distraction technique worked, because she lifted her head to mine, her hazel eyes sparkling, and nodded. “I’d like that.”

“Can we drive around a bit before we go home? I…we need to talk.”

Raine’s words sent a spike of unease through me, and I swallowed hard before answering. “Yeah, whatever you need.”

She gave me a tiny smile that didn’t reach her eyes, and my stomach dropped.

After I’d been driving around aimlessly for twenty minutes, getting more and more worked up, Raine finally spoke, her voice quiet. “Dylan’s officially left the school.”

Taking my eyes away from the road briefly, I glanced over to her to see the combination of relief and distress written all over her face. “How do you know?” Shifting the car into fourth gear, I eased the wheel to the right as we headed along the clifftop road, the ruins of Alstone Castle up ahead, silhouetted against the sky.

“Joey told me. He’s in the drama club with me. He’s, uh…a friend of Dylan’s.” A sigh escaped her lips. “He knows what happened, and he seemed pretty shaken by the whole thing.”

This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have when I was driving. Indicating, I pulled off the road onto the grass

verge and turned the engine off. “Climb in the back with me.” There was more room, and I needed to hold her. She nodded, and after we’d moved into the back seat, I tugged her into my lap, putting my arms around her. Curling into me, she was silent for a moment before she continued. “Long story short. From the sound of it, Dylan called Joey when you…you know. Broke his arm.”

“That was the least he deserved,” I muttered, and I felt her nod against me.

“I know. Surprisingly, Joey agreed. From the sound of it, the whole story came out when he took Dylan to the hospital to get his arm sorted out. To say he was disturbed is probably putting it mildly. He seemed to get the impression that Dylan had kind of obsessive tendencies.” She took a shaky breath. “Ones relating to me. He hated the popular kids, and for whatever reasons he justified in his head, your interest in me triggered him.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Joey said he told him that he had a folder of photos of me on his computer.” I felt her body begin to tremble, and I tightened my arms around her, kissing her head. “The fact he’d decorated his bedroom to look like mine creeped me out enough, but to know that he had a whole folder of photos of me which must’ve been taken without my knowledge…I mean, who does that?”

Her gaze met mine, her expression so anguished that it almost hurt to look at her. “I just kept thinking, why didn’t I see it? He’s never been anything more than friendly to me. I’ve been going through everything in my head, and I just…I don’t understand it, Carter.”

“That kid is seriously fucked up, Rai. Listen to me. There’s nothing that you could have done any differently. His actions aren’t normal. Why would your mind even go there? As far as you knew, he was your friend and you’d have no reason to think otherwise.”

“Maybe.” She sighed. “I don’t know. Anyway, Joey basically told him that if he dared to show his face in Alstone again, he was going to press charges. Or that I was. Whatever. Joey wanted to press charges now, anyway, but he was worried that you’d be in trouble too, for breaking his arm.”