Savage Love (Ash and Innocence 2)

I revved the engine, drowning out his voice. I stared coldly at him, waiting for him to do something about it. He pursed his lips, looking annoyed for a moment, and then plastered that infuriatingly calm look of his all over his face.

Yeah. It was probably easy to be calm when your entire life had been a series of fortunate events. Just one jackpot after another. Me being a pain in his ass was probably a novelty he enjoyed like a tourist might enjoy touring a poor neighborhood. So this is how they live? So strange!

I locked eyes with him, taking my foot off the gas so the sound of the engine died down enough to be sure he’d hear me. “Fuck you, Walter.” I gunned the car into reverse then, hoping I might catch his toes under the wheel as I backed out. From the calm look on his face, I’d missed.

I shot him a middle finger for good measure, then headed to school.8CassianI sank into the stretch until I felt a tug in my hamstring, then relaxed. Usually, I was laser focused once my pads were on. All I could think about was hitting someone.

Imposing my will.

It was one of the few things in my life that still felt good. But I found myself distracted while I stretched. I barely even heard the chatter of my teammates as they rated which members of the cheerleading squad gave the best blowjobs.

My eyes were past the fence that circled the field and separated us from the track and the stretch of grass beyond. About thirty girls in skimpy, tight-fitting spandex style shorts and tank tops were stretching for track practice. Leave it to the track girls to find ways to show off their asses even when the weather was just above freezing.

Granted, I wasn’t complaining. I just admired their dedication.

But a few asses waving in my direction wouldn’t normally distract me from football. I couldn’t peel my eyes away from them because Charli was with them, today.

She was out there, clad in tight shorts that reminded me of the tantalizing glimpse I’d had of her getting out of the lake a few weeks ago. I still hadn’t decided if fooling around with her was going to be on the menu of my revenge plan, but I was keeping an open mind.

Especially with the way she wore that outfit.

Gage roughly slid my helmet on my head, then drummed on it. “You ready to go, bitch?”

I tore my eyes from Charli to glare at him. Gage was our star defensive player, and most practices involved at least a handful of high-speed collisions between the two of us. I shoved him in the chest so he stumbled backwards a few steps. “Watch yourself out there, Winters.”

He hopped a few times, slapping his helmet as his eyes glazed over with the kind of battle lust only the football field seemed to bring out in him. I respected that about Gage. He might not take much seriously, but when he was on the field, he came to kick ass and do his job.

Two hours later, my body tingled with soreness and exhilaration. It had been a good practice, namely because some hotshot junior who transferred from Calvary High last week tried an open field tackle on me. I’d lowered my shoulder and he spent a solid minute on the ground before they could wake him up.

I was a firm believer in the idea that pain and suffering molded us into better people. So, in a lot of ways, I was fighting the good fight by being such an asshole.

I trailed behind the guys as they headed to the locker room to shower off. Most of the track kids had wrapped up practice, but I saw Charli and Zoe still out there. It looked like Zoe was trying to help Charli with her sprinting technique, but Charli still ran like a newborn giraffe.

I caught myself grinning, then decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

I jumped the fence and left my helmet on the field. I’d stripped out of my pads and shirt as well, which had been soaked through with sweat.

Both girls looked up sharply when they noticed me. Charli had been about to push off for another sprint, but she straightened self-consciously.

Zoe stepped in front of Charli. “Whatever you’re here to say, why don’t you save it.”

Charli put her hand on Zoe’s shoulder and moved toward me. “It’s okay. I can handle him.”

I laughed at that. “Can you?”

“You grew up and became a spoiled rich kid. You’re popular and you get off on making people feel bad about themselves. And you pathetically took off your shirt before you came over here to show off. Am I missing anything?”

I wanted to grin at that, but I carefully kept my expression neutral. “It sounds like you don’t know shit about me. But that’s fine, because I’m not interested in becoming buds. I just wanted to make sure you understand how this is going to work.”