Mad Love (Slateview High 3)

“Yeah.” I grinned. “A little sore, but I don’t mind.”

His hand caught my chin again, tilting my face so he could examine my eyes, as if searching for any hint of a lie. “I didn’t hurt you?”

I caught hold of his wrist, biting my lip as I looked at him. How could I explain that even when he did hurt me a little, he gave me so much more pleasure than pain? I liked it. I loved the contrast between the two sensations, the way it made me feel electric and alive.

“I didn’t say ‘blue,’ did I?” I asked, my voice teasing. When he didn’t look satisfied with that answer, I looped a hand around the back of his neck. “Kace, I love you. And I trust you with everything. My body, my heart, and my soul.”

His face stilled, a look almost like shock passing over his features. As if he hadn’t expected to hear those words from another human being besides Bishop and Misael in his lifetime.

Well, I would fix that. I would make sure he heard them every day.

“I love you,” I said again, just for good measure. But this time, I barely got the words out before he crushed his lips against mine, knocking the breath out of me with the force of his kiss.

We made out for a while in the nurse’s office, our hands and lips and tongues unhurried and lazy as we indulged in each other. Just existing in the perfect stillness of this moment.

Finally, Kace pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. “We should get outta here.”

“Yeah,” I agreed reluctantly.

“I’m not takin’ you back to that fuckin’ dance.”

“Good.”

“Bish and Misael had a job to do for Nathaniel that couldn’t wait, or they woulda come with me. They dropped me off, but they should be done soon.” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and glanced at the screen. “Scrat

ch that. They’re already done. They’re on their way.”

A grin spread across my face, growing wider and wider.

Instead of having to spend the evening at a prom I never wanted to go to, I was going to spend it with the three boys I loved. And fuck anyone who tried to stop me.

Kace helped me down off the table and kept an arm around my waist as he unlocked and opened the door. I wasn’t quite sure how he knew the layout of the school so well, but he didn’t hesitate as he started leading me toward the front entrance.

But as we passed by the gymnasium, I saw Barrett striding toward us from the other end of the hall. I tensed immediately, and his eyes narrowed when he caught sight of me.

“What the fuck are you doing, Cordelia Van Rensselaer?” he barked, like I was a wayward child who had broken a rule. “You think it’s acceptable to just walk out on me like that? I am your date. I am your fiancé—”

“No.”

I stepped forward, putting my body between him and Kace. I could practically feel the blond boy behind me, muscles tensing like a bull preparing to charge. But this time, I hadn’t stepped up because I didn’t want Kace to fight. I’d done it because I didn’t need him to.

“What?” Barrett’s face scrunched up unpleasantly, and he looked like he’d just swallowed something bitter.

“I said no,” I repeated, standing taller. I could still sense Kace right behind me, a silent support. “It’s fucking done, Barrett. It’s over. I don’t care what I have to do. I don’t care if my dad cuts off my entire inheritance. I will never marry you.”

The boy in front of me blinked a few times, as if his brain was having a hard time comprehending my words. Then he let out a choked laugh.

“What, so you’d give up everything for this piece of shit?”

He shifted his gaze behind me, and fury flared hot and white in my veins. I could feel Kace start to move, but I was way ahead of him. Before he could step around me and punch Barrett, I grabbed the smarmy boy by the shoulders and drove my knee up as hard as I could between his legs.

“Fuuuck!”

The word was wrenched out of him as his body folded in half, his hands flying to his crotch as he tumbled to the floor. My skirt got caught up in his legs and he almost took me with him, but Kace latched an arm around my waist and hauled me away.

The second he set me on my feet, his lips were on mine, hot and hard and demanding. Barrett’s groans provided the soundtrack to our kiss, and even though there was nothing particularly romantic about the noise, it hardly mattered. I could feel love and desire flowing through every stroke of Kace’s tongue against mine, and I dizzily thought to myself that I would knee Barrett in the balls a hundred more times if it made Kace kiss me like this.

When we broke apart, my “fiancé” was finally starting to crawl to his feet. Kace strode over and put a heavy shoe on his shoulder, then shoved with his foot, sending the boy sprawling again.