“Hold up,” he says, waving his hand around. “I’m no clinger, I’m just passionate and for the record, if I were ever watching your dirty asses through the window, it’ll be to give my boy some pointers.”
“Trust me, Slade doesn’t need any pointers.”
“UH-HUH,” he cheers, loud enough to get the whole classroom’s attention. “So, you did fuck him.”
Aw, shit.
My eyes close and take a calming breath as the laughter, whispers, and gasps are echoed around the room. The second I open my eyes and let the class see exactly how unimpressed I am by their noise, they instantly shut the fuck up while Damian laughs, loving nothing more than messing with me.
Mr. Carver uses the room’s silence to start his lesson and I glance around. “Where’s Slade? Isn’t he in this class?” I question, lowering my voice to a whisper. After all, Mr. Carver and I didn’t start on a good foot considering I attempted to start a brawl in his classroom two weeks ago. We’re still mending that bridge and I don’t want to do anything to fuck that up.
“Just watch,” Damian murmurs. “He’ll walk through that door in about thirty seconds. You’re not the only one who’s had run-ins with Carver. He’s made Slade’s life hell since the beginning of time because of his position in the school. Something about demanding the respect of Slade means the rest of the student body should follow. If he wasn’t getting near-perfect grades and bringing the class average up, Carver would have kicked him out ages ago.”
“That’s bullshit. He can’t do that.”
Damian shrugs. “Yeah, well Slade kind of deserves it now. After Carver was an ass to him for so long, Slade took it into his own hands and now he does everything he can to get under his skin.”
Just as those last few words pass Damian’s lips, the door swings wide, making sure to slam against the wall of the classroom, making everyone but me and Damian jump.
A wicked grin spreads over my face as Slade saunters into the classroom, not a care in the world. His eyes come to mine but as Carver growls low in his chest, his eyes are shot across the room. “Find your seat,” Mr. Carver demands. “The next time you walk into my classroom after the warning bell, you’ll be rewarded with a lunchtime detention every day for the rest of your senior year.”
Slade scoffs. Everyone knows his threat has no merit. The most damage Carver can do is give him either three lunchtime detentions or an after school one, and let’s be honest, Slade doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to attend any type of detention.
His eyes swivel back to me with a grin as he starts making his way toward me. One step, then another. It won’t be long until his hands are on me and I know I only just saw him during lunch but this craving inside of me has been building ever since.
What is going on here? I’ve become desperate for him. Before I looked at him as my drug to forget the world and I was terrified that if I wasn’t hating him and didn’t have that intense adrenalin running through my veins, I’d lose it, but it’s only gotten better. He still takes away the pain and he sure as hell keeps my mind occupied. The only time I think of Lucien is when someone brings it up. Now when I’m reminded of my mom, I see her smiling face, not the blood splattered across the floor.
I don’t even know if he realizes it, but Slade Cruz is healing me. He’s taking away all the bullshit and replacing it with butterflies, laughter, and joy.
He gets halfway down the row of desks when a scrawny kid raises his hand for a high-five as he passes. Slade scrunches his face and scoffs. High-fives aren’t exactly his thing. The only time I’ve ever seen him do it is during one of his basketball games when a team member scores and raises their hand to instigate it. Only then will Slade follow through and raise his hand and it’s purely out of support for his team.
This guy though, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Slade goes to walk right past him when the idiot stupidly opens his mouth. “Heard you nailed the new chick,” he congratulates as though I’m not sitting right behind him. “Was she good? Fucking wild, I bet.”
My jaw clenches at the same time that Slade slams his palm down on the kid’s desk. The sound echoes through the room, ten times louder than when Slade had swung the door open. All eyes snap in their direction and even Damian is sitting up a little straighter. “The fuck did you just say?”
The kid jumps and his eyes flick around, desperate for help. This really isn’t going down the way he had hoped but I really couldn’t give a shit. I made a promise to myself that I was through with people disrespecting me and if Slade hadn’t gotten to him first, it would have been me putting that dick in his place.