I let my lips pull up into an excited grin and upon seeing the crazy beneath my eyes, she runs.
Slade intercepts her and throws her back at me, knowing I need this more than anything else in this world.
As her body comes flying back at me, I meet her in the middle. I launch myself at her and she instantly goes down with my body crashing down on top of hers. She reaches out, grabbing hold of my arms and digging her nails in deep. She tries to tear them down my arms but I shake her off, ignoring the pain as my hand curls into a fist and I slam it against her jaw.
My punch has nowhere near the kind of effect that Slade’s would, but for this bitch, it’s exactly what I need.
Rachel grabs at my shirt and tries to pull me down while bringing her knee up and slamming it into my back. I hit her again as her fingers curl around my long hair and tug hard.
Rachel gets me down to the floor and attempts to climb on top of me, desperately needing the upper hand but there’s no way in hell I’m about to let her do that. Not now, not ever.
I push her hand and she falls back, giving me the second I need to right myself.
Over the space of the next two minutes, two things become extremely clear. One; she fights like a little bitch, and two; I fight like a man.
It gets messy and she puts up more of a fight then I had expected, but she’s nothing I can’t handle. I keep her down and by the end, her ass is thoroughly whooped, though I’m not going to lie, we’re both sporting too many injuries to count.
A teacher comes bounding into the circle and grabs me, throwing me off Rachel and stepping between us. “What the hell is going on here?”
Complete, utter silence.
The teacher glares around the room, daring at least one person to speak up but they’re more afraid of ending up like Rachel than of the teacher.
When realizing where the students’ loyalties lie, he turns on me. “Get your ass down to the principal’s office now.”
I grin and nod, knowing that this was most likely the only scenario out of this.
Slade steps forward and takes my hand before pulling me away. “Come on,” he murmurs, curling his arm around my back and leading me out of the cafeteria. “Let me get you out of here.”
Chapter 17
Slade leads me out of the cafeteria and instead of heading toward the principal’s office as I assumed, he leads me out to the student parking lot. “Where are we going?” I question, looking up at him as he slips his hand into his pocket and pulls out his keys.
“I’m taking you home and cleaning you up.”
“I’ll be fine on my own,” I tell him, not wanting his pity. Maybe it’s best if we distance ourselves from one another. It couldn’t be healthy doing what we’re doing, not if I ever plan to move on and make the pain go away.
Slade ignores my comments and unlocks his Dodge RAM before opening the door for me. He helps me up and I cringe as the movement has pain spreading throughout my body. Now I know I whooped Rachel’s ass, but I’m still human and she’s got a nastier bite than I was expecting.
My scalp hurts from where she tried pulling out chunks of my hair, I have claw marks up and down my arms, my back is bruised from her knee, and I’m pretty damn sure I have a cut lip as I think that brassy taste in my mouth is blood.
I let out a heavy sigh as Slade closes my door and walks around to the passenger side. The drive back to my place is awkward as fuck. It’s silent with neither one of us knowing what the hell to say. I’ve never had that problem before, yet he has me all choked up and lost for words.
This stolen moment with him should feel good. I should be hanging out the freaking window and screaming at the people that pass us, letting them know I just whooped a bitch’s ass and got time alone with Slade Cruz out of it…but, it’s not. It feels forced. Why is he even bothering with me? If he doesn’t want this…want me then he should go. He’s only making it harder for both of us.
He pulls up outside my home and I’m not surprised when he gets out and follows me around to the front door. Since all my stuff is back at school in my locker, I feel around for a key. I check under the welcome mat, under the pot plant, and under the cushion on the deck chair all while Slade watches me. “What are you looking for?” he questions.