Chapter 5 5

“When someone crosses me, I don’t get angry-I get even. I’m not the kind of guy who lets things go, you’d do well to remember that. Don’t get on my bad side. I’ll be your worst nightmare, Bug.”

“Don’t call me Bug,” I ground out. My cheeks must be beet red, and I felt squirmy all over. I hated this. I hated the way he was staring at me, giving me no space to avoid his inspection.

“Why not? It suits you… little, scurrying bug, so easy to crush.”

He still wasn’t smiling, and his cruel words hit something soft and vulnerable inside me. Ouch. My lips parted, but nothing came out. I had no words to match his cruelty. His hand cupped my jaw, and the touch jolted me from my shocked reverie. I tried to shove him, but he only stepped closer. So close I could barely breathe. His hand on my chin tightened so much that he was probably leaving fingerprints on my skin.

“Now, let’s get something straight, since it looks like we’re going to be classmates. Stay out of my way, unless you want to be crushed. I won’t hesitate. Don’t test me. You’ll regret it.” He moved his hand in an up-and-down motion, taking my head with him, a horrible parody of nodding. “Say you understand.”

“Fuck you, asshole,” I managed, anger colliding with anxiety in my chest.

“Be careful what you’re asking for, Bug.” Cold mocking was back in his eyes.

I pushed harder at his chest. I couldn’t move him a damn inch. Fucking hockey players.

“Don’t forget what I said, and don’t ignore it either…” He dropped his grip.

I stared at him as he stepped back. He was so huge, his shoulders dwarfed me. I wasn’t even remotely short, and I still felt tiny in front of him.

He smirked coldly. “If you do–it’ll only be more fun for me.”

“You’re insane,” I muttered, cupping my chin. The skin throbbed.

He nodded. “You have no idea, and believe me, you don’t want to find out.”

With that, he turned on his heel and sauntered away, leaving me reeling.

Had that really just happened?

The lock on the bathroom door slid open, and Eve peered out. “Have you seen Asher?”

I shook my head. I dismissed telling my best friend that the new guy had just threatened me. She’d feel compelled to rush in and defend me, and I didn’t want her putting herself in the line of fire either.

She let out a sigh of relief. “I guess we should go. Our hour is up.”

“You don’t mind?”

She shook her head and grinned, linking her arm through mine.

I’d never been so grateful to leave a place in my life. Now, if only I didn’t have to see Cayden West at school on Monday, everything would be great.

Cayden

Hade Harbor was a fucking joke. With its shiny new school building, idyllic setting, and kids with cars that cost more than my foster father’s entire trailer, it felt like a dream. Did people really live like this?

On Monday, I joined the rush heading into the school. Even the air smelled expensive. Wholesome, privileged students wandered around, eyeing me curiously. I wasn’t a guy who melted into the background well. I stuck the hell out, and there was nothing I could do about it. I’d stopped trying. In my life up until now, I’d learned well that some people had no choice but to be seen and talked about. At least in Hade Harbor, I was being talked about for hockey and nothing else. Not like back home. There was nothing like back home.

I shoved away the black hole that threatened to swallow me at the thought of home, and a flash of rose gold caught my eye by the entrance.

Her.

Lily. Bug.

She walked with her head down, holding an open textbook. She literally had her nose in a book. She was just as much of a fever dream as the rest of this picture-perfect place. Was there really anyone so angelic-looking? It seemed impossible.

The sun fell over her bowed head, lighting her hair from a muted strawberry blonde to a blaze of red gold. Friday night, and the feeling of her slender wrist in my hand returned to me full force. She had green eyes, lush as the pines that crowded the back of the school. I’d been close enough on Friday to see that they were streaked with gold. She was tall for a girl but small to me; regardless, her pale skin was a map of fawn-colored freckles. Her exposed skin in the black dress had revealed a constellation across her collarbones.

The thought that she was freckled under her clothes had made me hard.