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his hold, turning his face away from my attack. Will, Kai, Damon, and Michael. The Four Horsemen.
“Don’t you know that you can have anything you want?” His eyes searched mine. “I’ll hurt anyone for you.”
“Who is it?” he asked. “Who do I have to hurt?”
His scent hit me. Bergamot and blue cypress, and I looked up at his brown hair, perfectly styled and rich against his perfect skin and dark brows. Black lashes framed eyes that looked like the leaves surrounding a lagoon on some stupid island somewhere, and for a moment, I was lost.
Will Grayson. You’re pathetic.” And his beautiful eyes instantly hardened as he lifted his chin.
“‘I knew I had fallen in love with Lolita forever; but I also knew she would not be forever Lolita.’” He looked
up at the class. “What did he mean?”
“Abuse can feel like love.” I blinked, the voice so close that my ears tingled. Slowly, I raised my eyes to look at the side of Damon Torrance’s face, his shirt wrinkled, and his tie draped around his neck. The whole class fell silent, and I glanced at Will next to me, seeing his eyebrows pinched together as he looked at the back of his friend’s head. Mr. Townsend approached. “Abuse can feel like love…” he repeated. “Why?” Damon remained so still it didn’t look like he was breathing. He looked at the teacher, unwavering. “Starving people will eat anything.”
He held my eyes until I left the room.
I didn’t want to make her miserable merely to continue a life of misery.
I just didn’t like old books. Third person, wonky paragraphs a mile long, and some dumb academic trying to force me to believe there’s profound meaning in the author’s overwritten description of a piece of furniture I don’t give two shits about.
Of course, Lolita wasn’t that old. It just sucked, and I’m pretty sure it sucked in 1955, too. I’ll ask my grandma.
“I can’t wear a swimsuit because of the bruises!” I blurted out.
That was why I quit swimming. My face wasn’t the only thing we had to worry about people seeing. My back, my arms,
After he left, I laid there for a moment, shaking with the pain slicing through my back. God, just make it stop.
A small smile turned up the corners of my lips. I like Godzilla.
And before I knew it, I had popcorn and sat there staring at the screen, my eyes attached to every frame as my brother faded away, school faded away, Will Grayson faded away, and lit class faded away. Because Godzilla was great. And Lolita hurt my head.
He’d changed. He looked exactly the same and worlds different at the same time.
holding it firmly in my fist. “I’m Aydin,” the alpha said, looking at me. “Aydin Khadir. No one will touch you again. You have my word.” “Your word…” I almost laughed. “Does that mean anything when all I know about you is that you were despicable enough to get locked up in here?”
“She knows Will,” Taylor said. “Does she?” Aydin looked over his shoulder at Will. “Is she family? Please say it isn’t so.” Will hung back, his hands in his pocket again as he leaned into the crates. The fire reflected in his gaze as he stared at me. “Will,” I pleaded. But he remained quiet. “He doesn’t seem to know you,”
Pretty sure slamming my nipple in a car door would be less painful. Or joining a gym.
I laughed, thankful she was playing back. I knew how I was. Judgy, rude, and close-minded, but I also knew why. I was jealous. Happy people didn’t hurt others, and while I didn’t dwell on my behavior in lit yesterday with Will and his friends, people like Elle didn’t deserve it.
“They don’t make them,” I told her. “Because people who can afford Lamborghinis aren’t sitting around watching television.”
but instead of my own Trojan bumper sticker, or any bumper sticker, it was a single, three-by-five snapshot of my grandma and me at my eleventh birthday picnic in the park.
What was that? I narrowed my eyes, reaching up and taking the stuffed animal off the top shelf. I paused in confusion. How did this get in here? I looked around for anyone watching me and met Elle’s eyes, holding it up. “Did you put this in here?” She looked at it and then me, shaking her head. “Nope. I don’t even know what that is. A Komodo dragon?” I studied the gray plush toy, taking in his claws, teeth, tail, the scales down his spine, the angry snarl on his face… “It’s Godzilla,” I murmured and then laughed.
Hesitantly, I raised my eyes again, finding him on the court. He talked to Damon Torrance as he wiped the sweat off his face, the wet hair at the back of his neck darker than the hair on top. Then…he looked over his shoulder and locked eyes with me. A smile spread across his face, like he knew I’d been watching him the whole damn time, and my face fell, heat rising to my cheeks.
Fucking Will Grayson.
Maybe Michael Crist’s red mask, Kai Mori’s broad shoulders, Damon Torrance’s stupid smirk, or Will Grayson’s black hoodie.
Jeans, black hoodie, and a white paintball mask with a red stripe down the left side. Will.
The rain and wind blew through the room, and I reached up, my hands shaking as I lifted his mask off his face and dropped it to the floor.
“I was never trying to scare you,” Will said, rain glistening on his face and wet hair. “I just wanted to see something.”
But just then, he moved with the speed of light, barreling right at me, and I yelped as I leapt to my feet and so did he, but before I could run, he crashed into me and pinned me to the wall.
A drop of sweat trickled down my back, his body on mine making it too unbearable to even breathe. He took my chin in his hand and lifted it up, trying to get me to look at him. His heat surrounded me, and the pulse between my thighs throbbed.
“Real monsters don’t wear masks, William Grayson III,” I retorted. “They look like everyone else.”
“They won’t let you walk home in this weather,” he said. “They can’t stop me.” “I won’t let you walk home in this,” he clarified. “You’ll sleep here tonight.”
But then Will said, “Door’s unlocked. Go get some pizza.” And he picked up his mask off the floor. “We’ll clean up here.”
The band director called my brother and asked if I could put in more work-study hours by helping in the kitchen tonight. Then they’d keep me over since it would be too late to go home. Martin was probably fine with it since I was “working,” but I didn’t for one second think the director came up with that lie herself. Because I didn’t help in the kitchen at all.
I just sat there, trying to read on my phone. Will glanced over every once in a while as he spent time with his friends or slow danced with some girl to make sure I was where he’d left me.
Before I knew it, the lights were dimming and Will was shoving me toward his sleeping bag smack-dab in the middle of Michael, Kai, and Damon. I groaned. Did I really have to be here? “Take it.” He pushed me again, and I stumbled. “I’m warm enough without it.” Like I care about your comfort. Seriously.
I scooted up toward Kai—the safe one—but something grabbed my feet and yanked my ass back down. I glared at Will, but he just smiled to himself as the lights in the gym went off and everyone settled in, giggles piercing the air and chaperones patrolling to keep peoples’ hands off each other.
My stomach growled, and I shot a glance up at Will, seeing his eyes closed, his arm propped up under his head as a pillow, and his lips curled with a smile. He’d heard that. Someone brought me pizza earlier as I sat on the bleachers—maybe at Will’s behest—but I told him to screw off. Now, I regretted it. I hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours.
Stern brown eyebrows, a sharp nose, but soft lips and the most beautiful eyes I’d ever
seen behind those sweet, sleeping eyelids and long lashes.
“So what were you trying to do?” I asked in a low voice. “When?” I looked up to see his eyes still closed.
“You said you weren’t trying to scare me upstairs,” I told him. “So, what were you trying to do?” His chest rose and fell in steady breaths, hesitating a moment. “I was trying to see if you liked it,” he whispered.
The corner of his mouth curled into a smile, but he didn’t open his eyes, and he didn’t answer. “Go to sleep.”
Just mess with someone else, Will Grayson. I don’t want your attention.
I turned my head again, taking in the peaceful look on his face as he slept. The way his neck looked so smooth and soft, and what would’ve happened upstairs in the chem lab if I hadn’t pushed him away.
I turned over on my side, watching him sleep, but then my eye caught something, and I looked down, seeing Damon lying on his stomach and watching me. His head was propped on his hand, his eyes sharp as he brought up his fingers and dragged his thumb across his throat, not blinking once as he stared at me. I clenched the sleeping bag tighter at the small scowl in his eyes. Rolling over, I stared at the ceiling again, getting the message. You’re not special, so don’t get confused, girl.
I let my eyes fall down her body, knowing she couldn’t see me as I took in her dark hair, kinky and wild from the tumble. The heat on her cheeks, rosy against her golden skin, was still so beautiful, and I’d bet her slender neck could still fit in my hand.
