Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
After locking the doors of my ZL1 Camaro, I stare up at the school, my hand slipping into my pocket and closing around my pack of cigarettes. As I make my way toward the school and go to pull the pack out of my pocket, I see Principal Daniels, his narrowed stare locked on me, waiting to see how this is going to go down. Not prepared to get my ass kicked out of here so soon, I release the cigarettes and stride up the front steps, his stare not wavering from mine for even a second.
He nods as if knowing exactly what I was going to do, and I simply walk past and push through the front door of East View High, ready to face another day.
As usual, eyes fall on me, only today is different. They seem to be whispering among themselves, looking at me as though I have some kind of fucked-up secret that was just exposed. It’s not the first time I’ve walked into a school to find everyone talking about me, and it sure as hell won’t be the last. When you have a reputation like mine, if people aren’t talking about you, then you no longer matter.
Ignoring the stares, I barge through the girls trying to get my attention, but I can’t help scanning the hall, searching for the one person I’m not supposed to want. I hate being at the same school as her, having to see her every day and remember the pain I caused her, but I can’t let her in to see just how far I’ve sunk. I’m not the same guy she once loved. It would be best if she just moved on and forgot about us.
Reaching my locker, I put in the code—0228—and as I open the door, Liam falls into the locker beside me. “Yo, dude. You didn’t tell me about your brother. Tough break, man.”
My head whips toward him, my lethal stare locked on his. “The fuck did you just say?”
Reading the rage in my tone, Liam’s hands fly up in innocence. “Woah, chill out,” he laughs. “I didn’t mean to hit a nerve. But if you’re all fucked up over me just mentioning it, you should know, the whole fucking school is talking about it, and it ain’t pretty.”
Dread fills my veins like poison, pulsing through my body and destroying everything in its path. I grab Liam, pressing into him as I slam him flat against the lockers. “What are they saying?” I growl, my hand gripping a little too tight around his throat.
“You don’t wanna know, man. Just let it go.”
“What. Are. They. Saying?”
Eyes gravitate toward us from every direction while Liam tries to shrug it off, acting as though we’re cool here.
He lets out a sigh and meets my stare. “There’s a million different versions of the story,” he finally tells me. “Some are saying your little bro got hit by a drunk driver, others are suggesting you did it.”
“FUCK!”
“Come on, man. Nobody actually believes that shit,” he says just as my fist flies right by his face and slams into the locker beside mine, leaving a dent in the metal.
Liam shoves a hand into my shoulder, demanding my attention. “Don’t fuck this up, Noah,” he spits through his teeth, not even flinching at my rage. “If anybody wants you out of this damn school, it’s me, but for some fucking reason, I don’t wanna see what happens to you if this shit doesn’t work out. So pull your shit together. They were going to find out sooner or later.”
I clench my jaw, my hands balling in and out of fists, my heart racing as the darkness threatens to consume me. And just this once, I wish it would. I try to shake it off as I step away from Liam when I see that familiar wave of chestnut hair stepping into the girls’ bathroom, and I know without a doubt that she has everything to do with this.
Without a second thought, I throw my hand out, slamming my locker closed before taking off after her. Walking into the girls’ bathroom, I find a bunch of girls fixing their makeup in the mirror and Zoey at the very end, clutching the sink with her head down, tears staining her beautiful, rosy cheeks.
The girls whip around at my entrance, their mouths dropping open, and before they can say a damn word, I point back toward the door. “GET OUT.”
They run, grab their shit, and take off as though someone just announced that Liam was offering his dick up to the most willing participant. Zoey barely glances up, but I watch the way her body tenses, knowing damn well I’m coming for her.
I stride through the bathroom, and her body stiffens as I reach her. It’s clear by the tears on her cheeks that all the talk of Linc has gotten to her, but she has no right to cry for him. She did this.