hate algebra.”
He p icked her pencil up off the floor, sat on the bed next to her, and took her notebook into his lap. “I had this assignment last week. You have to move the variables all to one side.” He marked up the problem, added the numbers, and wrote a clean second line. “Like this.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t see that.” She solved the rest in no time. “I was making it harder than it needed to be.”
“Isn’t that just like you?”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
He wasn’t talking about math.
“You left school early. I was looking for you.”
“Really? Looking for me? Like you didn’t hear what happened?” She tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned back against her pillow.
“Not exactly looking so much as wondering where you went. I heard.” He dug his phone out of his pocket, swiped his finger across the screen, and handed her a picture of her locker. She knew it was hers by the pink combination lock.
“Did the janitor clean it?”
“No, I did. Took paint thinner from the art room to do it, too.” He held his hands out for her to smell. “I don’t think that will ever come off so I hope it’s some small consolation that Rachael’s hands stink, too.” She wrinkled her forehead, confused. “You don’t think I’d let her get away with something like that? Took the threat of releasing some high profile secrets, but I got her to pitch in. You know she’s just jealous, right?”
“You made her help you?”
“Her bark’s worse than her bite.” Jaxon leaned over and looked her straight in the eyes. “But you’d know that if you ever came out of hiding. What are you so afraid of?”
Brea shrugged, unable to admit that their relationship felt too good to be true, or that she was afraid his popular friends might pull him away from her. It was easier not to contend with them, or Harmony.
She used the latter as an excuse.
“Do you know the kind of crap I’d get from Harmony for seeing you? Us dating opens the door to a lot of unnecessary aggravation for both of us. Can you imagine telling Rachael or Pete about me?”
“You don’t think they know?”
“Okay, they were bad examples, but them suspecting something is different than you admitting to dating the weird girl.”
“The whole thing is bad, Brea. You’re my girlfriend.” It was the first time he’d used the word. “And you’re not weird, unless we’re going by the people you hang with. Harmony, she’s weird. You? You’re just … different.”
“Now you sound like my mother.”
“Then she has a point. Besides, why do you care what Harmony thinks? Why do you care what anyone thinks? You want me to tell my friends? I’ll tell them tomorrow morning at your locker. I’ll shout it to the whole school and since Harmony’s locker is right there, we’ll kill two birds with one stone. You game?”
“It’s not that easy , Jaxon. I need to tell her on my own terms.”
He held her hand and smirked. “Then I’d get it out of the way if I were you. After today, there’s no way she won’t suspect something.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Harmony showered off the last of the residue and put on a pair of Adam’s sweat pants and a hoodie. The effects of the pepper spray had worn off within an hour, but the experience had left her unsettled.
The darkness seemed darker, the emptiness somehow emptier, and there was a sense that some one was lurking. She told herself that her attacker had no way of knowing where she lived. For all she knew, he was dead in that alley, but if he was, what did that mean for Adam?
No matter what they picked up of hers, he’d left behind his blood.
“Do you really have to go back to the garage?”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, but I left Walter with more work than he can handle and people want their cars back.” Adam put several slices of pizza in the oven. “You’ll be fine.” He rinsed his hands under a stream of cold water, focusing on his split knuckle.
“Of
He p icked her pencil up off the floor, sat on the bed next to her, and took her notebook into his lap. “I had this assignment last week. You have to move the variables all to one side.” He marked up the problem, added the numbers, and wrote a clean second line. “Like this.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t see that.” She solved the rest in no time. “I was making it harder than it needed to be.”
“Isn’t that just like you?”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
He wasn’t talking about math.
“You left school early. I was looking for you.”
“Really? Looking for me? Like you didn’t hear what happened?” She tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned back against her pillow.
“Not exactly looking so much as wondering where you went. I heard.” He dug his phone out of his pocket, swiped his finger across the screen, and handed her a picture of her locker. She knew it was hers by the pink combination lock.
“Did the janitor clean it?”
“No, I did. Took paint thinner from the art room to do it, too.” He held his hands out for her to smell. “I don’t think that will ever come off so I hope it’s some small consolation that Rachael’s hands stink, too.” She wrinkled her forehead, confused. “You don’t think I’d let her get away with something like that? Took the threat of releasing some high profile secrets, but I got her to pitch in. You know she’s just jealous, right?”
“You made her help you?”
“Her bark’s worse than her bite.” Jaxon leaned over and looked her straight in the eyes. “But you’d know that if you ever came out of hiding. What are you so afraid of?”
Brea shrugged, unable to admit that their relationship felt too good to be true, or that she was afraid his popular friends might pull him away from her. It was easier not to contend with them, or Harmony.
She used the latter as an excuse.
“Do you know the kind of crap I’d get from Harmony for seeing you? Us dating opens the door to a lot of unnecessary aggravation for both of us. Can you imagine telling Rachael or Pete about me?”
“You don’t think they know?”
“Okay, they were bad examples, but them suspecting something is different than you admitting to dating the weird girl.”
“The whole thing is bad, Brea. You’re my girlfriend.” It was the first time he’d used the word. “And you’re not weird, unless we’re going by the people you hang with. Harmony, she’s weird. You? You’re just … different.”
“Now you sound like my mother.”
“Then she has a point. Besides, why do you care what Harmony thinks? Why do you care what anyone thinks? You want me to tell my friends? I’ll tell them tomorrow morning at your locker. I’ll shout it to the whole school and since Harmony’s locker is right there, we’ll kill two birds with one stone. You game?”
“It’s not that easy , Jaxon. I need to tell her on my own terms.”
He held her hand and smirked. “Then I’d get it out of the way if I were you. After today, there’s no way she won’t suspect something.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Harmony showered off the last of the residue and put on a pair of Adam’s sweat pants and a hoodie. The effects of the pepper spray had worn off within an hour, but the experience had left her unsettled.
The darkness seemed darker, the emptiness somehow emptier, and there was a sense that some one was lurking. She told herself that her attacker had no way of knowing where she lived. For all she knew, he was dead in that alley, but if he was, what did that mean for Adam?
No matter what they picked up of hers, he’d left behind his blood.
“Do you really have to go back to the garage?”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, but I left Walter with more work than he can handle and people want their cars back.” Adam put several slices of pizza in the oven. “You’ll be fine.” He rinsed his hands under a stream of cold water, focusing on his split knuckle.
“Of
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