Kiss and Break Up (Magnolia Cove, #1)(22)

Willa joined us as we walked inside, wearing her uniform much the same as Daphne did but with black ballet flats instead of heels.

“Well, I hope you’re awake enough for that,” she said, gesturing to the small crowd of guys from the lacrosse team who just happened to be standing halfway down the hall and looking right at us.

My eyes grew wide at the sight of them. “Um.”

“Um is right,” Willa said between her almost closed lips.

“Are those sunflowers?” Daphne asked a little too loudly.

My eyes grew bigger with each step we took toward our lockers.

Three weeks ago, we’d picked up our new schedules and IDs. After comparing them over the summer, we found out we only had a few classes together each day, but thankfully, our lockers weren’t too far apart.

And Byron was standing directly in front of mine.

His friends drifted away, jeering and sending suggestive looks as they moved on down the hall.

“I’ll see you in third period,” Daphne said, dragging Willa with her to their lockers.

That left me alone with the giant sunflowers and the giant holding them. “So, wow.”

So, wow? Jesus.

Byron’s chin dipped as he smiled, endearing and confident at the same time. “So maybe not totally random.” He stepped forward, handing them to me. “For you.”

I took them, finding a small card attached that read, just give me a heads-up before you sneeze.

A laugh sputtered from me, disbelief staining the sound and my cheeks. “Thank you. They’re beautiful.”

“You didn’t need the flowers to look like an ass nugget. Those tap shoes you call loafers already do the job just fine.” I turned, mouth agape, to find Dash leaning against my locker. “A word, Freckles?”

Fear and mortification joined forces, and I struggled to say anything.

“Dashiell, forgive me. I’ll be sure to remember your flowers next time.”

I blinked at that, and Dash’s jaw worked, eyes hard on Byron. “Flowers aren’t the way to my heart, Woods. And they sure as shit aren’t the way to hers.” His lips curled, and his teeth flashed. “But then again, you’ve known her five minutes. So what would you really know at all?”

“Dash,” I hissed.

“How about that word now?”

I shook my head, words evading me.

“I think she’s made it pretty clear she doesn’t want to talk to you. So why don’t you go and burden someone else with your gloomy presence?”

Seeing Dash was about to lunge, I turned to Byron and laid a hand on his chest to keep Dash, who was breathing heavily at my back, from getting suspended on the first day. “Let me put some things away, and I’ll catch up with you at lunch?”

Byron was staring over my head, but with a tap on his granite chest, he lowered his gaze. After a nod, then a quick, calculated peck to my forehead, he was swaggering down the hall.

I opened my locker and my bag, trying to stuff notebooks inside and the flowers on top. All the while, Dash just watched me.

“Kayla doesn’t exactly look thrilled today, does she?”

I hadn’t looked, and I didn’t think I wanted to now. “Dash, seriously.”

“What?” He pushed me aside then squashed the flowers in enough to shut the door.

“You squished them.”

“Who gives a rat’s ass? They’re weeds anyway.”

“I like them.”

“You like a lot of things you probably shouldn’t.” He eyed me a moment. “Only now, you’re picking those things over me.”

He started strolling down the hall to where Lars, Jackson, and Raven were hanging outside the boy’s bathrooms.

Guilt sliced deep, and I called after him. “Dash, wait.”

He stopped, his shirt half-untucked and his pants sitting too low on his hips, as he fiddled with his collar, raising it higher.

“This is ridiculous,” I said once I’d stopped in front of him. “Why can’t you just say you’re sorry?”

“Because I did nothing wrong.”

I met his hard stare with one of my own. “Interfering with my life isn’t wrong?”

He stepped forward, growling low into my face. “Not when it’s only ever been to protect you.”

My lashes dipped as he skirted around me to join his friends.

His words sat there, hovering like a ghost as I squeezed my books close to my chest and headed for class.





Kayla’s gaze felt like a flatiron had seared into the back of my head during biology that morning.

“She seems pissed,” I said, not needing to look across the cafeteria to know she was still glaring at me, gossiping and hashing false truths about me.

Daphne dragged a fry through her puddle of ketchup. “He totally claimed you in front of the whole school by bringing you those flowers.” The fact Daphne was sitting with us and not with Kayla and her pep squad probably didn’t help.

“I didn’t think she’d be this mad.”

“She cheated on him,” Willa said. “Like she has any right to be mad that he’s moving on.”

I didn’t think that mattered much to Kayla.

I almost squealed when Byron fell into the seat next to me, tearing a chunk out of his wrap. “Hey.”