Kiss and Break Up (Magnolia Cove, #1)(24)

“You don’t interfere with my life anymore.”

“You’re my best friend. Are you saying I’m not supposed to care?”

She blew a wayward curl from her lips. “I’m saying you need to quit being a controlling dick.”

I slapped a hand over my chest. “Well, I’ll be. This isn’t exactly the apology I was hoping for.”

“You’ll be hoping for a while if that’s what you’re expecting.”

We scowled at each other, but I could feel my face grow lax as I watched her lashes open and close and studied the tiny bow to her upper lip.

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Can we play now?” I asked.

In answer, she grabbed a controller and handed it to me.





The next morning, I picked Peggy up for school, satisfied that things were back to normal in that regard, yet something was still irking me.

It was like having an itch I couldn’t find. As I watched her scroll through the music on my phone, then stroll down the hall to meet up with the douchebag extraordinaire, I found myself in a constant state of tension.

“Her tits sure bounced like they were real,” Raven was saying when I joined them at my locker. “Nice handfuls too.”

“Who cares if they’re real or not? They’re fucking insane.” Lars stuffed a handful of Cheetos into his mouth, then dusted his hand off on his trousers.

Jackson messed around with his tie. “She’s still got one hell of a lady boner for Woods, though.”

“Damn right. She’s probably thinking about him when she fucks you,” I tacked on.

Raven flipped me off. “Good morning to you too, shithead.”

“We hitting Wade’s again this Friday?” Jackson asked. “Get this. Willa said the team wants me to score them some green.”

I barked a laugh. “As if.”

“That’s what I said. Fuckers can do their own dirty work.”

The bell rang, and I plucked my notebook out, slamming the locker closed to find Byron all up in Peggy’s face.

Rave snuck in a low taunt. “Those fists of yours clench any harder, you’ll burst out of your clothes. Hulk style, baby.”

I went to punch him, and he chuckled, dodging as he slipped into the dispersing crowd.

“No flowers today, Prince Charming?” I asked as I sidled up nice and close to Peggy.

Peggy spun, shoving me back a step. “Quit, Dash.”

I righted my messed up shirt, making sure it was messed up just how I liked it. “Just saying. No need to get all bent out of shape over it.”

Byron’s grin needed to be wiped off his smug face. Yeah, he thought he had me pegged, but he didn’t know shit. He had no idea.

Peggy muttered a goodbye to Byron, then joined me as we headed to class. “Would it kill you to be nice?”

“I’m not sure, but I kind of like being alive, so it’s best we don’t tempt fate, right?”

Peggy tried to smother her laugh, but it snuck out, and I bumped her shoulder. She bumped me back, hard, and I chuckled as I side-stepped to catch myself.

“We still need to finish the last season of Game of Thrones,” she reminded me as we took a seat in the back of the room.

I grinned, some of the tension easing away. “After school.”





Peggy



I walked back to my locker between classes and froze.

A tiny pink letter was peeking out of one of the cracks. I looked around, finding a few students lingering, then tucked my lip between my teeth as I unlocked it.

It fluttered to the floor. After shoving my books inside, I picked it up, taking it with me to my next class. My nail flicked it open as I took a seat at the desk beside Daphne, and my heart bottomed out.



Break up with him, or I’ll take something of yours.



Daphne snatched the note before Mr. Roth came inside, her brows gathering as she read it, then looked at me. “Is she talking about Dash?”

I hadn’t even thought of who she might’ve been referring to, but the thought of Kayla and Dash caused everything inside my head and stomach to spin. “I don’t know.”

She ripped it up, then swept the pieces to the floor. “Ignore her. Are you and Byron even going steady?”

The class started to fill, so I just shook my head. We hadn’t labeled what we were doing. In fact, after almost a week of texting daily, I didn’t even hear from Byron last night.

I supposed I could’ve reached out first, but I was still worried I’d come across as needy. Thanks to Dash interrupting us this morning, we’d had less than a minute to say hello.

Steady. If we weren’t going out or dating for real, then what were we doing? Getting to know one another? I guess that’s what it was, which was fine with me, but I had to wonder if I really wanted to take this thing further with Byron.

Just then, he walked inside the classroom, right by two of his teammates, and took the seat directly in front of me. “Hey, Pegs.”

I smiled, and Mr. Roth dumped his briefcase on his desk. “All right, sit down, sit down.”

My eyes stayed glued to the back of Byron’s head as the note, whatever it was we were doing, and Dash clouded my head like a bad fog.