Untouched (Bay Falls High, #1)(8)

I was poor. Really poor.

And Claire was doing this as a favor.

I touched my forehead as it started to hurt.

Here for, what, an hour? And things were like this…

I sucked in a deep breath.

I curled my lip.

I’m poor. I’m the poor, dirty girl. That’s what I’ve always been. And for that, I’ve always survived. Nothing bothers me. I’ve seen fights. I’ve seen my mother stick herself with needles like it was a normal thing. I just fucking found her od’ing. I’ve seen knives, guns…

Before I knew it I was walking back toward the beach.

I wasn’t sure what was right or wrong here but I needed to see. Worst case, I could twist the story however I wanted. What did it matter? I didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t kill anyone.

I found the spot where I had been standing.

I looked to the spot where tall, hot guy had… drowned someone…

My feet slid along the sand down to the ocean. Dry sand turned into wet sand. Wet sand was swallowed up by the water. The cool water hit my toes and I shivered.

I wasn’t afraid of the ocean but I was afraid of a dead body touching me.

As I stood in the exact spot where it happened, I watched.

I wondered what the logical thing was here. Would the water throw him to shore or take him out? Would he wash up for someone to find or be swept to sea for animals to eat?

My stomach flipped and my knees started to bend.

I felt sick. Like I did back in the apartment.

One thing I knew for sure… there was no body in the ocean.

And I didn’t know what that meant.

I groaned and started to turn when a shadow crept over my shadow.

“Listen, sugar,” a rough voice whispered.

I froze.

The way the word sugar sounded…. like there was a h in there and no r… smooth, fluent, and god help me… sexy.

A hand touched my arm.

I glanced down and saw a watch.

The watch.

It was tall, hot guy.

Standing behind me.

The same way he had done to short guy before beating him up.

He had known I was watching…

My teeth started to chatter.

“If I wanted that motherfucker dead, he would be dead,” his voice smoothly whispered as his lips gently touched my ear.

My toes curled so tight they hurt.

I started to gasp for air.

His right hand moved up my arm to my neck. He pulled my hair out of the way, exposing my neck.

“I don’t know who you are, sugar, but you better catch a case of amnesia… and catch a case of being homesick. You don’t belong here. And I won’t give another warning.”

His lips brushed against my neck for a split second and he groaned.

I should have been creeped out. Freaked out. I should have thrown an elbow. I should have kicked back, wanting to nail him in the balls.

But I was frozen.

So fucking frozen.

Tall, hot guy didn’t kill short guy.

He was just sending a message.

I carefully watched as tall, hot guy’s shadow slithered away.

It should have been a relief that there wasn’t a dead body in the ocean.

But I wasn’t relieved at all.

Tall, hot guy had just sent a message to me.

And he was gone.

I finally turned and looked around the beach.

I was alone.

So fucking alone.

And more than that…

I was already in serious trouble.





four





Bay Falls High.

Bay fuckin’ Falls High.





Claire gave me the choice on how I wanted to do it. She offered to drive me right up to the curb. Have the driver get out and open my door. Or I could have been dropped off through the back entrance and escorted to my first class. Whatever I wanted to do to give the appearance of whatever I wanted. I mean, that all sounded kind of fun. Right? Fancy new clothes. Giant black sunglasses. Attitude that could last until Christmas. Strut through the doors and the halls like I owned the place, complete with security to make sure none of these rotten bitches or douchebag boys came near me.

But as I stared at my own reflection in the mirror that morning, I reminded myself I was the daughter of a junkie. I was there out of luck. And if I wanted to be someone else, that was one thing. I could fake my past. I could throw shade. I could throw a punch. But I was still going to be the new girl no matter what. And part of me just wanted to hide from it all. Or maybe not show up at all.

The thing was… I was this close to being done with it all. So the plan was to nestle up to the mansion life that Claire had and finish school.

For breakfast, there wasn’t some off brand crap cereal and milk that was a day too old. There was a woman in the kitchen, whistling and racing around, making what looked like a breakfast to feed a hundred men. The spread of food made my jaw drop. Right down to the fresh fruit at the end of the counter. Glistening from being freshly washed.

I told Claire I was just going to drive myself to Bay Falls High.

Claire threw me the key fob to one of her SUVs.

“You can take something faster if you want,” she said. “But test this out. It’s big and private.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yeah. Just don’t ever drink and drive it.”