Broken Beautiful Hearts(101)

I slip past Owen and rush ahead of him. “I have nothing to say to you, Reed. I want you to leave and stop following me around.”

Reed makes a fist and holds it over his heart. “That hurts, Peyton. But I’m not here to see you.”

“Then what the fuck do you want?” Owen cuts in front of me and squares off in front of Reed.

Christian and Cam fan out and flank Owen, Cam in front of TJ and Christian in front of Billy.

“What should we do?” Grace whispers.

I throw up my hands. “I don’t know. But this is going to get out of control real fast.”

“I’m glad to see you up and around,” Reed says to Owen. “When you hit the mat, I wasn’t sure you were gonna get back up.”

To Owen’s credit, he doesn’t react. Today he’s in control. “I would’ve gotten up if the ref hadn’t called it.”

“What do you think, Billy?” Reed asks.

“He was laid out. I’m not sure he would’ve gotten up,” Billy says.

“I wouldn’t put money on it, either,” TJ adds.

“You two are such assholes,” I say to Reed’s friends. “Thank god I don’t have to hang out with either of you anymore.”

Reed’s eyes dart back and forth between TJ and Billy. He’s waiting to see if one of them is stupid enough to say something disrespectful to me, but they know better.

Reed seems satisfied and picks up where he left off. “That’s actually what I came to talk to you about, Owen. When I beat a guy in the cage, I want to make sure he knows he’s been beaten. And all this bullshit about the ref calling it early screwed that up for me.”

“I was getting up.”

Reed’s smug expression turns menacing. “Prove it.”

Just when I think there’s no hope, I see Titan jogging across the parking lot toward us. Either he’ll stop the Twins from starting World War III or he’ll tip the scales in their favor. I won’t feel the least bit guilty if Reed and his friends are outnumbered.

“Everyone needs to chill,” Titan says, catching his breath. “Coach has eyes on you.”

Titan looks over at the gym. The football coach is stationed out front, arms crossed, staring directly at us.

Christian and Cam look over and see him, too. “Shit.”

“He said if any of us gets into another fight, we’re benched for three games.”

Christian raises his eyebrows. “Three games? There’s no way he’d do that.”

“Coach said he’ll lose three games before he’ll let his players disrespect him,” Titan says.

Cameron turns back to TJ. “My coach just saved your life.”

TJ laughs. “You don’t even know how funny that is, man. I could take you without breaking a sweat.”

Cameron moves to take a step forward, and Titan grabs his jacket and jerks him back. “Get your head out of your ass right now, Cameron. Coach is serious. He’s still pissed off about the cafeteria.”

“We’ve gotta go anyway,” Reed says. “I’ll call you later, Peyton.” He tosses out the comment casually, like we’re still dating and I don’t hate his guts. “And, Owen? If you want to finish what we started in the cage, I’ll be at that abandoned mill outside Black Water tonight at nine.” Reed looks at me and smiles. “You know the one I’m talking about, right? Where you partied last Friday night.”

My blood runs cold. “You were there?”

“I have to keep an eye on my girl. Even if she’s telling lies,” Reed says.

“There’s a name for that,” Grace says. “It’s called stalking.”

I ball my hands into fists at my sides. “How did you find me?”

“I was working on tracking you down when Billy said he saw you at a fight in Tennessee.”

“So what did you do? Check all the high schools in Tennessee until you found me?”

“I didn’t have to. Billy said you were wearing a hoodie with ‘Black Water Warriors’ on the back.”

Owen’s hoodie.

How could I be so stupid?

“I wouldn’t leave my girl here all alone in a town where she doesn’t know anybody—except those two.” He looks over at the Twins.

Owen balls his hands into fists at his sides.

“I’m not yours, Reed. I never was.”

Owen looks Reed in the eyes. “Peyton doesn’t belong to anyone.”

Reed pretends he isn’t listening. “Did you say something?”

“I’ll be there tonight,” Owen fires back. “Did you hear that or do I need to repeat it?”

I whip around and face Owen. “No, you won’t,” I say under my breath.

Anger is coming off Owen in waves. “He has probably been following you the whole time you’ve been here.”

A little over a month.

Reed stretches and cracks his neck. “Well, not the whole time. A guy’s gotta sleep. But I was checking in. You’ve got a nice school, by the way. I like the banner in the hallway. ‘Players go for the win. Warriors battle for it.’ It’s catchy.”

My blood pressure takes a nosedive, and suddenly I’m light-headed. I grab Owen’s arm to steady myself. Reed has been inside the school.