Fallen Crest Public (Fallen Crest High #3)(89)

“It’s not going to end well. We heard about it.”

“Where are they?”

“She’s been all over him this week. Even if it’s not over between you two, it’s,” he hesitated, “it’s over, Sam. He’s back with her.”

I was getting really sick and tired of hearing this. “You tell me where they are, or I’m going to give a character reference to your new girlfriend.” I bared my teeth at him. “And it won’t be a good one, if you know what I mean.”

“They went downstairs. That door right there.” He pointed at a door behind me. It was closed with Jasmine and Natalie guarding it. Strauss and another guy stood with them, but I marched over anyway.

“No. No way—” Jasmine started to say, raising her hand at the same time.

Strauss caught it and twisted it behind her back. The other guy opened the door for me and stepped so he was blocking Natalie from me. I sailed behind both of them without breaking stride. As the door closed behind me, I heard Jasmine cry out, “What?”

As soon as the door clicked shut, I stopped on the other side of it. The stairs were in front of me, but I grabbed the railing and held onto it. I couldn’t move. Everything in me was trembling. I felt them kicking me. Hitting me. Shut up and get her. Kate’s voice came back to me. Images flashed in my head, and I flinched with each one. I felt every hit and every kick all over again. I was back in that bathroom. It was dark, like it is now. They were coming for me.

“Hey.”

I cried out, shooting my hand out. They wouldn’t hurt me. Not again.

“Bitch,” someone hissed at me.

My eyelids flew open—when had they closed? My hands jerked up, ready for an attack. It never came and I was staring at Tate. She was pressed against the far wall, rubbing at her throat. She cursed at me. “You hit me. That hurt.”

“Oh.”

We stared at each other, and no one said a word. She snorted then. “Of course you’re not going to apologize.”

Waves of anxiety were still crashing over me, but I wouldn’t have even if I was fine. She knew it. I knew it. Why lie about it?

“I’m in this mess because of you, you know.”

“How?”

“Because I backed you in the hallway.”

“You backed Heather, not me.”

“It doesn’t matter to Kate. Once someone crosses her, she doesn’t let it go. So thanks for this.”

“You blew Logan when you knew a camcorder was there.”

“I thought he covered it up. We don’t make noises when we do things like that.”

“Why in there then?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He looked stressed. I was giving him a treat.”

A bitter laugh came from me. “I don’t get you two. You guys just hook up now? There’s no feelings anymore?”

She smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

My smile matched my tone. Brittle. “Just don’t screw him over again.”

“Hard to hurt someone who doesn’t give a flying f**k about you anymore.”

I paused.

As she started down the stairs, she added, “And he doesn’t, you know.”

“What? Give a flying f**k about you?”

“Care about me like that. We’re friends, only friends.”

I followed her to the bottom, but no one was around. “You didn’t come back to be friends with him.”

“No.” She jerked her head to the right. “They’re down there. Logan said you’d be coming, so I came to get you. They need to get the tape first.”

“You didn’t come back to be friends with him,” I pressed.

“I didn’t. You’re right. My parents shipped me out here so I thought it was my second chance.” She skimmed me up and down. Her top lip curved up in a sneer. “It didn’t take me long to catch on that I was wasting my time.”

Pausing outside a door, she reached for the door handle, but stopped. “You ready for this? Logan told me a little of what they’ve been planning. It’s going to be brutal.”

“Besides setting her up for Budd Broudou?”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay. Showtime.” She flashed me a grin and opened the door.

I held back. Mason had more planned? Then I heard Kate’s shrill voice. “What is that whore doing here?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Kate had dressed for me.

Her jeans were ripped in the crotch area. She’d worn them before, always with a skimpy thong underneath. Kate thought they turned me on, but they didn’t. They never had. Those jeans were her signal that she was down for anything. I knew I could have her anyway I wanted and some of those times, I’d take her up on the offer. That was all Kate had been to me. I had an itch, and I used her to scratch it.

I regretted it now.

She came in with no question, no regret, no doubt and she came straight for me. I didn’t do a thing. Someone normal would’ve reacted. She was coming into a trap for slaughter, but I wasn’t normal. She was going to touch me and I wanted to shove her away. I didn’t do that either. She ran her fingers over my chest. The tips of them trailed down to the front of my pants, and she rubbed there.