Very Bad Things (Briarcrest Academy #1)(43)

“Yeah, so what? I can f*ck her and not worry about it. You know why I don’t worry? Because she’s legal! She can walk into a bar with me and order a glass of wine and drink it! And she doesn’t care if I decide to not see her tomorrow. I can’t hurt her.”

I shook my head, not understanding.

“Nora, I know you’re hiding secrets, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get you back from that. No matter what, you’re a good girl with all these great talents, and someday you’ll have a big future. Just not with me. I’d just drag you down. I’d end up hurting you.”

“You already did,” I whispered out, seeing the truth. What it came down to was I wasn’t worth it to him. I was too much work for him. Too much effort.

Yet, there was something I wanted to say to him. Oh, it wasn’t going to be the truth about how dirty I was. No. Just the thought of that made me feel nauseated and short of breath, like a panic attack was imminent. No way in hell could I tell him that.

I sighed and got my nerve up. I had to make him see. “Leo, when your eyes found mine that day, I got lost, and I didn’t want to look away. It was like the whole world vanished except for me and you. We connected somehow. It was an extraordinary moment, and it builds and builds every time we see each other. Have you ever thought that maybe . . . maybe we were meant to be together, Leo?” I asked him, my eyes pleading with him to want me, to put me first.

He searched my face for a long time, like he wanted to commit it to his memory. He opened his mouth to say something but shook his head instead, as if he’d lost a conversation with himself. Then, as if he’d come to a hard decision, he tore his eyes from mine, focusing on something over my shoulder. He seemed to gather himself, and I saw his face harden. I saw the remoteness settle in his expression.

“There was never any eye-meeting connection. And there will never be a chance for us, Nora,” he said.

Well, okay. If that wasn’t a brush-off, I didn’t know what was. I swallowed painfully, wondering how I could have misconstrued everything I thought had happened that day. Foolish me. Feeling like I’d been kicked in the teeth, I left, my eyes blurring with tears that I refused to let fall. Not in front of him.

As soon as I walked back in the kitchen, Tiffani gave me the once over, taking in my disheveled braids and smeared lip stick. She turned up her nose at me. Maybe she wasn’t stupid after all, but her hateful expression did make her very unattractive. Leo came in approximately seventy-two seconds later, and it was satisfying to see that his face was still flushed and his lips swollen.

Tiffani invited us to sample some of the hors d’oeuvres she’d made, so we filled our plates. Mila and Sebastian munched away, and I pretended to, watching as Tiffani teasingly fed Leo mini quiches and cucumber sandwiches. She’d lean over close to him, tell him to open wide, and then she’d put the food on his lips, like he was a baby seal at the zoo, and it was feeding time. When his lips would touch her fingers she’d giggle, and every time she did, his eyes would linger on her quivering chest. I gagged inside but gave them my fakest smile, not that he was paying any attention to me anyway because he never acknowledged me. Tiffani did though, with a smile of triumph playing across her lips.

While feeding time continued, I stood quietly while Mila and Sebastian chatted about who was who at BA. As they ate their food, I stared at my plate unable to stomach food or seeing Leo flirt with Tiffani, the girl who didn’t care if he hurt her. Right. I didn’t buy that line for a minute. She was in love with him, and he was blind if he didn’t see it.

His words had decimated me, and his actions were even worse.

When it was time to go, Sebastian cleared his throat and spoke to Leo who had apparently forgotten we were there. “Alrighty then, I guess we’ll head out and . . . uh . . . leave you guys alone. We’ll be back around midnight.”

Leo nodded and gave the thumbs up sign to Sebastian, since his mouth was full of bacon-wrapped mushrooms.

Grinding my teeth together, I walked out of the room.





Chapter 13


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Leo

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“Every time I say I’m going to forget about her, five minutes later, I find myself thinking about her all over again”—Leo Tate

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Nora walked out the door to go to the party, and I watched her the entire way. I felt like shit, and I wanted to chase after her and beg her to forgive me for being a prick in the bathroom. But I had to let her go.

Disgusted, I pushed away from Tiffani, grabbed my beer and drank it down. In my head, I knew I shouldn’t have kissed Nora, but my body had taken over, tired of being denied something I’d wanted since day one. And I’d lied to her. That kiss had been epic. It had been white-hot and more passionate than any kiss I’d ever had. I’d nearly lost control in there, forgetting that I’d promised myself I’d leave her alone.

I took another beer out of the fridge and stared out the window, watching her as she headed for Sebastian’s blue Beamer. My heart raced again, taking in her too-short-for-public dress, long legs, and cowboy boots. I slammed my beer down on the counter. Why did I want her so much? Why couldn’t I push her away like I did everyone else? Why couldn’t I breathe when I saw her?