Page 46 of Driftwood Daffodil

Then laugh while you choke on your own blood.

Holding my head high, I made my way down the aisle while trying to ignore the dark glare burning a hole in my skull. Suddenly being a school dropout didn’t seem like a bad thing. Plenty of people made their way through life without a diploma.

The shadows on Gio’s face were almost as intimidating as the deep tone of his voice, “I thought I told you not to come back.”

“Yeah well, unfortunately the truant officer didn’t agree with my plans of educational abandonment…” Avoiding his gaze, I quickly slid into the chair. “So, here I am.”

It was official. The universe hated me.

Atlee leaned over his desk and sang, “Good morning, Nova.”

I didn’t need to turn around to see the stupid grin on his face.

“It’s Novalee to you.” Only my friends and family called me Nova, and he was neither.

“Oh, but I like Nova. It rolls off the tongue.” He teased. “Is little Nova upset? Did Nova have a bad morning? Maybe Nova just needs to get fucked.”

Why did I ever tell him my name? Don’t get me wrong, seeing that girl get slapped was kind of amusing, but the payout, so wasn’t worth it.

“No one would fuck her.” Gio grumbled.

Oh, fuck him.

“Haven’t you heard? I’m a whore.” I tipped my chin to roll my eyes over my shoulder towards Atlee. “H O R E.”

Why did that bother me so much?

Atlee’s brows knit. “That’s not how you spell whore.”

Thank you.

Now if he could tell that to the uneducated vandal that would be great.

“Let me ask you something,Nova,” Gio made sure to accentuate the shortening of my name. “Do you want to die?”

Maybe?

“I’m not sure you want to do that. There’s an awful lot of witnesses,” I looked him right in the eyes and added, “That didn’t work out so well for my brother.”

Gio didn’t like that. A shiver raced up my spine as his expression darkened.

“You don’t want to play with me, little girl.”

There were those moments in life when the little voice in the back of someone’s head told them to shut up. I think mine was broken. “Maybe I do.”

Gio’s jaw twitched while Atlee snickered, “You’re going to regret that.”

Oh, please. I had a list of regrets a mile long. This wasn’t even in the top fifty. Though I was getting increasingly uncomfortable sitting next to someone who wanted to rip my head off. And probably could with very little effort. Gio’s forearms were thicker than my thighs. He may be bigger, stronger and better looking than me, but there was one thing I could do better.

I tipped my head and gave Gio the look I’d been practicing.

To say it didn’t go as planned would be a huge understatement. The intensity of his green stare threw me off, turning the condescending part of my expression into one of shock. And the my ‘don’t give a fuck’, suddenly gave all the fucks.

I think I even hiccupped at one point. And my colossal failure didn’t end there.

Confusion etched lines across Gio’s forehead while Atlee put his hand on my shoulder. “Are you having a seizure?”

Jerking his hand off my shoulder, I hissed, “No, I’m not having a seizure.”

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