Page 21 of The Penalty Box

I would have preferred if she slammed it in my face. Her anger would be welcome, because this…nothingnessis killing me. It feels way worse than any furious outburst ever could.

The lock clicks into place, the sound making it somehow final.

I rub my hand over my face, fingers running through my hair.

What the hell just happened?

Chapter Nine

EVIE

He kissed me.

My legs are still shaking, tears that I barely held inside while I was in front of him now sliding down my cheeks. I let my body sag against the door, the hard surface holding me upright, if only barely. I cover my mouth, a soft sob ripping out of my lungs.

Liam actually kissed me.

I thought about it a million times before, but I never dared to hope it would actually happen. And surely not like this.

This person tonight? It wasn’tmyLiam.

He was so angry. So enraged. I’ve never seen him like this, and I don’t like it one bit. But it’s all his damn fault. If he didn’t…

Shaking my head, I let my fingers trace my swollen lips.

He kissed me.

The all-consuming kind of kiss that shakes you to your very core. The kind of kiss that leaves you breathless, marked in the most basic sense possible. The kind of kiss that breaks you and puts your pieces back together.

How does a girl go from never being kissed to kissing two different boys in a matter of minutes?

It should have never been like this...

* * *

“You two still not talking?” Jessy asks as she looks between Liam and me, a deep frown between her brows.

It’s a recess and she accompanied me to my locker to switch my books before our next class starts just as Liam along with Mike, Jack, and a couple of other Wolves were turning the corner.

As always, I felt him even before I saw him, our eyes locking across the hallway and holding on for a few seconds before I broke our gaze.

“Nope.” I let the P pop as I turn my attention back to the task at hand.

I try to act like I don’t care one way or the other, but I can still feel his probing stare at the nape of my neck. My shoulders are tense, a light shiver going through my limbs as I pull out the books, chanting the same words over and over again in my head:You willnotacknowledge him.

“Oh…”

I give her a glare. “Oh, what?”

“I know that look.”

“What look? I don’t have a look.” I’m sure I most certainly do. Not like I’d ever admit it out loud.

Not like I have to anyway. Jessy being Jessy sees right through my crap. “What’d the hockey boy donow?”

“Nothing,” I say a bit too quickly.

“Evie,” Jessy drawls expectedly as she leans against the locker next to mine. Sighing, I scrape my teeth over my lower lip as I ponder if I should tell her or not. Jessy being Jessy, she’ll make a fuss about it, but if I don’t say anything, she won’t let it go. Might as well get it over with. Besides, maybe she gives me an insight into this mess I couldn’t come up with on my own.

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