Page 53 of Liars

“I’ll walk you to class,” Mason added, leading her away. “We wouldn’t want you causing any more fights.”

“This wasn’t my doing,” she scoffed, but she let him guide her down the hall.

Maddox stood beside me, his arms crossed, glowering at Kaylor’s back as she disappeared.

The moment she was gone, a whistle blew, jolting the rest of the students back to reality. Slowly, the crowd scattered, their whispers lingering in the air like static.

My reputation? Intact. Maybe even more infamous than before. They’d be talking about this for weeks.

Then why did I feel like shit?

Maddox removed his sunglasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What the fuck are you doing? Did you sleep with her?”

I rolled my shoulders, shrugging off the weight pressing into my chest. “Are you pissed she didn’t get your dick wet first?”

His jaw ticked. “Something’s up with you. And it isn’t just the bulge in your pants.”

I exhaled sharply, forcing a smirk. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

She’s nothing I can’t handle, I silently added.

And yet, I never did find out what she was doing roaming the halls.

15

KAYLOR

“I’ve literally had to wait all day. I can’t wait a second more.” Poppy pouted, looping her arm through mine as we weaved through the crowded halls. With a dramatic gasp, she halted in the middle of the hallway, forcing a group of juniors to swerve around us. “Tell me you weren’t actually sitting on Kreed’s disco stick?” she shrieked, coming to a standstill in the middle of the hall.

I stiffened. Heat crawled up my neck as a few students turned their heads, eyes gleaming with curiosity.

God, can she be any louder?

“Disco stick?” I snorted, giving her a look that I hoped conveyed keep your voice down. Not that it mattered. The whole school, the teachers, and the staff heard about my morning with Kreed. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a chain of texts going out to the parents.

We were on our way out of school, heading back to Stacks for lunch. I needed the fresh air to clear my head.

Poppy waved a dismissive hand. “It was the first thing that popped into my mind. Now stop stalling. The entire school,and I mean theentireschool is talking about you and Kreed. Specifically, how you got to see the elusive manhood of Public’s most feared yet wanted guy.”

I groaned. “Most wanted? Please.”

Poppy gave me a look. “Oh, come on. It’s that whole ‘you want what you can’t have’ effect. Kreed’s standoffishness makes him more attractive to, well, everyone. It’s psych 101.”

Make it make sense.

I exhaled sharply. “I didn’t see his dick. I just felt it. Nothing happened between us despite what Kreed implied.” My stomach twisted at the memory of the gym—of the way his words had sliced through me in front of everyone. “He was being an ass this morning, trying to hurt me or teach me a lesson. I don’t know which.”

Maybe both.

Poppy nodded, unsurprised. “Now that sounds like the Kreed I know. How bullish of him to twist the situation around and create a false narrative. They’re always doing shit like thatandgetting away with it.”

“You mean the Raven Crew?”

“The one and only,” she sighed.

Of course.

Her tone held a knowing edge like she’d seen this play out before. And maybe she had. Maybe Kreed and his band of untouchable assholes had done this to other girls.

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