Page 100 of Tainted Romance

“What you saying? I’m dumb or something?” he quickly snapped back, his eyes scorching mine.

“No. I just thought that I would save you the trouble of having to spend an extra moment with me, considering you hate my guts.”

I don’t know where that confidence came from, but as soon as the words slipped from my lips, so did the confidence.

“Hate you?” He screwed his face up. “Who told you that?”

I went silent and just stared down at the textbook in front of me.

“Allie, tell me who said that?” Zane’s voice softened just slightly.

I hated the fact that tears were swelling. “Ebony, but even if she hadn’t been gossiping about it, I would still think the same.” I turned to meet his eyes. “You’re a jerk, Zane Harris, and I don’t care what you think of me anymore.”

A fire in my belly was growing against him, and I did something completely out of character for me. I picked up my books and walked out of the classroom.

That’s right I, Allie Winters, walked out of class early, and I didn’t even listen to the teacher yelling for me to come back.

Chapter Forty-three

ZANE

Her hair was blowing in the summer wind. Her eyes shone with happiness as she laughed and carried on with the Falcon brothers. Even Blake was smiling instead of frowning like normal, although I would be too if I could be around her.

“This party sucks.” Ebony threw her red plastic cup into the bonfire. “Who thinks of beach parties anyway? Who wants to party on a beach?”

She was in an unusually bad mood, real bad. So much as look sideways at her, and she was ready to take your head off.

Also noticed the way she kept looking in Allie’s direction. It was like the more fun Allie was having, the more pissed off she was getting.

“Why does it matter? It’s an excuse to get drunk.” Taylor refilled his plastic cup. “And watch half-naked girls dance.”

I would once agree with him, but now things were different. Allie was all I could focus on. Her and her white bikini, her laughter.

Fuck, she was killing me.

“You know what I hate most about the Falcon brothers?” Ebony piped up, out of nowhere. “I hate how they just cut everyone else out. Fuck. All they care about is Princess Allie,” she continued.

“What the fuck is it with you and them?” Taylor gave her a weird look. “Seriously, Ebony, you’ve got an obsession with them.”

“More like with one,” I corrected him, scoring a glare from Ebony.

“What? You can’t pretend like you haven’t been watching Blake’s moves all night.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “Something you’re not telling us, Ebony?”

“Fine,” she huffed, throwing herself down on the sand next to me. “He’s my mate. Happy?”

My eyes widened, but it was Taylor spitting beer everywhere that got the best reaction.

“It’s like fucking hell. How did I end up with that? Not to mention he is just blocking me out like I’m invisible!” she continued to rant.

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Why she hated Allie so much. Her obsession with what they were doing.

“Fuck,” was all I could say to her, “That’s rough, Ebs.”

She scoffed.

“Rough! That’s just plain fucking hilarious. You get landed with the one dude that couldn’t possibly stand you, plus, he has literally watched you all these years slut around. Classic.” Taylor shook his head amused.

She just flat-out glared at him.

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