Page 66 of No Romeo
“What’s the matter, fuckface?” I took a step, fists clenched so tight my knuckles ached. “Scared?”
He tried to fold back into his flock like a little pussy. I could practically smell him shitting his pants. “I’m not scared of your ass, Hunt.”
“Hendrix…” Wolf called from behind me.
A few “Come on, Hunt. Beat his ass” came from the crowd.
Everyone here expected a bloodbath. Based on my reputation, Ethan and every one of these dickheads should be sprawled out on the concrete. But this wasn’t one of our usual encounters. I’d noticed the phones recording. I’d seen the text thread. But as long as I didn’t hit him…
“Then step your ass up, Taylor.” I jutted my chin. “Get in my face if you aren’t a limp-dick, lying pussyfuck.”
Laughter came from the group of Dayton students surrounding us when I snatched Ethan’s stupid jersey, jerking him toward me. What I really wanted to do was choke him out, right there, in the parking lot.
“You keep my girl’s name out of your stupid ass mouth.”
He flinched away when I leaned in by his ear.
“Or I’ll cut your fucking tongue out and wipe my ass with it.”
“Gentlemen!” Brown’s monotone voice came from behind me. A clap sounded. “Break it up!”
I let go of Ethan’s jersey, then gave him a nice little shove. He fell back into his group of worthless friends, face white.
“What is going on here?” Brown shouldered through the crowd of students, his stern glare shifting from me to the Barrington guys. “Shouldn’t you boys be at your own school causing problems?”
“No problems here, sir,” Harford said, jerking his chin to signal to the rest of them it was time to go. “Just a friendly visit to stir a little school rivalry before the game this weekend.” His attention went to me. “Right, Hunt?”
“Yep. They just came by to remind us of what little bitches they are.”
The group of students around us thinned out when the rich kids climbed into the bed of their truck. The engine revved.
“Tell your girl I said hey, Hunt,” Ethan shouted before they sped off.
Brown’s attention moved to me. “Whatever is going on between you two boys, keep it off school grounds.”
Fuming, I turned around and headed toward the building, Wolf right beside me.
“You know you can’t kill him, right?” he asked when we stepped through the entrance.
“I can. There just can’t be witnesses.”
“Come on, dude. Don’t screw with me. I can’t tell when you’re joking about stuff like this.”
The problem was, neither could I.
“Don’t worry about me.” I passed through the metal detectors, my blood pressure still boiling.
Judging from the way the students crowding the hall scrambled to get out of my way, the anger must have been evident on my face.
Tell your girl I said hey.That comment burned through me, and what burned through me more was the fact that I had to stand there.
The tardy bell rang just as I shoved the restroom door open, then launched my fist into the graffitied cinder-block wall. “Fuck!” I punched the same spot, again and again, imagining it was Ethan’s face, imagining it was whoever the hell Lola had cheated on me with.
With each blow that landed against the concrete, each jolt of pain that ricocheted up my arm, a small bit of my rage disappeared. But not enough. Because while I was pissed as hell at Ethan, the person I was really mad at was myself.
He only had to mention her damn name to send me over the edge. I’d sworn after my mom had died, after our uncle who was supposed to take care of us had bailed, that I would never care more about someone than they did me. And that was exactly what I was doing with Lola. There was nothing in this rotten world I wanted more than her. No one I cared more about. And I was just a little puppet, letting her play with the strings she’d eventually cut in two.
I rinsed the blood from my knuckles, wrapped my hand in a paper towel, then headed to class.
