Page 17 of Free Fall

Wonder what that’s about?

The area behind my eyes heat, but I lock my jaw down and will myself not to cry even though my body is trembling.

Reid peels Sasha off his side, who’s currently sneering at me. Despite the fact that Cade just turned me around in front of him, Reid walks around me, inspecting. Everywhere his gaze touches, my skin pricks. It heats so much I wouldn’t be shocked if I have blooms of red all over my body by the time he’s done making his trip around me right there in front of everyone. When he gets in front of me, he tilts my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eyes. Sasha makes a strangled noise behind him, but he doesn’t pay her any attention. “How do you feel?” he asks.

Reid, in his shirt and tie, with his overpowering green eyes, and his gelled brown hair is a sight to behold. My stomach quivers. A lot of it’s nerves, but some of it is something else. Something I was never meant to feel for one of my brother’s best friends. As soon as I recognize the feeling, anger surges inside me. Here he is parading around me like the asshole he is, and I’m what…likinghim? It can’t be. I just think he’s hot. That’s all it is.

His grip on my chin tightens. “Well, Briar?”

I bite the inside of my cheek. I went from feeling almost okay this morning, grateful that Cade had shown up and made me put on this dress. I thought I looked pretty even, but here I am being harassed in front of a bunch of people. “Actually, I’m feeling a little like your bitch at the moment. Can’t say that I enjoy it.”

Sasha squawks. Literally. There’s no other word to describe the derisive noise that pours from her mouth. “Like he’d want you to be his bitch when he has me.”

I shrug, never losing contact with Reid’s eyes, so I notice when the green in his eyes turn more of an emerald shade. A muscle jumps in his jaw. “Wrong answer.”

“I’m not sure I can give you a right answer.” I push his hand away from my chin, his short nails slicing me in the process.

My dismissal doesn’t bother him. He looks at Cade. “What about makeup?”

Cade shrugs nonchalantly. He’s got the ever-present small smile on his lips. “I thought she looked good without it.”

Reid makes a face that says he doesn’t agree, but he also doesn’t verbalize it. In the background, I notice movement, so my gaze flicks to behind Reid. It’s Lex. His upper arm muscles are practically bulging out of his crisp, black shirt. He has the cuffs rolled up to mid forearm. The three of them together? Damn. I don’t know as if I’ve ever noticed it before. I was on the inside. They were like brothers to me, but not anymore. The thing linking us together is gone.

“But you’d fuck anything,” Sasha says. “So, I don’t think your opinion counts.”

Cade laughs along with everyone else, but I swear he tenses at her comment. When everyone looks away from him, the smile leaves his face. No, Cade Farmer did not like that comment one bit. “You would know,” I strike back.

For a second, nothing happens. I know I went low, not that Sasha doesn’t deserve it. She’s a horrendous bitch. There’s always been a rumor that Cade fucked her. I honestly don’t think it’s true. No way the guys would do that to one another, but the fact that I just brought that up in front of all their adoring fans, I know I’m about to get a whole pile of shit.

Sasha marches forward. Her face is beet red. “You little bitch. You think because you’re wearing a dress today that you’re all of a sudden hot shit. You’re not. You’re nothing. You always were. Just because Brady was somebody doesn’t mean you are or ever will be.”

I always thought I was more of a passive person. But the new me is more of a strike first, ask questions later person.

I lunge at the bitch. How dare she even say my brother’s name? But, apparently, my new habits aren’t as strategic as I think because Reid steps in between us at the same time Cade reaches out to grab my arm while it’s flying through the air toward her face. He spins me toward him until my back is pressed against him. “Alright, feisty Shortie,” he says, practically cooing in my ear. “That’s enough of that.”

Reid’s eyes are hard as he holds back a foul-mouthed Sasha like she was going to be the one to kick my ass. It’s nothing for him to hold her back, just a single arm across her midsection. I glare back at him. I can’t believe he’s going to let her say that to me. “You’re so stereotypical, you know that?” I ask. He’s like the fucking jock you see on TV who only cares about himself and picks on the lowly people that dare walk his halls. He’s a character sketch, that’s all he is.

I struggle out of Cade’s grip, snatch my bookbag up from the floor that must have dropped sometime in the whole process, and start walking the other way. The bell rings overhead. There are going to be a lot of late students to homeroom this morning because most of them were watching the free show that was going on in the jock hallway.

My chest constricts as I head to the girls’ bathroom near the library. I barrel through it, but I never hear the door shut behind me. Instead, someone else has followed me inside. I twist my head to see who it is. Black hair and a small smile greet me. “You can’t say shit like that,” Cade admonishes.

“You’re in the girls’ room.”

“Like I haven’t been in here before, Briar. Come on. I’m the school slut, right?”

“He shouldn’t have let her say that to you either.”

Cade’s lips thin. “She was out of line,” he agrees.

“You’reallout-of-line. Parading me around, inspecting my dress, my makeup,me. Fuck you, Cade. Get out of here.”

Cade shakes his head as he turns toward the door. After he leaves, I smack the ceramic sink in front of me until the tears dry up behind my eyes and pain blooms on my palm and fist. Then, I get out the eye makeup I keep in my bag and layer it on. I go heavy with the eyeliner and dark shadow. By the time I’m done, I’m looking pretty goth, but it’s still not quite right. I find a pair of nail clippers that I happen to have in my bag and snip my dress below the collar. I make five curved gashes that make the dress look more punk skater than sundress, then throw the clippers back in my bag. I stand back in the mirror. They want to pick out my outfits, fine. I can always do this. I turn to the side, smiling in the mirror. Honestly, I think this looks pretty damn good for a job I cobbled together.

I pull my phone out and take another selfie, sending it to Ezra.This looks better.Immediately, he responds with heart eyes emojis.

Feeling much more confident, I pick my bookbag up and head toward my first class. I’ll probably get another detention for not making it to homeroom, but oh well, they can just add that to the ones I got when I slapped Reid. He fucking deserved it.

The day passes, and I don’t see Jules or the other guys until lunch. “Whoa. Nice,” Jules says when I walk up to the table we’ve now claimed and set my tray down. “I like it.”

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