Page 3 of Free Fall

I flinch, but it’s to be expected.

“Just leave her alone, Cade,” Jules says, trying to intervene on my behalf.

Ignoring her, Cade grabs my arm. “Come on, Briar, get your smelly ass to our table. Juliet’s already sitting there.”

I snap my head back at Jules. She lifts her shoulders as if she’s asking,What did you want me to do?

I thought we were sticking together. That’s what I imagined would happen. My brother’s friends have never known boundaries, but it’s gotten worse since Brady died. Now they try to stick their nose into every aspect of my life when I just want to be free of them. Instead, Cade drags me to the middle of the lunchroom right before the football table. There are various players sitting there along with their girlfriends. Surrounding the main table are little satellite tables. If you’re good, you’re expected at the main table, which is why all my brother’s friends are there and why he sat there once upon a time too.

My throat closes as the world swims in front of me. This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen.

“Cade,” Jules says behind us, but she’s too quiet now. No one is going to take her seriously with how mousy she is. That’s why I dyed my hair and picked out new clothes. I don’t care that I stick out at Spring Hill like a sore thumb. I don’t even belong here, so why try to fit in?

“What the fuck?”

Reid’s voice sends a shiver down my spine. It makes me want to cower, to bow my head and submit, but I lift my chin anyway. Sasha snickers next to him as she looks me over with distaste.

Reid rises from his seat. He draws the attention of everyone. It’s been like that since we were little kids. He just has that aura, a phenomenon about him that makes people want to sit up and take notice. He’s staring down at my clothes with contempt. I don’t need to look at the oversized sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants I put on that morning. The old me wouldn’t have been caught wearing this outside ever let alone for my first day of school, but I know now how ridiculous all this high school posturing is. Who cares? None of it matters.

“Go home and change,” Reid says, dismissing me with a flick of his hands.

“E-excuse me?” I sputter.

Reid turns his head, catching on me again. Then, he moves closer. His chestnut brown hair shines underneath the fluorescent lights in the cafeteria and with each step, my heart thunders louder and louder. “You heard me,” he says.

I feel the weight of everyone’s stares on me. Not just the football tables, but everyone in the cafeteria. Talking has stopped. At most, there are low murmurs as everyone watches what’s going on.

I grind my teeth together. “I’m not going home to change,” I tell him, making sure my voice has just the right amount of bite that’s hopefully telling him to fuck off without saying the actual words.

The tips of his shoes hit mine. My eye level only hits his upper chest, so I have to tweak my neck back to look into his eyes. He’s glaring down at me like I’m an inconvenience to him. It’s okay. I’ve been used to that look lately. His Adam’s apple bobs up and down once. “Go home, wash your hair out, and get new fucking clothes on. Now.”

I just smirk and shake my head at him. I swear he thinks he’s God or some shit.

The thought makes me laugh. God is a lot more frightening than Reid fucking Parker.

The green of his eyes pop against the deepening crimson blush of anger stretching out over his cheeks. He lowers his voice until it’s barely above a whisper. All the hostility is there, though, stealing away any calming vibes I had for the day. “You’re disgracing your brother’s memory.”

A gasp ricochets out of me. My stomach clenches painfully at his words. I don’t even think. I raise my hand and slap him. It happens so quickly I don’t even realize I’ve done it, but the collective surprise that ripples through the cafeteria brings me back to the present.

“Bitch!” Sasha yells. She jumps to her feet and comes at me, but Lex gets in her way, holding her easily back while she shouts hurtful things at me that my mind just erases as soon as it recognizes them.

All the while, Reid just stares at me, his jaw ticking. He hasn’t moved an inch. His green eyes molten as he stares at me like he’s burning up from the inside out.

“Miss Page,” a voice says. “My office. Now.”

The last thing I see when I turn away from Reid is the growing red patch on his cheek. I know I didn’t even hurt him. He’s a big, tough football guy, and I’m just little old me. What I did do was awaken a beast. Reid doesn’t let anyone get away with shit like that, even if I am the little sister of his dead best friend.

What he doesn’t realize is that I’d already declared war on them.

2

Isit waiting for my turn in the principal’s office, my head resting against the wall behind me. I think I even fall asleep for a little while. As I’m sitting there, though, I get ragier and ragier.

Reid, Lex, and Cade have it all. During my brother’s funeral, they sat next to their parents with stoic faces. Lex even had his hand wrapped around his sister’s forearm like he never wanted to let her go. Me? I was stuck in a black hole of dark, dark thoughts. I had no one by my side. Brady, who’d always been there for me, was currently being lowered into the dirt, leaving me alone up here to fend for myself without him.

The hatred started then, I think. Then it just grew and grew. The more they asked me to do things with them just ended up pissing me off. I’m glad they were able to go to the county fair and not think about Brady, but I couldn’t. I’m so happy they could continue to play football and have their epic parties afterward and not think about my brother every second of every day, but that’s not me. Hell, I don’t even want that to be me.

Brady had an out. He was going to get the hell out of Spring Hill just like he always wanted. Instead, he died of an aneurysm during football practice. They say it was brought on by a tackle, so no, I don’t want to think about football. I don’t want to hear about football. And I sure as fuck don’t want to be buddy buddy with my brother’s football playing asshole friends who think they run everything in this fucking town.

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