Page 37 of Free Fall

My stomach drops. The boys don’t fight. They just don’t. Not for real. Not like this.

“You fucking asshole,” Reid breathes. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me.”

Lex’s gaze flicks from me to Reid. He looks resigned, which only spurs Reid on.

“You touched her.” He gets in his face. Lex is huge, but Reid has him on height. “You know—” Reid slams his fist into the locker behind Lex’s head, cutting himself off.

We’ve drawn the attention of the entire hallway crowd now. Looking around, we must’ve come into school between periods.

“The hell?” I hear Cade say behind me.

He runs up, and I grab his hand. “Make them stop.” The world is just so topsy turvy right now.

Reid’s breathing down Lex’s neck, a scowl twisted in betrayal.

Lex swallows. “You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, brother.”

“You touched her,” he says again. “Do I need to spell it out for you?”

Cade turns, his eyes wide. “Alright, everyone. Get to fucking class.” He starts to urge the crowd back, but no one’s budging. This is fucking juicy. This is juicier than Reid making me stand and turn in a circle so he can approve my outfit. When that doesn’t work, Cade turns to his best friends, “Guys, we need to take this elsewhere.”

When they don’t move, Cade physically moves them to a classroom that happens to be empty. I try to turn away, go to my next class or something, but he grabs my hand and yanks me inside too. I can’t even look at Reid, but there’s really nothing else to look at.

“Let’s just talk this over, okay?” Cade starts.

Reid runs his hands through his hair. “Sure, let’s talk this over. Let’s talk about, oh, I don’t know. How did she taste, Lex? Huh?”

Cade’s eyes round once more, then he looks from me to Lex. I can see the questions flaring in his eyes, and in the next second, him making the connection.

“Answer me!” Reid roars.

Lex shakes his head. “I’m not doing that, man. I’m sorry you’re pissed, but I couldn’t help myself.”

Reid pulls his fist back and punches Lex in the mouth.

Lex’s head snaps back, and I gasp.

“And she says you like her? You told her that?”

“Guys!” Cade says, placing himself between Lex and Reid before Reid can take another shot at him. I can tell he’s as disturbed by this as I am. My mouth dropped when Reid punched Lex and it’s still hanging open at this moment, wondering what world I’m living in now.

Lex looks over at me. I feel so guilty for saying something to Reid. “I-I didn’t know,” I say to him. I feel like I need to apologize for Reid’s outburst. I had no idea he would react that way. Now he’s getting punched because I didn’t keep what we did between us.

“It’s okay,” he says with a small smile. “I should’ve told him before this.”

“You’re damn right you should’ve,” Reid says, pushing against Cade to get to Lex.

I lunge forward. I’ve been staying out of it until now, but the tears dried on my face a long time ago. “Stop,” I shout, holding back on Reid’s arm. “Please. This isn’t you. This isn’t all of you.”

My touch on Reid’s arm does something to him, and he steps back. That doesn’t mean he likes it. He pulls his arm out of my grip and then wipes at his face. “Yeah, how does it feel to have someone you know act completely out of character? I told you you weren’t the only one suffering.”

“Leave her alone,” Lex says.

Reid points a finger at him. “Don’t you dare fucking act like she’s yours to defend.”

My head explodes. The fucking testosterone in this room is too much. “I’m none of yours!” I scream. “I ran away to leave all this behind, and I’d gladly still be there. If you want to punch each other, fight with one another, be my guest, just leave me the hell out of it.”

I turn on my heel and leave the room. Oddly, there are only a few people still outside the classroom, and when I open it, they take huge steps back, giving me as much room as I need. I grab my bookbag that’s still sitting at the base of my locker, and I head toward my next class. I have to check the time to figure out where I should be, and I don’t even know how late I am because my brain completely skipped over the bell ringing overhead or maybe I couldn’t hear it over the shouting.

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