Page 95 of Endless Anger
Sitting forward, my chest aches. “No, Tag, it isn’t like that.”
“It’s okay, really! Don’t worry?—”
“I’d love to go out with you!”
I blurt the words before I’ve even finished processing them, suddenlydesperate not to have Tag think poorly of me. Like I’ve been stringing him along or didn’t think he was good enough to tell about my boyfriend.
Mynonexistent boyfriend. I rip my hand from Asher’s hold and get up, reaching into the jar to fish out Tag’s cash.
Asher’s tense beside me, his rage palpable even from a foot away.
Walking around the table, I tuck the money into Tag’s palm, giving him what I hope is a kind smile.
When allies here are too few and far between, I can’t just let them slip through my fingers.
Tag grins. “Are you sure?”
“Asfriendsthough,” I add, too softly for Asher or Foxe to overhear.
Understanding dawns in Tag’s eyes, and he nods emphatically, then looks down at the fifty. “You should keep this?—”
I shake my head. “No way. Keep it so you can take me to get some good refectory food before the auditions. Remember, I don’t eat anything made from animals or their by-products.”
“Then I shall find us the finest vegan food in all of Fury Hill, m’lady!” He gives a fake salute and takes off down the quad, heading for the Lyceum and ducking inside.
Asher’s got his arms crossed, glaring at the now-empty jar when I come back to sit at the table. I scoot my chair out of reach, declining the cookies that Foxe tries to offer me.
“Do you enjoy doing things that piss me off?” Asher asks in a low voice.
“Yes,” Foxe and I say in unison. I lift my fist, and he bumps his knuckles against mine.
Scoffing, Asher juts his chin at the glass. “You gave away your only donation.”
“It was his money.”
“Well, great. Now you have none. How are you going to save the fucking animals with nothing?”
Thatdoes it. I feel something—a tether, threadbare and struggling—snap deep inside me, releasing a pit of every negative emotion I’ve beenbottling up since his arrival. Everything unspoken in the air over the last three years and the rejections in between—it all comes to a boiling point.
I whirl in my seat, jabbing my finger into the center of his chest. “Why don’t you letmeworry about that and mind your own fucking business? I didn’t ask for your help or your opinion or for you to be here at all, so for the love of fucking God, just leave mealone.”
The urge to tosspretty boyin there is strong, but when I turn back toward the quad, my face breaks out in hives with the influx of stares we’re getting.
Yep, he is definitely a problem. For multiple reasons.
A thought occurs to me, and I bend, reaching under the table for my backpack. The wooden box Willa and Eli found is at the bottom, and I take it out, shoving it into Asher’s arms.
“While we’re at it,” I say, pushing again for emphasis. I meet his gaze, doing my damnedest to keep my voice from shaking. “Stop leaving your shit in the forest.”
Asher pales a little. “Where the hell did you get this?”
“Someone else found it and brought it to me,” I say, shrugging. “So whatever’s inside, you should really consider if you’d want some random college kid stumbling on it and then don’t leave it out for just anyone to grab. That’s littering by definition.”
“Gonna issue me a citation, warden?”
Anger roils between my ears like the open mouth of a rushing river, yet I don’t miss the way his voice dips a little when he says that or how his eyes hood, dropping to my lips.
“I’ll report you to your sister,” I counter, giving him a saccharine smile. “Maybe when she gets you kicked out, you’ll give a shit about the environment. Or me.”
