Page 18 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
Spencer
How did Spencer end up back at the school he swore he’d never come near again? Oh yeah, it was to annoy the cute rich girl.
The younger cute rich girl.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and looked up at the concrete jungle he’d escaped from three years before. It wasn’t that he had no good memories of the place. When he was inside those walls, he felt like a king.
But every day he’d gone home to see the disappointment in his parents’ eyes. Never smart enough. Never talented enough.
Not like his little brother.
High school was filled with confusion for him. He had friends—a lot of them—yet kept in contact with exactly zero during his travels.
His family loved him, he knew that, but they didn’t understand him or his need to leave Gulf City, even just for a little while. But now, after working his way across other continents in bars, cafes, and the odd random jobs, he was now back to shoveling horse crap just like they’d always wanted for him.
“You coming?” Blond hair fell loose from the ridiculous bandana Hadley had on her head. She brushed it away, glancing back at him like she hoped he wasn’t there.
She didn’t like him. The thought made him smile. He enjoyed getting under people’s skin.
But this wasn’t just anyone. She was in high school. Spencer had to keep reminding himself of that.
Hadley opened the back of the car and started leading goats out. Spencer jumped in to help her, wondering how mad his mom was going to be when she found them gone. He could imagine her head exploding in rage, but not at Damien. She’d blame Spencer. Not like he cared. She’d get her wish soon enough when he left again.
Gulf City was just a temporary stop on his way back to Australia. As soon as he was sure Damien would be okay, he was out of there.
Hadley hurried across the dark parking lot to where the only other cars were parked. Damien leaned against the side of one of them. Roman talked to two kids Spencer didn’t know.
Kicking away from the car, Damien ran toward Spencer. “What are you doing here?”
“He caught me with the goats.” Hadley shrugged. “It was either bring him or get found out.”
“Spence wouldn’t have told anyone,” Damien scoffed. He was right, but Hadley didn’t need to know that. Spencer was forever protecting his brother from trouble. It was one of the reasons his parents thought he was a problem-child and Damien was the angel. They never saw the truth.
Hadley narrowed her eyes as she looked to Spencer. “Let’s just do this.” She shifted her eyes the others. “Bails, you ready?”
“Yes, ma’am!” The other girl hollered back.
“All right, we have too many goats to bring in all at once, so let’s do it in stages. Someone has to stay out here with the cars. My vote is for Spencer.”
“Not a chance.” He crossed his arms.
“Brayden will do it,” Bailey offered.
The boy in question tried to argue, but that only earned him a slap upside the head from his sister, and he shut up.
“How are we getting into the school in the middle of the night?” Spencer didn’t exactly understand what they were trying to do.
Hadley completely ignored him as she tugged on the goat’s lead and started for the school. Spencer followed her, needing to see her plan through. Something about the girl fascinated him. The way her mind worked in an almost diabolical way. She had comebacks for everything and sarcasm for days.
And she didn’t care one lick what he thought about her.
She was also a high school senior. He hadn’t returned home to get involved with a high schooler.
They reached the doors, and Bailey procured a key. “I took this out of my mom’s purse. She’ll kill us if she finds out.”
“Why would your mom have a key to the high school?” Spencer asked.
Bailey shrugged. “She’s the vice principal.”
