Page 87 of Sinful as They Come
“You didn’t hear what he fucking said to her!” I defended myself.
“To who?”
“To Holly!” Yes, I had been defending her. I could admit that. I had been defending her a lot lately, but it seemed like no one else was in her corner. If Carter was going to keep getting in her face, then I’d just have to keep punching his until he learned his lesson. I didn’t like that he heldthatagainst her, like he was fucking entitled to anything.
“Miss Sutton? I thought the two of you didn’t get along.” He flipped through some papers on his desk before finding the yellow suspension paper I had become used to receiving. “In fact, I thought the two of you hated one another.”
I sighed, sitting back in the chair. “Yeah, I thought that too.”
He hummed, scribbling down what I assumed was my name and the date at the top of the paper. He slid it over to me before shaking his head.
“Mr. Westbrook, all I want is for you to go far. I realize you result to violence quite often,” Principal Yorke sighed. “But have ever thought about keeping those fists to yourself?”
“No,” was all I said.
He shoved the paper in my face. “Two weeks suspension, Mr. Westbrook. Don’t you want to graduate?”
I snatched the yellow form from his hand. “Yeah, but I like kicking Carter’s ass more. Thanks for the two-week break.”
I stormed out of his office before I could say anything else. He liked to do the whole pep talk, heart-to-heart thing; I liked to do the whole screaming, fist-to-face thing.
The hallway was empty when I got out. Everyone had gone off to class. But what about Holly? My hands turned into fists, remembering the look on her face. She had run off before she even got the chance to see what I had done to Carter. Maybe that would have put a smile on her face. I thought about telling her. About reminding her that Carter’s words didn’t mean shit, but she was probably stuck in class too.
I sighed. She was never getting out of my brain. Ever.
Chapter 30
SAWYER
I could get through a two-week suspension easily. It was still a surprise to me that I had only been suspended once during the whole school year. So far, at least. There were plenty more opportunities to kick Carter’s head in.
Hanging around school property wasn’t allowed thanks to my shiny new suspension, so I texted Brodie a quick run down of my talk with Principal Yorke. But I still couldn’t help but wonder where Holly was. We were supposed to have class together. English. But a quick and sneaky walk past our English room told me that she wasn’t there.
I had an urge to find her. I checked the library, making sure to look in every corner. I checked the room that Holly used for her newspaper meetings. I checked the cafeteria, only to come face to face with an empty room. She wasn’t even sitting in the flower garden where I had found her the other day. There was only one more place to look, and if she wasn’t there, then I was going to assume she just called it quits and went home for the day. Couldn’t blame her.
Taking long, quick strides, I quickly made my way to the back of the school. Where no one else went – most of the time, at least. It used to be just my spot, but when I rounded the corner to the brick wall, I saw a solemn Holly leaning up against it.
She was skipping class. There was a first time for everything.
“I punched him, like, fifteen times if that makes you feel any better,” was my greeting to her.
She turned to me slowly, brown eyes filled with tears once more. The only time I ever saw her cry was when Carter fucked up. Hopefully she would realize that she was better off without someone like him in his life. She wiped at her eyes quickly. Like I hadn’t already seen her cry before…
“It does.” She sniffled. “Kinda.”
I joined her, pressing my back to the wall but making sure to keep some space between us. Some distance still felt necessary. I pulled out a cigarette, thankful for the relief as the smoke filled my lungs.
“It’s weird seeing you sad. I think I like you a lot better when you yell at me,” I mumbled. “At least you’re happy then.”
She laughed softly. “It might be my favorite hobby.”
“Yeah, we’re both pretty good at it, huh?” I cleared my throat. “But… Look, you’re better when you stand up for yourself. When you’re all loud and in my face. I like how you never backed down from me. You never let me tell you what to do. You shouldn’t let anyone else treat you like he did.”
And I meant it. Part of me loved how she never shut up and refused to ever let me push her around. Loved how she never shied away from trash talking me, those perfectly glossy lips always parting fast to mouth off at me without a second thought. Holly knew how to stand up for herself when it came to me, and I wanted her to be like that for anyone who ever made her question herself.
“Thanks,” she said softly.
“I got suspended,” I said, my voice muffled a little as I bit down on my cigarette gently.
