Page 8 of Feral
Then again, knowing him, he probably would’ve run her over just to get his point across.
“Ella,” he called, his engine roaring to life as he pulled up alongside her. Ella was sure going less than sixty for any length of time was going to strain the car’s delicate insides. “I’m telling you, you don’t wanna go back there.”
“Why not?” she demanded without slowing her pace.
“Because Mom invited Marissa’s parents over.”
Ella froze in her tracks. She reluctantly turned to face him and found no hint that he was screwing with her on his face. Just a smug, lopsided grin she once would have found charming.
He leaned over to pop the passenger door open. “Get in. I’ll take you to the mall to get some new clothes. Your old stuff is shit anyway.”
Ella felt an all-too-familiar flame roaring back to life inside her. “Screw you.”
“If you meant that, this whole thing would go a lot more smoothly,” he quipped without missing a beat.
She gritted her teeth to smother another growl and after a moment of arguing with herself, she finally got in on the passenger’s side and slammed the door shut as hard as she wished she could slap him.
“You can drop me off at the mall, and if you piss me off, I’m getting an Uber back.”
She waited for him to argue, but instead, he just smirked and turned his attention back to the road. “Fair enough, Princess.”
“I’m not a princess,” she snapped, folding her arms. “But soon enough,youcan start calling me Your Grace.”
He was the only person she’d ever be tempted to lord her status over, too, if only to keep him at arm’s length. Much safer that way.
He snorted a laugh, tearing down the hill at a high enough speed she felt the need to grip the chicken handle. “We’ll see.”
Ella decided her best course of action was just to stay silent for the rest of the ride. Axel had always enjoyed getting a rise out of her, even more so those days.
Of course, Axel had other plans.
“I heard you tried to choke Marissa to death,” he finally said in a casual tone, as if he were discussing the weather.
Ella looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “And yet, you continue to bother me.”
“Please. I wouldn’t even have to touch you to have you rolling on your back and mewling like a kitten.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks, as much from embarrassment as rage. She tried to ignore the heat building between her thighs, tugging her skirt down as if he’d somehow know the effect his words had on her already tenuous restraint.
Whomever had engineered heat suppressants, she was pretty sure they hadn’t accounted for Axel’s filthy mouth. Ella hated herself for finding it more arousing than repulsive.
“I didn’t try to choke her,” she muttered, even though she wasn’t quite sure that was the truth. “Anyway, she attacked me first.”
“You were in her room,” he countered.
She turned her head toward him sharply. “I just got through being interrogated by the Headmaster, and I don’t have to take it from you.”
“Hey, I wasn’t judging,” he said, lifting his hands off the wheel for longer than she was comfortable with. He looked over at her, his eyes gleaming with mischief as they traveled over her in that way that made her feel naked. “It’s kind of a hot mental image, the two of you rolling around on the floor clawing at each other. Wish I’d been there to see it.”
“Oh, fuck off,” she hissed. “And keep your eyes on the road.”
He threw his head back and laughed, but he complied, for the most part. “I’m just messing with you. But seriously, I’m glad you finally stood up for yourself.”
“Oh, really?” she challenged. “You didn’t seem to feel that way when I toldyouto go to hell.”
“I’m not the one who spent years bullying you.”
Ella turned to gape at him when she realized he was serious.
