Page 19 of Find Me
They blatantly hated me. Wednesday, Cassy had rammed her shoulder into mine as we had passed each other in the hall. She’d told me to stay out of her way. I had a feeling she hadn’t been referring to when she was walking in the halls. Her and her friends had judged, snidely commented on, and made fun of everything and anything to do with me. They’d quickly picked up on the fact that I wore a sweatshirt in gym. Sam, a member of Cassy’s posse, had asked if I wore sweatshirts to hide the fact that I was flat-chested. Not that it mattered, but my breasts were not something I would ever feel insecure about. Amber, another member, had said my hair color made me look like a troll. I’d done my best to ignore them. Colt, on the other hand, couldn’t. He’d come to my defense a few times. A lot of the girls didn’t like that, especially Amber. It was obvious she had it bad for Colt and she saw me as a threat for being his friend. When Creed had come to my defense yesterday after Cassy had made a comment about the scars on my ankles, Cassy had glared at me with this look that had promised I would pay.
“I know you’re eighteen and all,” Logan started, his tone hinting that he was slightly uncomfortable with what he was about to say. “And you’ve got a level head on your shoulders, but if you end up liking one of these boys, you know how to be safe, right? I really don’t want to give you the sex talk, but if I have to—”
“That won’t be necessary,” I cut him off. I’d already hadthe talkwith my mom. “And like I said, they’re just friends.”
“Yeah, I had girls who were ‘just friends’ in high school, too.”
I scrunched my nose as I turned down my street. With Logan’s call, I’d slowed to a walk and now that I was cooled down, my run was over. “I don’t think I can have anything more than friends.”
“That’s perfectly fine, Shi. Healing isn’t a race and if anyone tries to pressure you into anything you’re not ready for, just remember what I taught you.”
“I don’t think stabbing a teenage boy in the carotid is the best course of action.”
“You never know.” The smile I could hear in his voice caused the corners of my own mouth to lift.
An awkward silence followed. We’d been skirting around the Mr. X topic. Steeling myself, I forced out the question I was dreading to ask. “How…how isitgoing?”
He was quiet for a moment. “We have a possible lead in Mississippi. Ian and I are catching a flight there in about an hour.”
If he had more to report than that, I knew he’d tell me, and he wouldn’t sugarcoat it, either. That was just who he was. I was grateful for it, but that didn’t mean it was always easy to hear.
We hung up not long after that and the music from my running playlist started playing through my earbuds again. As I approached my house, I headed for my 4Runner. Talking to Logan about planting flowers had reminded me that I still needed to get the big bags of soil out of my trunk. Humming to the music, I opened the trunk and pulled out one of the three heavy bags. I grunted as I used my knee to heft the heavy bag further up in my arms.
A hand grabbed my shoulder. I didn’t know if it was because I had just talked about Mr. X or what, but fear exploded in my chest and my survival instincts took over. I dropped the bag of soil, grabbed the hand on my shoulder, and threw my elbow back at the person behind me. They caught my elbow with a skilled dodge before it could touch them. So I hooked my foot around their leg and slammed my whole body backward into theirs. With my music still playing, I felt rather than heard their grunt jump in their chest. By the lack of breasts and the masculine smell, I was betting my attacker was male. We both fell to the ground and I rolled off of him with my hands still locked around his. My plan was to hyperextend his arm. As I threw my legs over his neck and chest, my gaze locked with wide, familiar, golden brown eyes. The person I had just taken to the ground was the twins’ flirty older brother.
“Keelan!” I quickly ripped my earbuds out and was met with the sound of laughter. Standing in their driveway, Colt and Creed were bent over laughing.
A slow, bright smile stretched across Keelan’s mouth. “I think I’ve met my soulmate.” He shifted under me and groaned. “Can I have my arm back now?”
I might have been in shock because I still had his completely tattooed arm clamped between my legs. I quickly lifted my legs off of him and released my grip on his hand. “I’m so sorry, Keelan,” I said, scooting away until my head touched the bumper of my 4Runner. I brought my knees to my chest and tried to slow my speeding heart rate. My hands were shaking uncontrollably. Scratch that, my whole body was trembling.
I rubbed my chest as I let out a wobbly breath. I was relieved that it had been Keelan, but fear had taken root. The kind of fear I hadn’t felt in a while.
Keelan’s eyes narrowed as he studied me. Then he quickly sat up. “Hey, are you okay?”
Not trusting my voice, I nodded.
Worry furrowed his brow. “Shit, I’m sorry I scared you. I called out to you, but you had your music on. I was seeing if you needed help.” He pointed at the bag of soil I’d dropped.
Creed and Colt, who had finally stopped laughing, came over and stared down at us.
Colt gave me a small smile. “I warned him not to sneak up on you because you scare easy.” He shook his head, chuckling. “Didn’t expect you to ground him, though.”
“That was the best thing I’ve ever seen,” Creed said, grinning at Keelan. “How did someone as tiny as Shiloh take down someone who’s been learning mixed martial arts since he was six?”
Keelan shrugged. “Once I realized she had some skill, I wanted to see how much she knew.” His eyes flicked to me. “How long have you been training?”
“Almost a year.”
His brows shot up. “Jiu-jitsu?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry if I hurt you,” I said with a shaky voice.
Having noticed, Keelan quickly got to his feet and held his hand out to me with concern etched around his eyes. “It’s okay, Shiloh. I’m not hurt.”
That was a relief. I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. I quickly brushed off the dirt sticking to my leggings and the sleeve of my jacket.
Colt scooped up the bag of soil and threw it over his shoulder. “Where do you want it?”
