Page 8 of Keeper of Hearts
So, I'll just go straight to the source of this problem.
"Fine," I say. "Straight to class, butterfly."
"You're not the boss of me, Gage Bronx."
"Troian, go to class."
She sticks her tongue out at me, but finally moves toward the door. I wait until I'm sure she's actually going to class, and then I take off in search of Corey. Our classmates crowd the courtyard, trying to catch a few moments of sunlight before the next bell rings. Luckily for me, Corey isn't hard to find. He stands a good foot taller than damn near everyone else.
"Gaines!" I shout when I spot him sitting on the low wall outside the gym with a couple of his friends from the soccer team.
He looks up and then sighs.
I crook a finger, ordering him to come to me. If I have to take him and his buddies on, I will, but I'd prefer for this to be a fair fight if it comes to that. Five to one isn't good odds for anyone.
He rises to his feet and crosses toward me.
"Bronx." He stops a few feet from me, crossing his arms. His closed-off expression oozes suspicion. As if I'm the problem here. He's the fucker after my girl.
"She's not going to Prom with you."
"That's her decision, not yours."
"I'm making it mine," I growl.
He eyes me for a moment, not saying anything. And then he shakes his head, a sharp bark of laughter ripping from his lips. "You're unbelievable, you know that?"
"What does that mean?"
"It means that girl would have exploded with happiness if you had asked her to the dance," he says, "But you didn't. You decided to break her heart and take someone else. Now you're pissed that she's going with me? If that's how you treat people who love you, Troian is better off without you."
"I…" I snap my mouth closed, unease ghosting through me. He's the second person today to tell me that I hurt her. It was easy to doubt coming from Victoria. She would have said or done anything to take the attention away from me shooting her down. The comment isn't so easily ignored coming from Corey, however.
Is that really why Troian ran off? She wanted me to ask her?
You know it is,a little voice says.
"Fuck," I whisper, my heart sinking. I'm an idiot. No, I'm worse than that. I'm an asshole. I've been dragging my damn feet for months—years— afraid to make a move, and this whole damn time, she's been waiting for me to man up and finally claim her.
She's been in love with me for years.
"Exactly," Corey says, pointing at me. "If you have a problem with me taking her, that's too bad. You should have thought of that before you humiliated her in front of the whole cafeteria."
"I didn't…"
"Yeah, you did," Corey says. "You said that shit and made her cry in front of Victoria."
"Fuck," I whisper again, my heart aching with regret. With shame. Troian doesn't cry in front of anyone. No matter how vicious Victoria gets, she never cries in front of her. But she ran out of the cafeteria in tears because of me.
I'm an asshole. No, I'mtheasshole.
All this time, I've been the thing making my girl sad.
"If you don't feel the same way about her, you need to back off."
"Why? So you can step in?" I growl. There's no way I'm letting that happen. I don't care if they are going to the same university next year. Troian is mine.
"No, you idiot," Corey snaps, his patience with me running out. "Because Victoria and her little posse have been making her life miserable over you for a long time, and you haven't put a stop to it. She deserves at least one good memory in this hellhole before she graduates."
