Page 56 of King

He takes a minute, glancing away before I try to pass him the joint again in an attempt to ease his wounds. Luca doesn’t take it, raising an eyebrow. “You being serious, Rowland?”

I nod. “I’m really sorry, I am. But you’re cool. And nice. So we can keep hanging—”

Luca leans in again, wrapping an arm around me. “C’mon, don’t be a tease.”

I lean away, looking at him with my mouth twisting. “Don’t be a dick. I said no.”

“That’s not what your kiss told me.” He leans in again but this time he doesn’t let up.

“Luca!” I try to push him away but he presses down harder. He pins my hand to the building. I use the other one to swat at his face. “Luca. Stop.”

“Shut the fuck up slut,” he says. “It’s not like we don’t all know you’re a whore.”

His lips are on mine and I bite down on his bottom one until the taste of copper hits my tongue.

“Ow! Bitch!” His demeanour changes and I try to get up but he’s already on his feet, pushing me back down. He climbs on top of me, pinning me to the ground between his legs. “You’re going to pay for that.”

Seventeen

“Get the fuck off me, Luca!”

Luca claps a hand over my mouth but I keep swatting at his face. My swings aren’t calculated. I just need him off me but my franticness has him dodging my swings each time.

I know I’m a contradiction. I let Damien do similar things to me last night but that was different. I wanted that. I don't want this.

“If you liked that kiss, wait until you see what I have coming.” He pins my arms to my chest before I hear the zip of his slacks.

No.

He wouldn’t.

Another yell brings his hand back to my mouth, my cries for help turning into muffled nonsense. He’s pressing my head against the pavement and I don’t care how many scratches I’m getting on my arms or my legs. I want Luca Ferraro off of me.

“Sssh,” he says, one less layer of clothes between us. His thigh touches mine, something hard and warm on my leg and I don’t want to acknowledge what that is. He pushes his hand into my chest, licking the palm of his other before reaching down.

“Luca?" A voice startles him and there's a wave of relief in my chest.

He uses my face for leverage, pushing his body off the ground. Luca stammers, “I-Isaac? I—”

“What are you doing?” He looks over at me as I push my back against the building, pulling down my kilt, covering my chest. It takes a lot to shut me up but now, I've got nothing to say.

Luca wipes at his nose and looks back at me. “Thought I’d take the class slut for a ride.”

“Wrong answer, Ferraro.” Isaac takes a step closer, his own joint in his hand. He's missing half of his uniform, sports jacket in place of his blazer. “I’m giving you ten seconds to get the fuck out of here or I'm coming back and I won't be alone."

I can hear Lucka buckling his belt but I don’t want to look his way. I don’t want to look at him at all. “No need, Johnson,” Luca says. “She’s all yours.” I hear him spit before he walks away.

Looking up again, Isaac's looking back at me with thick furrowed brows. Without a word, he shakes his head and walks away.

During the first fifteen minutes of school the next day, my Docs pace in front of Headmaster Beckett’s office. I’m not sure if Isaac said anything to anyone. Not sure if Luca did either, but I wasn’t going to let him get away with that. The students here already get away with so much.

When I speak to Beckett’s secretary, she’s zero help. After giving me a speech about protecting ERA’s reputation, she says since I wasn’t raped, I should see a therapist and keep this to myself. It’s baffling, but it isn’t surprising this school cares more about their rep than their students.

Leaving the office with a feeling of defeat, I try to keep my head low and carry on with my week. There’s an urge to find out if Luca’s done this to anyone else but I’m starting to fear ruining my chances here. I’m here for Willow. Our future. Do I want to fuck that up by pressing harder? Luca didn’t complete what he set out to do. Should that be enough?

He's almost nonexistent after that incident. The Archibalds will likely care as much as this school. I’m not even sure if telling any other faculty would result in help. So I tell one of the only people who seem to care. Allie. And she’s livid, says she’ll kill him and offers her lawyers to take this to court. Confused and overwhelmed by it all, I told her I’ll let her know.

Art class comes after lunch. It's another way to get out of my head and that’s exactly what I do.

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