Page 26 of Intertwined Souls

The first real true friend I had and I just up and left her.

Honestly, I wouldn’t blame her for not wanting anything to do with me. Hell, I wouldn’t either.

Pinching her lips together, her eyes roam over me before she says, “I tried to see you after you just kind of disappeared, but your mom said that you were at a treatment facility. But then the guys talked to me a while ago and said you were staying with them? What’s going on? Are you safe?”

I nod and take a breath, feeling bad for lying to her, but I know I have to stick with the story that Nerds set up. “Yes, I’m safe. I found out about my birth father and wanted some time away to figure things out. I was at a school in Virginia the last several months, but now I’m back and staying with my dad,” I explain.

“I—” She frowns slightly before wiping it off her face and smiling at me. “Okay. I’m glad you're back. I missed you, too. We should spend some time together soon.”

I nod, and we exchange numbers, promising to do something soon. Lex walks with us down the hall, even saying hi to the boys and seeming okay around them. I know before she had her issues with them. I’ll have to remember to ask her about that later when we’re alone.

Lex and Ryker turn off to the left to go to their two classes while Grayson and Cade walk farther down the hall we are in to our first class we all have together.

While we walk, I ask them about Lex and when they talked to her.

“A while ago, we talked to her because we found out through the audio recorder in the Wilson’s house that she had gone over there, but we didn’t catch enough of the conversation. She really seems like she just wants to make sure you’re okay.” Grayson shrugs. “Plus, we’ve been keeping an eye on the Wilson’s house and the recorder, and Lex hasn’t been back there.”

“You really checked into her,” I say, furrowing my brows.

He frowns. “We needed to make sure she didn’t have bad intentions and needed to know what Tammy might be telling other people. She seems like a good person now that we understand her issues with us.”

Grayson continues on to explain how Lex said she has heard things about the club, like how it was run before Gabriel took over as the president and she doesn’t like that the boys walk around representing such a horrible place. Plus, she was worried about me getting involved. It angers me to find out that Steph has been holding something over her head to get her to help try and get Grayson away from the others. Just another reason to hate the bitch.

I’m not looking forward to running into her, but of course as my luck would turn out she is in my first class and immediately sets her eyes on–on Cayden?

Chapter Seven

Cayden

Ireally thought that after our last not-so-friendly encounter, the bitch would just back off, but of course not. Especially not that Harley is here now.

Steph attempts to give me a seductive smile, but it falls flat when I glare at her and walk down an aisle on the opposite side of the classroom from her. I take a seat in the back corner, and Harley sits to my left with Grayson sitting on her other side.

Steph keeps glaring at Harley and then glancing at me, but I stop watching her when I notice Harley’s leg shaking and her pencil gripped so tight in her palm it might snap.

Reaching over, I lay my hand on top of hers and give a slight squeeze.

She turns her head and looks at me, her lips thinned. “Are you…” she starts to question but then stops.

I shake my head. “It was a one-time stupid ass mistake and then a few days that I spent hanging out with her. I haven’t touched her or even thought about her since you’ve been around.”

She nods, taking a deep breath. “Okay.”

I furrow my brows and open my mouth to make sure she is actually okay with that, but she pulls her hand away from mine and faces forward. Shit. An uneasy feeling I’ve never felt before hits me square in the chest, and I can’t help but run through ideas in my head of what I can do to make sure she knows I am only hers and will only ever be hers.

Killing Steph would probably be taking it too far. Right?

All throughout the class, Steph stares at me or sends Harley glares before whispering with her minions while glancing back here.

Harley has stayed facing forward the entire time, but I can see the tension in her body as she sits completely still. The second the bell rings she is leaping from her seat, grabbing her bag and heading straight out the door. Grayson and I hurry to catch up with her, exchanging concerned glances.

As soon as we are in the hall, we find Harley already halfway down towards the lockers. By the time we catch up to her, she is opening her locker and shoving her things inside to pull out her math book for the next class.

“Harley, do you want to talk?” I ask carefully as we step up behind her.

She spins around and scrunches her nose up in confusion. “Talk about what?”

“The Steph thing…” I trail off, unsure of exactly how to go about this.

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