Page 29 of Rebel Romeo

“Shut up,” I bit out.

A week had passed since the party… the alley… Katherine slapping me.

A whole week of awkward rehearsals and class. Other than sharing a stage, we’d mostly avoided each other and had been lucky that the scene work was focused on non-romantic scenes. Thank Christ.

And though I didn’t tell Duncan the whole story, I told him enough, omitting any parts about Katherone selling me her panties.

And that was hard because I told Duncan fucking everything.

Slowly, my gaze lifted, taking Katherine in from the tips of her Frye boots up her lean denim-clad legs. She’d ditched her usual vintage graphic t-shirts and in its place, she was wearing a low-cut tank top with some jeweled shit bedazzling the trim. My throat went dry at the sight of the small swell of cleavage pushing out the top of her shirt and when I finally reached her eyes, she was staring at me.

No, not staring. Glaring.

She was fucking glaring at me with the burning hatred of a thousand suns.

And like the sun, she was so goddamned beautiful that it literally hurt to look at her for too long. If I closed my eyes, I could almost hear her moans. At night in bed, I’d picture what she looked like when she came as I touched her panties, gripping them against my cock?—

Jill linked her arm into Katherine’s. “Come on,” she said, tugging her friend toward the door. “We can go somewhere else.”

“No,” Katherine snapped, her eyes not leaving mine.

From beside me, Duncan clicked his tongue and nodded toward Jill with a wink. “Don’t be a douchebag,” I said.

“I’m the douchebag for winking at a girl?” He paused to lean in closer to me, adding with a whisper, “At least I didn’t finger a virgin in the alley.” Thank God it was quiet enough that Katherine and Jill couldn’t hear him.

My face went beet red and I swear if I didn’t love Tinki and Gordon so much, I might have thrown Duncan through the wall. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re my best friend, do not talk about Katheri?—”

My threat was cut short when the bells chimed again and Nate came walking in with another guy I didn’t recognize behind him.

My heart pounded and a ragged breath escaped me. I wanted to look away. Or get up. Leave. Go to the bathroom… anything to not have to sit there and watch as Nate and Katherine had this fucking double date right in front of me.

But I couldn’t look away. And with a blink, Katherine’s expression shifted from rage to pity.

I forced myself to close my eyes and I gestured at Tinki. “Could we get our order to go? I’ll have my usual. Order whatever you want, Duncan.” Then, tossing my credit card onto the bar, I got up and excused myself to the bathroom.

I was just finishing washing my hands when the bathroom door opened. I fully expected to see Duncan standing there, but it wasn’t.

It was Katherine.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Wrong bathroom, freshman.”

“You’re an ass.”

Both my brows shot up. “Well, well, well, the impossible has been achieved. I got you to curse.”

The muscle in her jaw tensed and she stepped forward, pushing off of where she was leaning against the door. “You don’t get to act like the victim here, Holden! And I’m not leaving. I’m having a nice dinner here with my friends here whether you like it or not!”

I snort. “Oh, you’ve made that really clear.”

She paused, pressing the heel of her hand between her eyes and squeezing them closed.

“What’s this?” I asked, touching her wrist gently. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying not to cry!” she shouted.

Oh, fuck me. Please don’t cry. “Katherine?—”

“Don’t!” she shushed me by holding out her other hand. “I’m not sad. I’m angry. And I cry when I’m angry. I can always tell it’s coming because I get this little tingly burn here in my sinuses.” She paused, tapping her fingers between her eyebrows. Then after another pause and a deep breath, she pointed her finger in my face, continuing her rant. “I’m not going to stop living my life just because you’re the star of this school. I’m not going to hide out of fear of running into you. I’m not quitting the show. I’m not dropping the class.”

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