Page 78 of Take My Hand

“Yeah, well, he does.” Zak groaned. “In fact, he fucking petrifies me.”

“Why? He’s the least aggressive person that I know.” I narrowed my eyes. “Well, he did threaten this boy who bullied me the first year here.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. Told him if he touched me again he’d cut his balls off.”

“What did he do to you? The boy. Does he still go here?” His arm tightened around me, and his fingers curled into mine.

“Called me fat, pushed me off the stage during a rehearsal for the school play, and snapped my favourite rainbow pen in half and then laughed in my face.”

“Fucker,” he snarled. “So, is he still at this school?”

I wasn’t sure I dared tell him but hoped he was sensible enough to leave it. “Yes. It’s Christian Daniels.”

Zak stopped walking and looked down at me, blinking slowly. “The kid from the football team?”

“Yep. That’s the one.”

“The kid who walks around with his sleeves rolled up all the time?”

“Yep. That’s the one.”

“I’ll kill him.” His whole body stiffened, and his chest rose and fell with heavy breaths.

“It was six years ago, Zak. He hasn’t spoken to me since. Dad really scared him off.”

“I’m going to talk to him.”

He tried to pull away from me, but I hooked my fingers in the belt loops of his jeans. “No.” I pleaded with him, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. “It was so long ago that I don’t even think about it.”

“Did he hurt you?” His eyes grazed over my face, like he was searching for something. Desperate for a sign. When thereclearly wasn’t one, he exhaled slowly and pulled me against his chest.

“Honestly, once Dad spoke to him he stayed well clear of me.”

“Good. And I promise your dad will never have to threaten my bollocks. Ever.”

“Good to know.”

As we rounded the corner of the science block, I was happy to see there was no one around. We had the place to ourselves. Zak led us to a bench that was underneath the Biology room window. As the window was six feet higher than the ground we couldn’t be seen, and it had become our favourite spot to have time alone.

“We should do a two-man soon, with Liam and Emma,” Zak suggested, pulling a cigarette out of the packet in his pocket.

“If they ever admit to liking each other.”

“That’s why we do a two-man,” he replied. “You bring your friend on a date, and I bring mine, and we hope they get on. It’ll be a true definition of one.”

I shook my head and smirked. “I suppose it will.” I watched as Zak put the cigarette in his mouth but didn’t light it.

“No one will see you smoking around here,” I told him.

“I’m not lighting it.”

“Why not.”

He grinned around it. “I fancied one, but I’ve only got three left and once they’ve gone, that’s it, remember, so I don’t want to taste of it.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Plus, I don’t want to taste of it when I kiss you.”

“Oh, you think you’re going to kiss me, do you?”

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