Page 20 of Brutal Prince

Briar

Dylan, Zak, and Marcus are lounging in our regular spot by the front steps of the school when I arrive a few minutes before the first bell rings.

I pull my Mustang into my parking spot. It’s always open; no one dares to park here anymore. Marcus steps closer, toking at his slim, silver vape as he sticks out his hand to shake mine.

Dylan yells out, “You cut yourself shaving or something?”

Shit. I’d been blasting metal on my car stereo, and it had taken my mind off everything — including my run-in with last night’s little trespasser and the brazen memento she left me with. If Marcus had noticed it last night, he hadn’t commented on it but now he’s staring at it with a deep frown.

I grin at him, trying to ignore the aching cut on my cheek. “You know what happens when I look for trouble.”

“You find it?” Marcus says, hitting his vape again.

Zak and Dylan stick out hands for me to fist bump. Dylan even goes as far as to tip his white baseball cap at me, and laughs when I cock an eyebrow at him. Then Zak and Dylan go back to talking about last night’s game. We usually hang out on the weekends but with finals coming up, the three stooges’s parents had grounded them for the weekend.

Bad things happen when parents start talking to each other.

Marcus doesn’t join in on the conversation. He’s staring at nothing, one hand draped over his knee, the other toying with his vape when he’s not hitting it.

I click my fingers at Marcus, and he holds out his vape without looking. It could just be that he’s hungover, but I know him too well. He’s in a slump, and it’s gonna take concerted effort to get him out of it.

I draw deep, grimacing around its sweet taste, and take a long, slow scan of the kids streaming into school.

A pair of girls come closer. I recognize Addison Green from my AP Literature class, but I don’t know who the hell’s with—

“Prince!”

I snap out of my trance, and throw Zak a scowl. The fucker knows better than to use my first name, but he doesn’t even have the decency to look abashed.

“What?” I snap.

“You get any tail this weekend?”

I stare at him for a moment, and then shake my head. He’s the only one in our crew idiotic enough to ask. They all know by now that I keep myself away from women.

It’s too easy to lose control. If I’d had any doubts, last night proved I can’t be alone with a girl.

When I turn back, Addison is only a few yards away.

“What the fuck, man?” I hear Dylan say, but I’m more interested in the girl walking beside Addison than in being interrogated by my posse.

It’s the girl from the woods. This time, instead of some baggy jeans and an oversized hoody, she’s wearing a school skirt that shows off a pair of slender legs. She’s not wearing makeup, and her mess of hair’s been drawn back into an untidy bun.

In daylight, she’s even more petite than I witnessed last night, the shadows under her eyes more pronounced.

As she takes her first step up to the front of the school, Addy points a finger right at me. The girl looks up, spots me, and stops dead.

Behind me, Zak shouts, “Hey, who’s the new chick?”

But those green eyes don’t move. Her face contorts into a scowl. “You?” she yells, and I can’t quite make out if it’s anger or shock creasing her brow.

“Me,” I say, grinning at her.

The girl surges forward. Addison tries to grab her, but she shakes her off without pausing. The little thing charges straight up to me and tries to slap me.

I catch her, of course, my fingers easily wrapping around her thin wrist.

“Easy there, Angel,” I murmur.

---