Page 35 of For Three Seconds

His smile dropped, and he got a faraway look in his face. “Not when it counted.”

Before I could say more, he got pushed to the side.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Scarlett?” Gavin was there all up in my face wearing shorts with no shirt on.

He had tattoos.

Oh my God.

He. Had. Tatts.

He had a roaring lion on his left pectoral, and it curved to his shoulder. Under his pec, he had some scripted words that I couldn’t make out.

“Hey, man, chill.” Quincy stood protectively in front of me.

Seriously, what a sweet guy, but I didn’t need him to protect me from Gavin. He would never hurt me physically. Unless you counted him de-hymenating me, then yes.

“Move,” Gavin said through gritted teeth.

I noticed people were starting to look at us, and I hated causing attention. I sidestepped Quincy as I put a hand to his arm.

“I’m fine.” I gave him a smile and an encouraging nod.

Gavin’s eyes turned stormy as he looked from me to Quincy. As soon as Quincy gave me a nod and left, Gavin was there in my space. His eyes bored into mine, looking at my messy hair and sweaty skin.

“Why are you here?”

“I—I was jogging.”

He let out a humorless chuckle. “Only jersey chasers or girls who want dick run through this street looking like that.”

I opened my mouth and closed it again, gaping at him.

“Which one is it?”

“You’re such a fucking asshole,” I screeched. “I was bored at home, I have no friends, I’m supposed to have a hobby, and I’m not particularly good at anything, so I thought fuck it, I’ll jog. I brought my iPod and left my phone at home.” I was rambling, but I was so angry I didn’t care. “I noticed I was lost, so I was trying to find Wi-Fi, but before that could happen, someone threw a football at my face.”

Gavin’s face lost some of its anger, and he took a step toward me. “Are you okay?”

I didn’t care.

“I managed to catch the ball, but that shit hurt.”

I brought my hands up so he could see. Then I put my broken iPod in his face.

“And my iPod broke,” I whined. “Then, your buddy Jeff comes, and I had a panic attack.”

“What did he say?” Gavin’s body became still, but I ignored him.

“I was freaking out. You of all people should know that when I get into panic attack mode I check out, and I was doing that, but your friend Quincy was there, and he helped me through it. So no, Gavin, I’m not here to get dicked.”

When I was done, I was breathing hard, and Gavin still stood there motionless.

“You fuck with my head, Scarlett,” he said with a sad smile, and I held my breath.

We were in a vicious cycle, and neither of us seemed to know how to stop. While I fucked with his head, he put mine at peace. Oil and water; we could never mix.

Thirteen

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