Page 42 of Treacherous

Please god no...

I dared a peek at the tattooed gimp across the room and discovered he was walking towards me with a face like thunder.

This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for...

He could kill me and make it look like an accident…

"Miss Connolly and Mr. Messina," Coach continued, eyes alight with excitement as he handed us a pair of metal claws and a roll of bin-liners. "Now off you go."

Clearing his throat, Coach began naming the other paired couples – students, but I didn't hear a word. I was still stuck – choking to death – on the wordspartnerandNoah Messina.

Why did bad things happen to good people?

"This is all your fault," I snarled as I climbed to my feet and followed Noah outside where it was hammering down with rain. "And whatever happened to writing lines on a chalkboard?"

Noah ignored me and continued walking towards the student carpark.

"Noah," I snapped as I rushed after him. It was freezing cold and the raindrops landing on my skin felt like tiny razorblades.

When I reached him I grabbed his elbow and pulled him to a stop. "Where the hell are you going?" I asked him.

Noah flinched and pulled his arm roughly away from me. "Not now, Thorn, I'm late for something."

"For what?" I demanded, rolling my eyes. "Your parole meeting? Noah, you're supposed to be my partner." I knew that sounded dumb, but it was the first thing that came out of my mouth. "You at least owe me…"

"Don't," he shouted and I didn’t. I shut my mouth as I watched Noah's entire frame stiffen. He turned around slowly and fixed me with a look of such seriousness and intensity that my entire body froze to the spot.

The rain was coming down hard but I didn’t move. If the sky decided to open at this very moment and rain puppies down on us, I was fairly certain I wouldn’t move an inch. His hooded stare caused my muscles to lock into place.

"I owe younothing, Teagan," he finally whispered before turning around and walking away from me.

****

Noah

I walked through the parking lot, forcing myself not to look back at her, as the rain poured down on me and willed myself to get a fucking grip and stop worrying about Teagan. She'd deserved my harsh words just now – she deserved a lot worse for blaming me for her guitar.

Jesus Christ, she was the reason I ended up with detention and was currently an hour late to meet JD. That girl was nothing but a huge thorn in my side and I didn’t need any more complications and pain in my life.

That wasn’t pain I saw in her hazel eyes. It couldn’t have been…

Forcing all thoughts of Teagan to the back of my mind, I maintained an impassive expression even though my body was coiled tight and rigid as I approached the black hummer parked at the entrance.

"You're late."

JD leaned against the hummer with sunglasses covering his beady gray eyes and his mouth set in a tight line. I forced myself not to shudder when his beefy hand clamped down on my shoulder.

Hatred like I'd never felt coursed through me and it took a hell of a lot out of me not to turn around and pummel this prick's face in.

His fingers dug into my shoulder blade. "You were supposed to meet me at the Hub over an hour ago."

"I know," I replied in a tight tone as I shrugged off his hand. "I had detention."

"Not my problem, Messina," he snarled, opening the car door. "You know the rules by now. I say jump. You jump."

Grabbing the back of my neck, he slammed my forehead against the door before pushing me into the passenger seat.

"I say crawl on your knees like a bitch and that's what you fucking do," JD spat when he climbed into the driver's seat beside me. "You got that, kid?"

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