Page 54 of Treacherous

Stopping at the doorway, she turned her dark head in my direction and sighed. "You have a visitor," she mumbled, lip warbling. "In the living room."

My body stiffened. "A visitor orvisitors?"

Ellie nodded sadly. "Plural. You know the way my family works, Noah," she choked out. "It's called remuneration for damages owed."

Yeah I knew, but that didn’t mean I was ready for what was about to happen to me.

Shit…

****

Teagan

I was having the week from hell.

First thing Monday morning, when he returned from his trip, Hope's dad killed our dream of spending Valentine's together in Galway, thus spiraling Hope into a meltdown of epic proportions. Seriously, the girl was not nice to be around when angry and Hope was stillveryangry with her dad.

And yesterday I ended up with lunchtime detention for using inappropriate language in History class when I called Reese'a thundering whore'for purposefully pulling my chair back just as I was about to sit down.

Then I woke up late this morning and started my day by having a huge altercation with Ellie over my guitar – which had resulted in her creepy father intervening and threatening me to, and I quote,stay on my side of the fence.

The fact that Ellie fully admitted to trashing Martin – and slashing my tires – made both my blood boil and my cheeks flame. Noah had been telling me the truth which meant I bashed him with a guitar for no reason.

He was right, I was a judgmental bitch…

I'd stupidly left my car keys in Hope's bedroom and had to powerwalk my ass to school in the pouring rain – which resulted in missing my first class. Thankfully, I made it to my second class before most of my classmates and scooted inside, pleased when I saw a friendly face at the back of the class.

Layton.

"Hey, can I sit with you?" I asked with a smile.

"Hey." Layton looked at me before quickly looking away. "Sure," he mumbled.

What's up his ass?

"So…did you have a nice weekend?" I asked more out of discomfort than curiosity.

Layton shook his head slowly before clearing his throat roughly. "Nothing worth mentioning."

"You're awfully quiet," I stated evenly.

"I'm a little tired," he replied, not meeting my eyes.

"Do you want me to move seats?" I asked him straight out. "Is that the problem? You don't want me to sit with you?"

"No," Layton replied loudly and a little too squeaky before clearing his throat again. "You can sit wherever you want, Teagan. It's a free country."

"Right…" I folded my hands and stared at his beautiful face. "So…how's life? Are you looking forward to Christmas – it's right around the corner…"

"Teagan, can I give you a little advice?" Layton didn’t wait for me to respond. "Keep your distance from Messina." Sighing heavily, he added, "You're a nice girl and he's…" Layton paused and ran his hand over his shaved head. "You're playing with fire," he mumbled. "And you know how that saying goes."

I shook my head and rose my brows in confusion. "Layton, what the hell are you talking about?"

Layton didn’t answer me.

Instead he turned his head and stared out the window, purposefully ignoring me.

A group of Ellie's friends walked into class and stopped dead when they saw me. All eyes locked on me and one even went so far as to point at me.

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