Page 82 of The Venom We Bleed

Nolan shoots me a look as the curse slips free. “It’s not going to be that easy,” he tells me, as if he knows exactly what I’d been trying to do. I glare up at him as he stops in front of me and holds something out. When I glance down at what it is, my glare turns into a scowl.

“I don’t want that.” I push his hand—and the phone in it—away.

“I don’t care.” Nolan reaches down and grabs my hand. He doesn’t even seem to notice when I attempt to yank away from him but merely moves forward with his intentions. He forces my fingers to uncurl and drops the cell phone, now somewhat charged, into my palm.

“I’ll dump it,” I warn him. “I’ll throw it away.”

Nolan just stares at me, dark cinnamon eyes burrowing into me with a silent warning. “Someone is obviously out to get you. Keep it. You need it for emergencies. It’s got a little bit of a charge, but it’s new so it might only last the school day. You can charge it in Gio’s or Lex’s car after we get out.”

“I don’t need a fucking phone,” I insist, gritting the words out through clenched teeth.

He ignores my words and continues. “If I know Lex, then it’s got my number as well as his and Gio’s. Meet back here after school so one of us can take you home.”

“My home?” I ask, hopefully.

On the other side of the Firebird, Gio removes the biker helmet and clips it to the handlebar of the Indian before hopping off.

“We’ve already contacted your landlord about the damage,” Nolan tells me, “but I doubt it’ll be ready to move back into yet.”

I look back to the phone in my hand, fingers closing around it. “You can’t control me with this.” I’m not entirely sure why I say the words, but it feels necessary to tell him where I stand. To let him know that this doesn’t buy me—nothing will. This phone isn’t just a kind act or a gift. It’s a leash. Just like everything in my past life was. The house. The friends. The school. Nothing was ever mine. If it was, then it couldn’t have been lost so easily.

Arching a brow, Nolan nods to the gathering crowd of students watching us. “You really want to fight about it here?”

What Iwantto do is shove this phone so far up his ass that he can read the texts it receives by blinking.

“Keep the phone.” The words are a command, not a suggestion. “Don’t hurt Lex’s feelings.”

“What makes you think I care about his feelings?”

Lex’s SUV turns off and the creak of the driver’s side door echoes over to where we stand.

Nolan shrugs and drops his arms. “Maybe you don’t, but you do care about money and we’re not like your old friends, Princess. We aren’t rolling in Mommy and Daddy’s cash. Lex had to work to make his own money and he used that money to buy you a phone. So keep it or don’t at your own risk.”

Fuck. Him.I practically snarl as the implications of his words hit me.Fuck all of them. Goddamn it.I want to curse and stomp and scream like a child, but he’s right. It actually does mean something that Lex bought me this phone. It means more than any of the thousand-dollar tennis bracelets or Jimmy Choos Bran or Avery ever got me for Christmas or birthdays. They hadn’t worked for a damn thing they gave me, but Lex had, and damn Nolan, but yes, that does mean something to me.

A mixture of irritation and guilt burns a hot fire in my gut. I glance down at the simple black screen of the phone in my hand.It’s cheap, but that doesn’t mean shit to me. I no longer place value on things based on their price tags. Without giving myself a chance to think any harder about this decision, I shove the phone into my back pocket and whirl away. Hiking my bag up further on my shoulder, I start walking. Halfway to the building, I hear Gio—not Nolan—call after me.

“Meet back here after classes, Prep Girl!” he yells. “Don’t even think of running or we’ll come looking for you.”

Clenching both hands into fists at my side, I raise one over my shoulder and offer him and his friends a silent middle finger.

“Why did Erin Kennedy tell me you arrived in Giovanni Vargas’ car this morning with Nolan Pierce?” Roquel jumps on me the second I enter first period, her question shooting out of her mouth before I even get a chance to sit down.

“I don’t know who that is,” I say honestly. “So, I don’t know why she’d tell you shit about me.”

She points a chipped No. 2 pencil at me. “You don’t deny it though.” Roquel is a hound dog when she’s locked on a target, and right now that target is me and the juicy piece of school rumor that’s going around.Is it a rumor if it’s true?Roquel’s chair scrapes across the cheap tiled floor as she scoots closer to me. “Spill.”

I cut a look her way out of the corner of my eye. Leave it to the gossip mill to get her to talk to me again. When I don’t say anything, she groans and slumps over, turning her head so that her short crop of black hair flutters delicately all to one side.

“Come on,” she whines. “Your first day out of in-school suspension and you show up with all three Scorpion Kings intow. Are they backing you now? Is Megan out? Are you dating one of them?”

The memories of what I’d done with Nolan the night before resurface and I shove them down as I focus on responding to Roquel. “I don’t know what they’re doing with Megan,” I tell her, “and I don’t care. I needed a ride. That’s all.”

Roquel sits up, her brows rising to graze the underside of her bangs. “That’s it?” She gapes at me. “They just gave you a ride?” She shakes her head. “I know I’m not the brightest bulb in the box, but even I can tell that what you just said is complete and utter bullshit.” That No. 2 pencil makes another appearance as she jabs the pointed end in my direction.

The door to the classroom opens then, and I’m saved from further questions as the teacher enters and jumps straight into calling attendance. My previously absentee guardian angel is either finally sober or luck is on my side today, because, somehow, I manage to escape Roquel’s clutches as first period comes to a close. At lunch, ignoring the gnawing hunger in my stomach, I find a quiet spot in the library and avoid the primary dining areas—and Roquel’s barrage of questions about my relationship with the Scorpion Kings. Even in the library, though, I find myself bearing the brunt of people’s curious stares. They’re all wondering the same thing. I can’t even blame them, not that I have any intention of feeding the hungry masses their drug of choice.Information.

Halfway through final period, I nearly leap out of my seat when my ass vibrates. No, not my ass. The phone I’d forgotten in my back pocket. Subtly withdrawing it, I hide it under the desk as I swipe across the screen and spy a text.

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