Page 4 of Brutal Days

My mouth fell open. She looked like she planned to eat him up. I couldn’t let her do it. “Gia, he’s an asshole of the worst kind. Youneedto find someone else. You won’t get him to do anything you want. Trust me.”

She turned heavy-lidded eyes that swirled deviously with whatever plot she had concocted. “You agreed to help, and that’s the guy. And”—she glanced to where Damon had stopped—“you need to help me separate him from the herd.”

Her bad idea had disaster written all over it. With no choice, I approached Damon with her. Dark-blue eyes swung our way and locked on me. I felt trapped and panicky, especially because I hadn’t told Gia about what had happened earlier in the day. She would be devastated if she found out Damon hit on me. Not that I would act on anything from a dumb jock.

A slow, dangerous smile settled on his chiseled face.

She can’t be serious. Damon is a predator.

The closer we got, the more my stomach churned.Will he say something about earlier?I should have told her, but it had been such a no-go in my book that I hadn’t thought it mattered. Yet, suddenly it did. With Gia’s sights set on one of the fucking Elite—the top guys at our school, football stars that our peers treated like gods—there would be no convincing her otherwise.

What happened next was the stuff of nightmares. Gia’s heel caught on the edge of the travertine tile. I saw from the corner of my eye and turned to grab her, but it was too late. Or too late for Damon’s pants, which was where her drink inevitably ended up. I stopped short. Gia swiped a few napkins from the table he stood by and fell to her knees. She furiously wiped at the front of his pants while words spilled from her lips.

“I’m so sorry,” Gia babbled, her voice too sugary.

My mouth fell open, and my gut clenched.

“Let me just… help you fix the situation.”

Is she serious?My gaze jumped from Gia to Damon, and my fists clenched at my sides.

Silence blanketed the space around us. People stared. They lifted their phones, and I reacted. Lunging forward, I yanked her to her feet, dragging her back. Her gaze jerked to the girls near Damon, who laughed, aiming their phones at her face.

“I-I…” Gia’s wide, panic-stricken eyes locked onto my determined ones.

“Fuck them,” I growled. “They’re a bunch of assholes.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and my heart broke for her.

“Go,” I whispered so only she could hear me. I needed to stay and take care of something before I followed her.

I released her, and Gia fled toward the gate then to the beach. I stayed rooted to the spot, anger sizzling in my soul.How fucking dare them.

“Seems like your friend did everything she could to get me to fuck her. I bet she would have sucked me off right here if I wanted her to.” Damon shrugged, the poster of indifference. “Too bad she’s so easily scared off.” He cocked his head, studying me too intently. “But not you.”

I stepped closer to my target. The girls weren’t worth my while. A smirk curved his sinful lips, and he mirrored my movement, bringing with him the spicy and sinful scent of his cologne along with that large, muscular body that made it difficult to breathe. I lingered a few seconds too long, distracted by his sheer size and athleticism.

“Did you want to finish the job your friend started? For you, I’m willing to find somewhere quiet inside.”

My cheeks flamed. “Learn how to treat people, dickhead, or I’ll kick your ass.” I jerked away from him and whirled around.

Completely embarrassed and flustered, I had to shove through people to get to the gate. He was an asshole and always would be. But holy shit, did he smell good.

CHAPTER FOUR

DAMON

#Who’sThatGirl

Istood frozen in the same spot on my cousin’s patio by the pool, visually following Sky as she stormed out after the incident with her band friend. Damn, I liked her walk.

Sky was the kind of girl who thought she was too good for me, her ideals too high, but I would show her. She would learn her place at our school.

Since our conversation after practice by the bleachers, I hadn’t stopped thinking about her. And when Nicole, one of the cheerleaders hanging around after practice, had invited me to do whatever the fuck I wanted to her if we went inside, I hadn’t. Usually, a first-day fuck helped me slide into a good school year. But all I could think about was Skylar.

“She’s pretty feisty.” Phoenix chuckled as he dropped into the space beside me. “When she threatened to kick your ass, I bought it.”

“I’d like to see her try.”

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