Page 362 of Releasing 10
“Why don’t you go see her,” I snapped back, feeling too damn much, “and leave me the hell out of it?”
“I’ve been calling her, but she won’t pick up,” he snapped. “She’ll pick up for you, though. She hasn’t been to school in a week, and Iknowyou care.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me get this straight.” I narrowed my eyes in disgust. “You wantmeto callmyex, whocheatedon me withyou, because she’ll answermycalls instead ofyours?”
“Sounds about right,” Pierce muttered, reddening.
My adrenaline was pumping right along with my testosterone, and I could barely restrain myself from the raw, primal urge to rip this prick’s head off and put him in his place.
“You know why that is, don’t ya?” I said in an eerily cold tone, fully embracing the masculine superiority I had over this prick. “It’s because she’s mine.” Smirking, I prowled toward him like he was a gazelle and I was a lion. “And it doesn’t matter how many times she lets you in her bed, she’ll never want you more than she wantsme.”
“Oh yeah? Well, she seemed to want me an awful lot more than you that night.” Pierce took the bait and snapped, all riled up now. “In fact, if I recall right, she was complaining about how you weren’t doing it for her.”
“You think because you scratched an itch for her, you’re better than me?” Instead of losing it, like he expected me to, I smirked. “You dumb shit. If I wanted to fuck her, I could do it right now, but the difference between the two of us is that I don’t take advantage of vulnerable girls. Because I’m a man, asshole, and you’re a boy.”
“Hughie, relax.” His eyes flashed with panic. “Just keep the head, lad.”
“Do you know what you are to her, Pierce?” I asked, walking until we were chest to chest, squaring up to each other, with me taking the win in the height department by a good four inches. “All you are to that girl is my piss-poor replacement.”
His body thrummed with tension, and he balled his hands into fists.
“You want to throw down?” I arched a brow. “Go for it.”
To be fair to him, he thought about it for a good five seconds before cowering away. “I’m not fighting you again, lad.”
“Wise decision,” I replied moments before my hand shot out and gripped his throat. “Now, you listen.” Slamming him roughly against the wall at his back, I leaned in close and hissed, “You’re going to stay out of my face, and I’m going to stay out of yours. You don’t talk to me unless it’s on the pitch or class-assignment related. You keep your hands off her when I’m around, and if I hear a single word of her private business or anything she says or does in your presence getting around school, I will take it as a personal attack on me, ya hear?”
“Ye…ah,” he strangled out, turning red.
“You keep your goddamn mouth shut about her being vulnerable or any of it,” I threatened. “Because if you ruin her reputation, I will bury you.”
I didn’t plan to get off at Liz’s stop after school today, but when the bus driver pulled in, that’s exactly what happened—much to Gibs’s and Feely’s disgust. Pierce had planted a seed of worry inside of me, and it had continued to fester all day until I’d driven myself half-demented with worry.
Too late to turn back, I made my way up the familiar gravel entrance in the pissing rain until I reached her house.
I was surprised when I found Liz sitting on the front step of her house, but what surprised me more was the fact that she waswearing her uniform even though she hadn’t been to school all week.
“Hugh.” Her eyes lit up when she noticed me approach and she quickly jumped to her feet. “What are you doing here?”
“Your boyfriend sent me.” I kept walking until I reached her. “He wants you to answer his calls.”
Her entire expression fell, and a full-body shudder racked through her. “He isnotmy boyfriend.”
I couldn’t deny the immense pleasure I felt at her reaction, but I hid it well. “Well, whatever you want to refer to him as wants you to answer his calls.”
“You’re the only one whose calls I’m answering,” she replied, looking up at me with big, lonesome eyes. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yeah.” I had to clear my throat to keep the emotion out of my voice. “Why are you sitting in the rain?”
She shrugged her slim shoulders. “My body was burning up.”
“Are you sick?”
“Nope.” She shook her head, and it caused droplets of rain to sprinkle. “Just horny.”
Jesus.
“What’s with the uniform?” I asked, steering the conversation to safer waters. “You haven’t been in school all week.”
