Page 138 of The Casualty of Us
“O.” Kyler smiles, his teeth neat little rows that I once pined over. “It’s been too long.”
I pause, trying to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do, and go with buying time currently. “It has.”
His gaze moves to Hayes, and I swear I can feel him tense at my back as Kyler takes another step toward me. “Who’s your friend?”
Fuck.
“This is Hayes.” I try to make the step I take between them casual, but the one Hayes immediately takes into my back that leaves us flush up against each other is very much not so. “Ollie is over there.”
“I see.” He holds Hayes’s gaze over my shoulder for another moment with a smile before finally turning to where Ollie is still standing with a little wave. “I guess he’s still mad at me?”
“You could say that,” I mutter uncomfortably, feeling Hayes’s body winding tighter by the second and knowing I need to wrap it up. “What are you doing here?”
“My dad was talking to yours at golf last year, and apparently he convinced him this is the place to be.” He shrugs, totally unaware that I’m currently mentally flaying my father, and continues softly. “I was bored up at Georgetown, plus I miss seeing you at school, and Ollie too.”
Oh, fuck my life.
“That’s….nice,” I finally get out, looking behind me and seeing Marley try to tug my brother into his seat as he argues heatedly with her. “Guess I’ll see you around then.”
I turn back in time to catch him and Hayes in what appears to be another stare-off before his eyes drop to mine again.
“I guess you will.” He smiles at me, gaze breaking away to run over my face before coming back with another kick of his lips. “You look really great, O.”
“Thanks.” I try to keep the frown from my face while reaching back and snagging a couple of Hayes’s fingers before turning to head to where the others are. Holding tight to them all the way to the other side of the classroom and not letting go until I’m sliding into the seat beside Ollie. I drop my backpack down as Hayes immediately falls into the one on my other side, eyes still narrowed on where Kyler is sitting on the other side of the room now and smiling back openly.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” Ollie spits out quietly.
“You can thank Dad for that one.”
Ollie scowls back at me for a second before Hayes bites out tensely, “Will one of you please explain who the fuck Kyler is now?”
My head whips back around to see that his eyes haven’t moved, and neither have the other ones across the room. Shit. This is really not—
“Kyler was my best friend once upon a time.” Ollie chuckles nastily, damning me with his next line. “Until he became O’s first kiss.”
Probably getting some sick pleasure from how he just solidified Hayes’s hatred of him too and I turn to hiss at him. “Shut. Up.”
Immediately moving my gaze back to Hayes and finding that he still hasn’t moved an inch.
“Dimples,” I whisper, leaning over to poke him in the side and finally making him turn his head enough for the blue to find the hazel. “It wasn’t a big deal, okay?”
I wait a second for him to tell me okay, or it’s fine, or he gets it, but when he just continues to stare at me like he’s waiting for something, I start to babble.
“We were like fourteen, and it was a stupid crush.” His eyes narrow a bit more, falling closer to slits with even the hazelstarting to darken, and I panic. “I thought he looked like a Ken doll and—it just was not my finest moment, okay?”
He stares at me for another beat before his nostrils flare, and he looks over my head. “Why didn’t you fucking throw a fit about him from the start? Huh?”
Oh goddammit.
“Because he was a two-faced lying little weasel who hid his true intentions behind the mask of friendship.”
“Holy shit.”
Marley gasps a giggle with the curse and I can’t even spare a glare for her before Hayes scoffs darkly.
“That’s what I thought.” He pauses, turning back to Kyler with a violent look. “He reminds me of the piece of shit guys my mom is always bringing home in LA.”
Extreme measures it is.
