Page 42 of The Hate We Breathe
My smile fades and I look back over my shoulder and up to the hill. “They think it was me,” I murmur. “Or if they don’t, then they think it was one of you guys.”
“Don’t worry about that right now.” Lex draws me back around, forcing me to look at him. “That’s what Abel and Viks are for. All you need to worry about is which of us you’re going to let take you to the winter formal.”
A low groan erupts from my throat. “Are you fucking kidding?” I gesture behind us. “We’re at a damn funeral!”
Lex shrugs, unrepentant. “And? You never did give me an answer when I asked you before.”
I push away from him and start walking down the path. “That’s because I thought you were fucking with me then,” I call back. Lex’s shadow falls into step next to me as we head towards the parking lot.
“Now that you know I was serious, are you going to give me an answer?” he asks.
I roll my eyes. “No.”
“No, you’re not going to give me an answer or no you won’t go with me?”
Gritting my teeth, I stop in the middle of the walkway and pivot to face him. “Why do you care anyway?” I ask. “It’s a high school dance. We might have another semester before we can head to college, but you and I both know that neither of us gives a shit about any of that quintessential teenage bullshit.”
Lex blinks back at me, but his face is unreadable as he replies. “It’s a rite of passage,” is all he says.
My shoulders slump and I lift my hands to scrub them down my face. “Do you really want to go?” I demand.
“I’ve never been,” he admits. “But I want to go with you.”
He’s never been… I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by that. He’s been obsessed with me since well before high school. But it wasn’t like he was a virgin when we had sex either.
The look in his eyes bores into me, big and round and silently pleading. I curse under my breath and kick the ground. “Ugh, fine!” I snap. “I’ll go.”
Turning, I make it exactly two steps before his arms come around me, drawing me back against him. The heat of his chest burns into my back and I suck in a sharp breath. Lex’s lips touch the side of my neck as his fingers clench against my hips.
“Thank you, baby.” He whispers the words against my skin like they’re supposed to be filthy. The hardness of his cock presses against my ass and I automatically part my legs a little bit as the fabric of my dress stretches over my thighs. A low rumble of noise vibrates from him and into me. I nearly whimper.
Thankfully, in the next second, I hear someone call my name. Lex’s body retracts from mine, saving me from making an absolute fool of myself by throwing myself at him and demanding he fuck me right now. The two of us turn back to see that the funeral must be over. People are spreading out and several are walking down the pathway in our direction towards the parking lot. At the head of the trail are Nolan and Gio. It wasn’t their voice, though, that I heard calling me.
Shuffling to the side, off the path to let the others pass through, I spot the speaker. Mads. I lift my hand and give her a wave to let her know I heard her. She glances back at someone and a dour-faced woman appears at the crest of the hill with her silver-blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun and her black dress covering her from throat to ankle. She says something to Mads before scowling deeply and shaking her head. The older woman casts a disgusted glare down at us before turning and saying something to Mads once more.
With my attention so focused on my friend, I catch the moment her normal facade cracks. Her usually polite and happy expression dips and she flinches at whatever the woman says.Mads doesn’t say anything back, but she does listen to her. When the older woman is done, she heads off, disappearing into the crowd, and Mads turns back to us.
She holds up one finger and at my nod, smiles brightly again. As more and more people descend the hill, Lex moves me farther off the path and onto the grassy area with several other headstones.
“You ready to go?” Gio asks as he bounds up to us, his earlier somberness gone.
“Mads wanted me to wait for her,” I say, nodding towards the top of the hill. Mads is gone now—disappeared behind the woman, but I’m sure she’ll come down as soon as she can. I don’t mind waiting. After all, I hadn’t been able to do what I came here to do at the actual funeral. This is my last chance to look over all of the people who attended.
Scanning the crowd, I spot a few familiar faces. Principal Long and Cory amongst them. The two walk side by side, neither of them touching, but their faces placid and calm as they talk amicably. I tilt my head to the side, watching them curiously.
“Interesting, right?” Nolan asks, and I look up to realize he’s followed my gaze to the couple.
“Yeah,” I say. “They look good together.”
“Who?” Gio asks, leaning around Nolan. “Oh, Long and Cory?” He hums in the back of his throat. “Yeah, I guess they kinda suit. They’re both pretty decent and have never been married.”
“How do you know that neither of them has been married?”
Gio snorts. “It’s a small town, Prep Girl. I’m surprised youdidn’tknow.”
Up until last year, I was more absorbed with myself and everything on the north side of Silverwood than a gym owner and high school principal. I don’t say that, though, and instead continue to watch them as they make their way out of thecemetery, only stopping when they’re approached by a few others from the town.
“Jules!” I pivot back just in time to see Mads making a crazy dash down the side of the hill that is without a path. The soles of her shoes catch on the wet and semi-dead grass. To my surprise, she doesn’t scream as she goes flying—her legs sweeping out from under her as she slides the rest of the way on her ass.
