Page 51 of The Hate We Breathe
I frown, wanting to ask how he’s feeling or at the very least if his side is hurting. Gio’s eyes gaze back at me as if begging me not to argue, so with a frustrated sigh, I turn and hop into the passenger side of Lex’s car. Nolan heads for his motorcycle as the SUV rumbles to life. Lex backs up before rolling his window down as Nolan waves at him.
“I’ve got work this afternoon,” he calls to us. His gaze moves from Lex to me. “And Ma-Ri called.” I stiffen. “She said if you’re still willing, she could use a hand this evening.”
Lex’s intense charcoal eyes move over me and I tense. “I…” I do need the cash, but I also don’t want to get my hopes up, to think I have my job back only for shit to go down and have itsnatched from me again. Nolan waits, no expectation on his face as he swings his leg over the Indian and lifts his helmet onto his head, visor up. Is it stupid of me to say no? Even if I can’t work there forever, money is money. I blow out a breath, annoyed with myself.
“Tell her I’ll be there,” I call out. “Four o’clock all right?”
Nolan nods and holds up his thumb and pointer finger in a circle to let me know he heard me loud and clear. I sink back against the seat as Lex rolls his window back up and begins the drive to school.
“I’ll drop you off,” he promises.
“Thanks.”
Just like that… normal has found me again, for however long it lasts this time.
The day passesin a blur and before I know it, the final bell is ringing and it’s over. I glance around, trying to catch sight of Roquel as I head for the student parking lot to meet up with the others.
They hadn’t been in class the last couple of periods, but I’d been told by one of the girls in class it was because all of the football players were being called out early to talk to their coach. I hope it’s because one of the scouts had chosen them—I mentally threaten the universe that it’s Eastpoint. I know Viks said he could get all of us in, but favors never come without strings and if they can get in under their own merit, then they should.
Roquel’s familiar head of black cropped hair never appears as I make my way outside and head down the first aisle towards the back of the lot. I’m almost to the SUV when a shout soundsbehind me. I turn as a big body comes barreling towards me. I tense as the man slams into me. My back hits the hard asphalt with a loud thump and a sharp slice of pain through my tailbone. I shove against the wide chest over me with one hand and put the other on the ground to help me leverage up.
“Get. Off,” I hiss as my hand scrapes over loose rocks and glass. “Fuck!” I shove harder and the guy finally gets the hint, backing off with a grunt.
“Yo, sorry ’bout that, I was—Oh, it’s you.” I glance up at those last words to find none other than Hudson Grey. His hand is already stretched out to help me up, but the moment he sees who I am, his fingers curl away and he steps back. “Uh… yeah, like I said, sorry about that.” He scratches the back of his neck before taking a few steps to the side and bending down to pick up a football. So, that’s why he’d been running.
“Asshole,” I mutter as I get to my feet and begin dusting myself off.
His head whips towards me and his eyes widen. “Wha— No, it wasn’t intentional!” he insists. I frown at the panic in his expression. “It was an accident.”
It dawns on me why he’d even care about knocking me over when I spy Lex and Gio walking down the aisle towards us at a fast clip. I roll my eyes. “That’s not why I called you an asshole,” I tell him even though my handiscurrently throbbing like a hot poker was shoved through it.
Hudson’s frown deepens. “Then why?”
I scoff. “Maybe because guys like you who use girls to get what they want and then throw them away are all assholes,” I snap back. After all, he’d been the one Roquel had been so into. The one she’d practically jumped at every opportunity—at school and parties.
“Whoa, what?” Hudson rears back as if I slapped him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Jules!” Gio’s voice is hard and angry behind Hudson. Then, he’s there, circling the other man and checking me over, his eyes landing on my scraped palm. “Fuck, let me see that.” He lifts my arm for closer inspection.
“I’m fine,” I say absently as I stare at Hudson over his shoulder. “And you know what I’m fucking talking about, Hudson,” I say to him. “Next time you want to get your dick wet, maybe do it with a chick who knows the score and isn’t expecting romance. Plenty of girls are fine with getting dicked down without attachments—go after one of them.”
“Excuse me?” Hudson’s expression morphs into one of complete and utter shock. Of course—why would he even think of Roquel? I shake my head and turn back to Gio as Lex steps in front of Hudson and murmurs something too low for me to hear.
Hudson’s face goes pale for a moment and he takes an automatic step back, but then he flicks me another confused frown before he turns and takes off back down the aisle. Gio prods at my palm and I hiss through my teeth, whipping my head back down as I try to tug away from him.
“Don’t do that, it hurts!”
“You’ve got glass in here,” he says, ignoring my struggles. “I have to get it out.”
The fact that he’s right doesn’t make it hurt any less and after a bit of struggle, Gio finally sighs and glances back at Lex. “You’re gonna have to help me,” he tells him.
Before I can ask what the hell the two of them are going to do together to get the glass out, Lex nods and then leads us back to his SUV.
Popping open the back door, Gio sits me on the bench seat as Lex rounds the vehicle and climbs into the back behind me. “What are you—” Lex’s legs slide along either side of mine as he scoots up close to my back and wraps his arms around my waist and my uninjured hand. “Hey!”
Gio starts to squeeze the sides of one of the particularly deeper cuts in my palm like he’s trying to pop a zit and I thrash. “Fuck!” I buck and curse and sweat as slowly, but surely, he slides the glass fragment out of my skin. Lex continues to hold me, squeezing me each time I try to jerk out of his hold until it’s easier to just relax against him so at least I can breathe.
“You’re such dicks…” I mutter, wincing as the last bit of glass is pried from my skin by Gio’s fingers.
