Page 34 of The Star

“She’ll get detention at most. My mom is on the school board.” I press my lips together. “Let’s go find her.”

Levi slips his phone in his pocket, then rubs his hands together, but Hayden just stays leaning against the wall, uninterested. “For what?”

I step up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Now, my emo friend, we play.”

I watch the gears turn in his fucked-up head, and his mouth slowly spreads into the classic, evil smirk he’s coined.

seventeen

LOGAN

Running my hand under the cold water is the closest I’m going to get to icing my knuckles, so it’ll have to do. The bell rang long ago, making me officially late for class, but I’m in too much pain and my anger is still burning too hot for me to join my classmates right now. I need to calm down, get the blood flow back in my knuckles, and relax for a little bit.

Lucky for me, the bathrooms in Luxington High are basically spas, so it isn’t a burden to be trapped in here for a while.

My hand starts to go numb under the cold water, so I turn the tap off and carefully wipe the water off my skin with a paper towel.

Staring at myself in the mirror, I take a deep breath. Week two and I’ve already shown my truest fucking colors.Wonderful.

Any minute now, they’ll be calling me to the office to tell me I’m dead and gone, expelled from Luxington.

My dad is going to kill me.

But hey, maybe I’ll get to go back to Franklin. This could be a good thing, after all.

I hear the door open, making me spin and head into a stall, locking the door behind me. I press my hand against the wooden door, waiting and listening to who it is.

“Logan?”

My eyebrows pull down. I unlock the door and open it to look at him. “Levi? What are you doing here?”

The side of his mouth kicks up in a smirk. “I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

I step past him to the sink, placing my hands on the counter to stare at myself in the mirror. “I’m fine, not the first time I’ve beat some girl’s ass.”

He walks to stand next to me, putting his back against the counter I’m leaning on and crossing his arms over his chest. I look at him from the corner of my eye, finding him staring at me with that deep, dark brown gaze.

I turn to him. “Was there something else?”

His lips spread into a smile, the dimples in his cheeks popping out. He takes a step toward me, putting himself a foot from me. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

His voice is a whisper, and there’s a sparkle to his eyes that makes me want to give in to him, makes me want to trust him. Which is stupid, because this nice guy act is just that – an act. He’s the same as his twisted friends, just playing the goofy, friendly part to get me to trust him.

I know this game; I’ve known this game forever. And it may work on the naïve girls that were born in Luxington, raised with silver spoons in their mouths, but it won’t work on me. I’m the player, not the one that gets played.

I grin at him, flicking my eyes up and down his body before I finally give him my gaze again. “What could you do to make me feel better, Levi?”

He shakes his head a little, his voice a husky whisper. “You’d be surprised the things I could do to you, ma.”

I get a rush inside of me, telling me to give in, just for this moment. Play the game with him, get what you need, and then never let him close again.Use him.

I take a step forward, my nose a hair from his. “Show me, then.”

One of his eyebrows raises, the slit that’s shaved through it making the motion stand out on his face even more, and then he presses into me. His mouth lands on my neck, his thick lips suctioning on my flesh as his tongue slides across my skin. I put my head back, giving him better access, and moan when his big hands grab onto my hips to lift me.

He puts my ass on the edge of the counter, sliding his hands down my thighs and pulling them apart so he can fit himself between my legs, his mouth never leaving my neck.

He kisses around and up the column of my throat to my chin, then to my lips. His mouth angles on mine as his hips move forward so he can press his erection against me. My hands move to him automatically, slipping between us to unbuckle his belt as we kiss furiously.

---