Page 45 of Giving In

He’s the kind that stays calm until he’s pushed too far and when he snaps, it’s not good to be around. No one wants to be on Chris’s shit list. For now, it only holds one person, Sam, and I don’t want to join him.

“What?” Chris asks me mockingly. “You’re strong enough to threaten Jamie but you back down when it comes to me?”

“Fuck you, I only did this to keep her quiet. She’s a sneaky rat and she snitches at the first occasion. Why do you protect her? You don’t even like the girl!”

“I like her a lot actually. Just because I don’t like her romantically doesn’t mean I don’t like her at all. She’s my friend and I already warned you not to mess with her. What will it take for it to stick in that small brain of yours, for me to punch it into you?”

I can feel the anger boiling in my chest. Chris taking this girl’s defense over mine hurts like a stab in the chest.

I walk closer to him and only stop when we’re head-to-head. He’s taller than me but I’m an angry motherfucker and I won’t go down without a good fight. Nobody has the balls to start shit with me at school anymore after I beat up a few guys when we moved here, but I live for the thrill of it and Chris knows it.

“Alright big guy. Punch me then,” I snarl.

Chris throws the wrench to the side and looks me right in the eyes. “Are you sure your pretty-boy face can take my fist?”

I shove him in the shoulder. I know it’ll take more to get Chris to hit me. He’s years away from snapping right now and I want to push him more.

“Alright, alright, we get it. Big guys. Dangerous. Grr. Alpha,” Rose says as she slips in-between the two of us.

She’s facing me and putting her back to Chris. I could push her out of the way easily, so could Chris. Ozy is tall and she can be scary as fuck, but in truth, she’s a skinny girl, and a gust of wind could snap her in two.

“Jake, you’re in the wrong. Drop it,” she insists.

She locks her eyes with mine and puts her hand on my shoulder. The simple gesture calms me down, her soft features in front of me drag me back from hell up to the present moment. The boiling anger in me slowly dies down.

“Stop grinding your teeth,” she orders me in a firm voice.

When I’m about to snap, when it gets too much and I try to hold it back, my teeth take the fall. I’ve had so many trips to the dentist for a broken tooth or because I fucked up my jaw it’s laughable. I listen to my other half and slowly relax my jaw.

“Here he is,” she smiles.

She takes a step back from me, walks around me, and settles on the couch. Chris gives me one last look before moving to sit beside her. She lays down, her head on his lap, and her feet resting on the armrest on the other side. Chris starts playing with her hair. This girl is like a cat, she’ll lay down anywhere expecting someone to stroke her hair. I can sense my friend is not over with this conversation, but Rose changes the topic.

“Sam gave me a burner phone,” she drops as if all was fine. She’s toying with the remote trying to turn the TV on.

Chris and I both snap to her. Chris’s hand on her head stops, she groans a complaint. I walk and stand in front of the TV.

“A burner phone?” Chris asks.

“When?” I add.

“Friday at the party. Told you he was there,” she shrugs.

“What does he want?” Chris insists.

Rose throws me a look and I frown then nod to indicate she can talk about it in front of Chris.

“He texted me a few times, he wants us to pick up packages for him in NSF.”

“Let me see,” I hand out my hand, palm up.

The fucker wants us to do his dirty work for him on the North Shore of the Falls. The only reason my friends and I ever go to NSF is to attend North Shore High parties. They’re more exciting than Stoneview and, mainly, I can do whatever the fuck I want behind Camila’s back.

“I deleted them. Look, I’m just telling you because I won’t ignore him anymore. Just so you know what I’ll be up to.”

“What?” Chris chokes. He gets up in a hurry making Rose jump up and forcing her to sit up.

“You’re not going to do it, are you?” he questions her.

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