Page 4 of Ruthless Rose

Chapter 3

Later in Spanish, the only class I actually have with Micah, Señora Martinez has me helping groups of students with irregular preterite tense conjugations. There weren’t enough students interested in taking the Advanced Placement Spanish V class, so the guidance counselors ended up putting me into this Spanish II class. Señora Martinez said it would work just fine; she’d give me work to do on my own for independent study, we’d use the language lab in the library to supplement the written work, and I’d really be able to cement my knowledge of grammar by helping other students.

Not only is Micah in this class, but so are a few of the cheer bitches who’d given Scarlett issues the first six weeks of school. Up until now, he and his friends have pretty much ignored my presence. Not so today. The wary side-eye he keeps giving me tells me this is going to be super fun from here on out. And maybe painful. Especially if he decides he’d like to bite my head off for agreeing to be his tutor.

I mean, it’s not like I offered. They asked me. And what was I supposed to do? Say no? Even when I’d asked if I had a choice, I knew there wasn’t one. Not really.

With a sigh, I move to the group of students immediately to the left of where Micah is sitting and try to concentrate on the questions they have for me. As I shift around the table, I can hear Alora and Farrah whispering furiously at each other. I can only imagine what it’s about. I shake my head and move to the other side of the table. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Micah puts his hand on Alora’s thigh. He squeezes, effectively stopping her from continuing the conversation. My eyes are glued to his hand. I can’t look away. He slides it to her knee and drags the skirt out of the way so his hand is on her bare thigh. He glances over at me, his eyes hard.

I can’t tell whether he’s trying to tell me something or her. I don’t care what he does with his harem of girls. I wrench my gaze away but my traitorous eyes glance toward him again. He must outweigh me by well over one hundred pounds. He’s a solid wall of muscle. His hands… I can’t help but stare. They’re huge.

And the girls he dates. Or doesn’t date? I need to ask Scarlett to explain his deal to me again. If I have to work with him, I’d rather be well-informed. From what I understand, he has a small group of girls who are his “regulars.” Girls with the Micah stamp of approval. He doesn’t date them exactly, but he— I suck in a breath as a mental image of Micah pinning a faceless girl up against a wall and thrusting into her smacks me upside the head.

My eyes wander to the girls he’s sitting with. Alora is bad news. So is Farrah. The only one of the group of girls I usually see him with who is halfway decent is Danica, but honestly, I see her more with Beau. Strangely enough, he sleeps around with this same group of girls, too. I swear, what is it about these guys? Max has always told me to stay away from them. But now that I’m going to be forced to spend time with Micah, I guess it’s better to pay closer attention, just to get some idea of what to expect from him and the people he hangs out with. Sort of a proactive self-preservation thing.

I mean, it’s not like I’ve ever had any interest in him.

I bite down on my lip.

With a wince, I release my lip and try to pull myself together. Color floods my face, shame filling me, when I realize my gaze has snapped right back over to him. Holy crap. I can’t stop. If he makes me so nervous, why can’t I stop looking at him? I used to think Micah was better than that, but the more I see, the more I think he’s not that different from the stereotypical, sex-crazed football players I’ve always avoided.

Walking to my desk at the back of the room, I catch some whispers between Kim and Beth, two girls who are on the cross-country team with Scarlett.

Kim’s hushed words are just loud enough to reach me. “Did you hear how Micah tackled Justin outside his house? Like, totally took him down.” She glances over at Micah, then ducks her head the second he looks over.

“Can you imagine him on top of you? Oh my God, I’d die.” Beth covers her mouth, stifling a laugh. “He’s so freaking hot.”

Kim whispers back, “And Beau—he was on top of Justin, too, helping restrain him.”

Beth makes a little moaning sound and pretends like she’s wiping drool from her chin. “That’s what, four-hundred-plus pounds of hunky football player? I’d kill to be in the middle of that man-sandwich.”

“But wait, what’s the whole deal with Scarlett? I heard she was drugged and they were going to like, kill her or something.” Kim shakes her head, only glancing back at me when I cough.

I don’t know if I should bother butting in, but I do. If there’s one thing I’ll always do, it’ll be to stand up for the select few who I call friends. I softly murmur, “You weren’t there, so don’t gossip about what happened.”

Beth shrugs, her voice at way more than a whisper now, getting the attention of the surrounding students. “Neither were you, smarty-pants.”

I mash my lips together, trying to stay silent, but I can’t. I blow out a breath before replying, “You’re right, I wasn’t. But what I know came directly from Scarlett.” I wet my lower lip and steal a glance at Micah.

He’s hard-core frowning at all three of us. Shit.

Apparently, Beth doesn’t know when to stop. “Micah, you were there. What happened? What did Justin do to her?”

His gravelly voice rasps, “If you were meant to know anything, Scarlett or Xander would have told you.”

Boom.

Beth’s face falls and shoulders hunch up in response to his clipped tone. She quickly turns back to her work.

I heave out a sigh of relief that the exchange is over. I tap my pencil on my desk, working through a bit more of the present subjunctive review Señora Martinez gave me to do on my own. After several seconds, I glance up in Micah’s direction to see him watching me.

A ghost of a smile teases at his lips before he nods ever so slightly at me and goes back to his work.

This ripple in his gruff behavior gives me pause. I frown, confused. There’s definitely more to Micah Robertson than meets the eye.

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