Page 5 of Little Devil

He sighs at that, slowly turning my chair until I’m forced to face him fully. Instead of answering my question, he dips his head and presses his mouth to mine, squeezing my jaw with his fingers when I make no move to kiss him back.

“For fuck’s sake, JJ, it’s your birthday,” he hisses, speaking through his teeth. “Can’t you at least pretend to be happy for five fucking minutes instead of bringing everyone else down with you?”

I smack his hand from my face and he pulls his head back in surprise, looking up over my shoulder when a throat clears from somewhere behind me.

“The alcohol’s heavy,” Penelope informs him, feigning awkwardness when all she wants to do is laugh. “Can you come help me carry it inside?”

He nods and looks back to me, brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear in a way that’s more threatening than sweet. “Go take a shower and fix your hair the way I like it,” he orders. “It looks better when you curl it.”

I keep my mouth shut and he kisses my forehead, stealing my drink to pour it into the sink on his way out. My eyes burn with unshed tears but I force myself to smile at him, partly because I’m not about to let them see me cry but mostly because I’m Jordyn fucking James, and I have nothing to be sad about.

3

Xander

Aunt Karen takes one look at me and scrunches her nose, blatantly moving her disapproving gaze over me and my form while I jump out of the car I bought just now. My dad said I could get whatever I wanted so I chose Nik’s dream car – a black on black Chevy Camaro with chrome wheels and a badass leather interior. I would’ve bought one before now, but my mom already hates me enough. I didn’t want to piss her off even more by buying something that would remind her of her dead son every time she saw me pull up outside.

My lazy ass dog refuses to move from the passenger seat so I give him a little tug, laughing lightly when I catch the look of horror on Karen’s face.

“He’s really good, I swear.”

“He better be,” she says, walking down the front steps to hand me a set of keys.

She’s wearing a white formal pantsuit and black heels, her dark brown hair pulled into a flawless bun at the nape of her neck. Her entire demeanour screams don’t fuck with me, and I won’t deny I’m a little bit scared of her. I don’t know her that well considering she and my mom had a huge fight just before she moved to LA to chase her dreams of becoming an actress twenty eight years ago, but what I do know is that she’s a take no shit type of girl who just so happens to be the principal of Lakewood Academy – one of the top private schools in the country and the place I’m about to spend five days a week at for the next seven months.

“Still not a hugger, huh?” I joke, awkwardly rolling my lips when I realize she doesn’t find me funny.

“You’re staying in the pool house,” she informs me, straight down to business, as usual. “Clean sheets and towels are stored in the linen closet next to the bathroom. Don’t stay out all night without calling me first and do not break the law. While you’re living under my roof you will clean up after yourself and keep your grades up. I am your principal and your guardian until you graduate this summer, not your maid or your get out of jail free card. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Seemingly satisfied with my response, she nods and turns around to walk back inside, leaving me alone to see myself in. I shake my head at her and grab my shit from the trunk, walking around the side of her house to get to the pool house at the back. It’s a modern, one story building with gray stone walls and wooden finishes, a wide set of four steps leading up to the sliding glass doors covering the entire front wall. There’s a huge bed made up on the back wall with two matching nightstands either side of it, two wooden doors that I assume lead to a separate bathroom and the linen closet she mentioned just now, a fully stocked kitchen on my left, and a sunken living room with a corner couch and a flat screen TV on my right.

Bear immediately jumps up onto the bed to claim his rightful spot and I grin, lifting my suitcase up off the floor to drop it down beside him. I open it up and take out the photo frame I stashed beneath one of my hoodies to keep it safe, carefully running my thumb over the glass covering my brother’s face. This is the last one I took of us together – my arm wrapped around his inked neck while he flips me off through the front facing camera on my phone.

“Damn, boy, you got big.”

I raise a brow at that, glancing over my shoulder to find Travis standing behind me dressed in a pair of gym shorts and a tight t–shirt. I’ve only met my cousin twice in person – once when our grandmother died when we were seven and once again when Nik died three years ago – but we’ve kept in touch over the years through Instagram and FaceTime and shit.

“You talkin’ to me or the dog?”

“The dog, dipshit,” he fires back, stepping closer to bump my fist with his. “They kicked you out, huh?”

I nod and set my picture down on the nightstand, grabbing a few shirts from my case to hang them up inside the free standing closet on my right.

“What’d you do this time?”

“Crashed my teacher’s car.”

“Of course you did,” he mutters, gesturing to my face with a flick of his wrist. “What happened there?”

“I fucked this college girl last night and she hit me, then her big brother picked her up and hit me, as well.”

He snorts and hops up onto the kitchen counter, side eyeing Bear every few seconds like he’s afraid he’s about to jump up and eat him.

“You can touch him if you want,” I offer, gently scratching the spot beneath his chin. “He won’t bite.”

“I’m good, thanks.”

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