Page 42 of Little Devil

“We’re talking, Noah.”

“No, we’re talking, you’re leaving,” he says simply, tipping his chin to dismiss him. “Now.”

Kian shakes his head at him and stands up to do as he’s told, barely managing to hide the hurt on his face while he walks for the double doors on the other side of the room. I move to go after him but Noah snatches my wrist, hard enough to keep me here but not hard enough to hurt.

“Sit down.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I hiss, pulling myself from his grip to glare at him. “You know how sensitive he is and you treat him like shi–”

“Shut up about fucking Kian, JJ,” he grits out, swinging his leg over to straddle the bench seat beside me. “What’s going on between you and Xander Reid?”

“Nothing,” I answer, but I don’t think he believes me.

“You need to stay away from him.”

“And you need to stay away from me,” I fire back, ignoring his comment completely. “Oh, and stop ratting me out to my mom while you’re at it.”

“I didn’t rat you out,” he argues. “She asked me how you were doing and I told her the truth.”

In other words, she asked how the whole us getting back together thing is working out for him and he told her it’s not, same thing that happened between me and her at lunch yesterday. The whole thing went exactly as I expected – she all but begged me to forgive him and got all pissy when I told her no, then she lectured me about college and the importance of image and I listened with my mouth shut tight, mindlessly picking at my food while daydreaming about Xander and everything we’d done together the night before.

“I meant what I said about Reid, JJ,” Noah says quietly, his warning clear. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you and I don’t like it. He’s a freak.”

“He’s not a freak,” I mutter, dipping my head to play with the hem of my skirt. “He’s just.. different.”

“Why are you defending him?” He frowns, pulling his head back when I say nothing. “Do you like him?”

I roll my eyes and stand to leave, done with this conversation because I don’t like the answers to his questions. He lets me go without a fight and I walk out to the hall to find Kian, smiling at him when I catch him talking with Travis by his locker. Kian smiles back and Travis follows his line of sight, glaring at something over my shoulder with his jaw locked. He moves like he’s about to do something but Kian stops him, blocking his path with a single hand on his abs. I leave them to it and make my way to my own locker, purposely avoiding any and all eye contact while I collect my books for my next class.

I feel like everyone’s staring at me.

Like I’m walking around with a big ass sign on my back that reads I fucked Xander Reid and I liked it.

I know I’m probably being paranoid, but it doesn’t help that the bastard himself keeps staring at me every time we cross paths, smirking at me with a look that says I know what your pussy tastes like.

It’s distracting.

And hot.

And I’m pretty sure I never got my mind back after he stole it from me the other night because shit.

What is happening to me?

Just as I think it, the sound of his laughter rings out from somewhere beside me and I look that way, immediately wishing I hadn’t when I spot him talking to Amy Brennan at the end of the hallway. My brows crash in the center and I blink, struggling to ignore the hollow pit forming in my stomach at the sight of them together. She’s standing with her back to me and he’s leaning back against the wall in front of her, looking down at her with his head cocked in amusement while she props a hand on her hip and flips her light blonde hair over her shoulder. She’s Noah’s younger cousin, the sheriff’s daughter and our student body president, the perfect good girl for him to corrupt with his stupid tongue bar and his dirty mouth. He moves his eyes over her form and I let out a scoff, shaking my head at myself while I abandon my locker to go to the bathroom.

Of course I was nothing more than a body for him to fuck, a game for him to win before moving on to the next one. I knew that and he never told me different, so I don’t know why I’m so pissed about it.

I wash my hands at the bathroom counter and glare at my own reflection, angry with myself for allowing him to get to me like this. I’m fully on board with pretending he doesn’t exist when I walk back out there because fuck him, but then someone slips in through the door and I force my features even, jumping out of my skin when two big hands grab my waist from behind.

“Xan!” I squeal, widening my eyes when he hurries me along to the biggest stall at the end. “Oh my god, you can’t be in here!”

He ignores me and locks the door behind us, backing me up against the left wall to pin my body with his. My heart picks up and I stare at him, stupidly liking the way he looks with his black tie wrapped loosely around his neck and his white shirt hanging out of his pants.

“Hey,” he says, gently tipping my chin up with his forefinger. “Why are you upset?”

“I’m not upset,” I lie, crossing my arms over my chest to feign indifference. “And even if I was, it’s none of your business. I’m none of your business.”

“Is that right?” he teases. “You don’t like me anymore?”

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