Page 12 of Make Her Bleed
"Dad, calm down. I'm okay and I know how to protect myself. If anyone tries to mess with me, I'll break out my taekwondo,” I joke before climbing out of his car.
"Feeling better, Aria?" I turn at the sound of my name as Kai pops up out of nowhere right after my dad disappears down the gym hall.
"Oh, hey, Coach. Yeah, turns out the smell of hot coffee was all I needed. My dad has been acting super weird though. Very on edge. He told me to be careful around the school, not to go anywhere by myself, and stuff like that. I think he's really freaked out by what happened to my truck or maybe something else. Did he say anything to you?" I ask.
While I'm talking, Kai has a smile that slowly sneaks across his face like I've amused him.
"What?"
"He's your dad. He's bound to be upset. If you were my daughter, I'd lock you up and throw away the key," he jokes.
"Thank God I'm not. I'd never get any work done. Now, about this being locked up thing, would I have internet privileges in this scenario?" I joke, possibly flirting with him but it's harmless. He's my dad's best friend after all.
"Oh, absolutely not. If you did, you might have half the boys here trying to break you out."
"Well, that's a damn shame. There goes my great escape. I guess you'll have to entertain me in this basement of yours," I quip.
"Who mentioned a basement?" He quirks an eyebrow at me, amusement across his face.
"Well, all captives are kept in a basement. How else do you keep them from escaping or from your guests hearing them scream? True Crime 101. You need to brush up on your knowledge for your next captive, Daddy."
"I'll keep that in mind," he teases playfully just as my friend Kaylee Masters comes up to us.
"Naughty, Aria! Did I just hear you call Coach HarrisDaddy? Something I should know about?" she playfully asks as she throws her arm around my shoulder.
"Oh, I'm just letting him in on some true crime knowledge. Apparently, he doesn't think captives belong in the basement."
"Pshh, everyone knows that or maybe it's just women who are true crime nuts?"
"Maybe I just need to snatch both of you so I can absorb all this knowledge?" he jokes before winking at me flirtatiously.
Oh, my god. Is he flirting with us?
"I'm totally down. What do you say, bestie?" Kaylee presses but I know she's joking. This is all just playful banter but the idea of it all with Malakai Harris of all people just pours a bucket of heat into my lady bits.
Am I attracted to him? Well, honestly, what woman wouldn't be? Even for a man in his late thirties, early forties, he is still smoking hot but he's also my dad's best friend and the football coach at my school.
In other words, completely off-limits.
"Oh, I am down for the count. That is after my dad puts a chastity belt on me and supplies me with armed guards. I'll sure be tons of fun as a captive."
Suddenly, we stop in our tracks when we see the state of my locker. Other students are standing by, taking pictures and laughing while I gawk at it.
"Oh, my god! Aria, what happened?" Kaylee cringes.
It looks like someone took a permanent marker and wrote each word in a different color.
Aria does BJs in the parking lot for $$$.
There are visiblyused condoms glued onto my locker. Mortified, I scan the area and see flyers taped to all of the nearby lockers. The same photo is on all of them—it’s me getting dressed this morning, completely naked, flashing my ass. My arm is barely covering my breasts as I reach for my T-shirt. At the bottom of the flyers are slips of paper with my address and phone number on them.
What the fuck?!
"You're such a slut, Aria!" One of the cheerleaders laughs as she points her phone camera at me.
I refuse to break no matter how humiliating this is.
My day just went from bad to getting a bit better to far worse than ever.
