Page 23 of Loved By The Bad Boy

“And you won’t. You are not kissing anyone,” Ben murmurs close to my ear.

I scoff. “Who will stop me, you?”

“Yes,” he answers with so much authority in his voice.

My fingers drum on the table. I count to seven, hoping the anger subsides, but it bubbles to the surface, and I lose it. I tuck my hair behind my ear so nothing is in the way when I glare at him.

“How about you stop trying to tell me what to do?”

“I’m not telling you what to do.”

Ben sounds defeated. I stupidly relent. My claws retract, and I push my uneaten sandwich around my plate. I haven’t thought about food since we started this discussion. Now, I’ve lost my appetite.

“It sounds like it,” I whisper.

“You two need to fuck already. The tension… ugh.” Mira fists her palms and groans. She dyed her hair pink, and her makeup looks more like Imani’s style today. Subtle. “It’s killing me.”

“Shut the fuck up, Mira.” But my cheeks flush. My mind taunts me with memories of Ben and I at Josef’s mansion, his fingers sliding inside me, his lips covering mine. I need to get out of here. I shoot to my feet, but Ben grabs my wrist. Yanking my hand from his grip, I grit out, “I’m fine.”

I race out of the cafeteria and rush to the bathroom. Ten seconds pass, and the doorknob twists, but Ben doesn’t walk in. It’s a girl. I rinse my face and give myself a pep talk in front of the mirror. If kissing a boy or many boys will give the band a chance, then I’m up for it. I’m single.

Chanting those words to myself, I return to the cafeteria. Calum is on the same bench as Ben, but they maintain a respectful distance. Instead of sitting with them on the bench, I slide down beside Imani. Ben’s gaze flits to me, but I do a great job of acting like his stare doesn’t bother me.

The rest of the table remains silent. I have no idea what they told Calum in my absence, but his eyes slowly land on everyone. Voices rise and fall around us, but I’ve learned to tune them out.

“Yo, what’s happening?” Calum asks.

I want to smack the idiot. First, for fighting Ben. Two, just because. There are bruises around his eyebrows and a few more below his blue eyes. What he doesn’t know is Ben used to fight guys bigger than him. And most times, he won. Calum was bound to lose before the fight even started.

“Tessa volunteered to be in the kissing booth,” Imani explains. “Ben doesn’t want her to do it.”

My eyes narrow at Calum. He adjusts, his discomfort evident as he processes her reply.

“Yeah, well. Ben is an ass, but he’s right. She shouldn’t be kissing random boys.”

God, these boys are something else. Maybe I should start dating girls. We are less problematic. Ben doesn’t flinch at Calum’s word. I’m almost proud of him for keeping his cool. But they need to get one thing straight. They don’t get to make my decisions. I owe none of them faithfulness.

“They are not random,” I state. Two pairs of blue eyes focus on me. For once, they unite just to defeat me. I nudge Imani for support. “They go to our school, and it’s for a good cause, right?”

“Right,” she says.

“You don’t need to kiss anyone. I’ll handle it,” Ben says.

“By kissing them?” Calum taunts. He never really learns. I’m convinced one of his life goals is to die at Ben’s hands. Given that chance, I bet Ben will beat him again, and I might join him.

“Just shut up,” I tell Calum. He pouts. “You two need to sort your shit out.”

“Yeah. I agree,” Mira says. “We are a band, a team. We can’t keep fighting each other over the slightest provocation. Tessa doesn’t even like any of you, not with that stinky, shitty attitude.”

“No girl wants to date a guy with temper issues,” Imani says. She shudders. “Barbaric.”

“Completely unacceptable,” I add.

“Alright. We get it,” Calum says. He glares at Ben. There’s no love lost between them. “How do you intend to get the money? We don’t want you doing some illegal shit to save our ass. We will be fine.”

“Yeah, by letting Gracie kiss random boys.”

“She wouldn’t have to if you get the money like you said you would. But where would you get that kind of money on such quick notice? Are you doing something illegal? Maybe drugs?”

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