I scoff. “So you won’t hold me in with blackmail?”

“No.” He tilts his head, still looking off. “Still need to keep you where you are, but it doesn’t have to be a miserable time for you, you know?” He looks my way.

I frown, and he shrugs.

“You and I would have been friends if it wasn’t for them. Things between us would be good and our own choice,” he says, his eyes bouncing between mine. “I’m not a bad guy, if you weren’t in the middle of our problem, you would have seen that on your own.”

“Maybe you’re right.” I consider his words and go for honest. “But I can’t say for sure. All I know now is you’re the asshole standing between where I am and where I wanna be.”

He shakes his head. “You only want to be there because they got to you first.”

My head pulls back. “Nobody got to me and we can’t go back in time, now can we? I made my bed and I know the drill that follows. This is a pointless conversation. I’ll be standing next to your car when you decide you’re done sniffing around here.”

“What if I told you I knew you were coming before you got here?” he calls out and I freeze.

I spin around slowly. “Then I’d say I expected that. I’m sure you watch their every move. I bet you have a PI watching their PI. Anything to get a leg up, Collins, but eventually you’ll need to find your own moves and stop counting on the steps of others. An incapable man is a weak man, and I’ve seen nothing straight from your hands.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Challenge, observation, solid fucking fact.” I shrug. “It’s whatever you want it to be, Graven, but none of that matters, because at the end of the day, you’re still you and they’re still them. Stronger by count and courage.”

I turn and walk away.

Fuck life.

I walk into third period, the first class of the day I have with Maddoc and now Collins to find that my chair is missing.

I look up, meeting Maddoc’s eyes and he tips his chin back, leaning lazily in his seat.

I glance to the teacher who purposely looks everywhere but at me – she knows who’s in charge and it sure as shit isn’t her.

I’m about to say fuck it and walk out when Collins gets a little braver than he should.

“Come here, baby,” he says, and the entire fucking room goes silent. The teacher even freezes, arm stuck in the air ready to write on the board.

Collins sits back in his seat, patting his lap with a devilish look in his eye. “I’ve got a seat you happen to love.”

I open my mouth to speak, not really sure what’s about to come out when suddenly the choice isn’t left to me and I’m drug from the room, literally, my feet sliding across the flooring as Maddoc yanks me by the arms from the class.

“Hello!” I shout at the teacher ... who turns away from the scene.

Mac rushes out after us, and for a half second, I think maybe he’s considering stopping Maddoc, but he spins, pulls the door closed and holds it there, right as Collins reaches it.

Collins bangs on the small window from the other side, fighting to pull it open.

Maddoc continues to drag me along until he can shove me into a small concave in the hallway. He gets in my face.

“The fuck is going on?!” he booms. “And don’t you fucking dare bullshit me, Raven. Talk. Now.”

“Nothing to talk about, Big Man—”

“Don’t. Call. Me. That—” he growls, stepping against me.

I think he expects me to fight him, or shove at him or to tell him the truth.

He definitely doesn’t expect me to melt against his erratically beating heart the second it blends with mine.

He also doesn’t expect it when I move to my tippy toes and yank his head down until my lips smash into his.

Maddoc snarls angrily at first, and then his growl morphs into a deep, territorial rumble, possessiveness pouring into me off of him. My lungs finally open, greedily pulling in all his scent, the burn left behind from not having him finally soothing.

His tongue swallows mine as his hands take control, and he pushes against me.

Yes. Mine.

My eyes pop open.

Shit!

Not mine.

I bite his bottom lip until he yanks back and quickly slink under his arms, but he catches me by the back of my shirt, and I slam onto my ass.

He pulls me back up, spins and pins me to the wall with his grip on my ribs, my feet dangling in the air, so I can’t gain any leverage and trip to slip past. His eyes are wild and crazy, the green almost gone as a blackness takes over.

He opens his mouth to speak, but Collins and Mac tumble down the hall, shoving and punching at each other and then there’s another crowd behind him.

Maddoc squeezes me, only letting go once Royce appears out of nowhere and places a hand on his shoulder.

He drops me to my feet, and I stand there frozen.

Why did I do that?

“Keep your hands off my students, Brayshaw,” Principal Perkins calls from the hall.

Maddoc moves right toward him, spitting in his face as he stalks by without a word.

The principal glares from him to me, and just like every other time when he’s around, there’s something extra hidden in his leery light eyes as he studies our movements.

I wink like a bitch, even though I don’t feel cocky right now.

I feel like the wishy-washy bitch I’m acting like.

It takes a few minutes for the area to clear, and as soon as it does, Collins gets in my face. “What did he want?”

“Oh, you mean after you provoked him?”

Collins glares. “I said what did he want?”

“Answers.” My eyes widen as my brows raise mockingly. “Asshole. He wants answers.”

“And?” he grates.

I shove away from him. “And he didn’t get any.”

I spin around the corner, freezing when I spot Captain leaning against the wall.

He frowns at me, frowns at the ground, and then walks away.

My shoulders fall and I look to the ceiling.

Fuck.

“I think we need a night of fun, not recon and defense,” Collins tells me as he drops down in the patio chair across from me.

“I think you’re an idiot.”

“I think,” he says, leaning forward. “You’d have a good time if you let yourself.”

“Doubtful.”

He sighs as if he actually hoped I’d be all for it. “Well, get up. We’re going anyway.”

I cut my eyes his way. “Where, exactly?”

“Just a pizzeria my buddy owns. Beer and bad music.”

“Will the people you had jump me be there?”

“Maybe.” He grins.

I can’t help it and I scoff out a laugh.

I eye him, not at all understanding how his brain works. “Why do you do this?”

“What?” he asks, and I’d say he looks honestly confused.

“Pretend you want to be friends, like it’s an option still on the table. Act like you’re giving me a choice when we both know you’ll make me go under some pretense that if I don’t, you’ll pull your extortion cards. You know you plan to make me, so say it upfront. You don’t need to fake nice with me. I’d prefer you be real, even if real you is a privileged asshole.”