But my ass was already in the downward arc toward it.
Symphony—yes, that was really her name—yanked the chair out from under me and I just knew that I was about to eat tile floor with my ass.
Except a hard, rather large, strong hand wrapped around my waist and held onto me before I could make it all the way down to the ground. He shifted my entire body’s momentum until I was sitting in his lap.
Then he growled low in his throat.
“If you do not put that seat back in five seconds, I’m going to force you to,” Banner snapped, letting his gravelly voice send venom-laced words toward Symphony.
Symphony did as she was asked, moving the chair back into place almost on autopilot.
The moment that it was back, she narrowed her eyes.
“Who do you think you are?” she hissed.
As if she was fucking royalty or something.
The stupid whore.
Well, I didn’t know if she was actually a whore. But the way she flirted with every boy at this school? My suspicions were that she was.
But I did my level best to make sure that I stayed far, far away from Symphony Albertson and her cheer squad.
“I think that I’m sitting at this table, and I actually want her here,” Banner said. “The same cannot be said for you. And if she’d have hit that floor, I’d have lost my shit.”
Symphony’s eye twitched.
Just then, I finally realized that I was sitting in Banner’s lap.
I. Was sitting. In Banner’s lap.
I made a move to stand up, but his hand on my hip tightened slightly, making me somewhat uncomfortable due to the bruise forming there already.
But I saw why he didn’t want me to go when Symphony shoved the chair so hard that it would’ve slammed directly into me had Banner not caught it with his fast hands.
He hissed when it hit his bare knuckles, and he narrowed his eyes.
“I’m the person that says whether someone is in or out at this school,” Symphony said. “I’ll…”
“You’ll keep walking,” Titus finally broke in. “You’re done here, Symphony.”
“But Tite…” she started, realizing what kind of shaky ground she was on.
‘But Tite’ I mocked her in my head, using the same high-pitched voice that she’d just used as if it would help her case.
God, the girl was annoying.
“Walk away, Symphony,” Titus said as he bit into a piece of pizza. “You’re done here and you know it.”
That was when the girls at Symphony’s back called her name, urging her to come sit with them outside.
When they finally left, only then did Banner release me.
His large palm slid off of my sore hip, making it feel like he’d ripped off a Band-Aid, and I moaned.
I stood up, cupping my hip, and grimaced.
“What is it?” Banner asked, suddenly worried.
Blue, being ever so helpful, lifted up one side of my shirt and showed off the spectacular bruise that was forming on my hip.
“Holy shit,” Abbott said. “That’s bad.”
Banner, not liking that he couldn’t see, physically turned me until he could see my hip. Then grimaced.
“I’m sorry,” he said, touching the bruise lightly at one corner. “That’s gonna be bad tomorrow.”
I shrugged and regained my seat.
“I bruise easily,” I said, reaching for my pizza as I tried to tell myself not to blush at having his hands on my bare skin.
The lunch for my group was awkward to say the least.
I knew for a fact that Tempy had a thing for Slone, and Echo had a thing for Tatum.
Not to mention that Titus was staring at Blue as if he wanted to eat her alive.
Then there was Banner, right next to me, making me very aware of just how close he was to touching me.
He had touched me.
In fact, his hands had been on my bare skin, just a few short inches away from much more, interesting parts of my anatomy.
“…Gonna piss Kerby and Alero off,” I heard Titus say.
Kerby and Alero were the quarterbacks for Kilgore High. Why were they talking about them?
“Don’t really care who I piss off, to be honest,” Banner said. “I just want to play.”
Titus nodded. “We got your back. And Kerby is a bit of a dick anyway. I was honestly not looking forward to this school year at all having to deal with his shit.”
Ahh, so he was a football player.
Made sense.
Anyone that hot had to be.
I took another bite of pizza and washed it down with a gulp of white milk right out of the small container.
I’d royally screwed up the opening of the cardboard milk carton, and was drinking haphazardly out of the side, trying to do it without spilling.
When I moved on to opening the next one, a long muscular hand reached for it and opened it for me without saying a word.
I looked over just in time for him to work his magic and hand it back to me with the little triangle open at the top, and not mangled in the least.
I blinked at him in surprise, causing him to wink.
Feeling funny now, I took a small swig of the milk, tried not to think about his hands being where my mouth was now, and continued to eat pizza.
“Why did you move here?” somebody asked.
I assumed that particular question had been directed at Banner, but I wasn’t going to look over to find out.
Keeping my head down as I ate, I tried not to think about Banner’s closeness, either. Or the heat of his body that I could practically feel seeping into my left side.
To keep myself distracted, I kept looking around the cafeteria.
Everybody was looking at us.
Not one person wasn’t aware of our table in some way.
That was when Symphony, pissed off, went through the lunch line and kicked up a fuss with my mother when there was no more pizza.
Seeing what was going on, I made to stand up, but my mother made eye contact with me across the room,
