After looking around to check no one was paying attention, I lifted my arm and rested it casually along the back of her seat. I smiled at her sharp intake of breath as I leaned closer to her and spoke low in her ear. “Tell me what I’m supposed to have done to get you kicked out of drama club.”
She sat in silence for a moment, then turned her head slightly, still facing the screen but angled towards me, her mouth close to my ear. “Someone took the money from the cash box that we use to buy stuff for the costume department, and I’m the only student who knows the combination.” Her voice wobbled. “Mrs. Whittall blamed me, of course. I can’t even blame her for that—it’s the obvious conclusion.”
My fingers curled around her shoulder. “Maybe she made a mistake?”
Raine shook her head almost violently. “No, there was four hundred and twenty pounds missing. And now—and now I’ve been kicked out of the drama club unless I pay the money back. Where am I going to get that kind of money from? You know the situation with my uncle.” Her body was trembling, letting me know how much the news had affected her.
“Four hundred and—what the fuck, Raine?” My grip on her shoulder tightened, before I realised what I was doing. Moving my hand to her hair, I started sliding my fingers through it, soothing her. “It wasn’t me. Fuck, Raine. You drive me insane, but I wouldn’t do that.”
She stiffened under my touch. “No, you’ll just post photos everywhere to make people think I’m a slut. Do you know what people have been saying about me?”
My mind went to Chris, earlier, and unreasonable jealousy pulsed through my veins, followed by a surge of anger at the reminder that she’d tricked me.
Fuck, should I have posted the photos? It wasn’t like I hadn’t done worse than that to people before. I’d never felt any remorse in the past, though.
Her soft sigh hit my ears, distracting me from my thoughts, and I leaned closer to her. “I’m sorry about the photos, okay? But I didn’t take the money.”
“If it wasn’t you, then who was it? No one else has access to that box.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I needed to pay a visit to a certain blonde ex-girlfriend of mine. In the meantime, I needed to distract Raine from questions I didn’t have the answer to.
“Remember how you came all over my hand at Fright Night?” My voice was low and seductive as I leaned over to whisper in her ear.
She swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling as her breathing became shallow. I slid my hand onto her thigh, waiting to see what she would do.
Another hiss of breath, but she didn’t say anything. I glanced around to make sure no one else was paying us any attention as I moved my hand a little higher. The guy in the same row was oblivious, glued to his phone, watching YouTube under the table.
“What would your boyfriend do if he knew I was touching you like this?” I murmured. I squeezed her skin lightly.
She turned her head to mine, our faces so close, I was almost tempted to kiss her. Fuck, I probably would have if we weren’t in a classroom surrounded by people. Then she said five words that shouldn’t have made me happy, but they did.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
19
As soon as the words fell from my lips, I clamped my mouth shut. Why did I say that? What was going on? Why was I sitting here, in the middle of my English class with Carter’s hand inching up my thigh, and why did I like it so much?
As I turned to look into his eyes, I noticed the confusion in his gaze. He looked just about as lost as I was, so at least that made two of us. Maybe I was having a temporary lapse of insanity, because I decided to experiment. I liked him like this, wanting me, even though I knew he didn’t want to want me. Even though everything between us was messed up. After a quick glance at Prof. Patel, who remained focused on the screen, I reached up and lightly gripped Carter’s jaw, my fingers shaking slightly. Turning his head, I whispered in his ear. “What are you doing? You don’t want me, remember?” Then, I flicked my tongue across his ear.
The low, masculine groan that fell from his lips made me instantly wet. The fact that I’d been the one to have that effect on him, despite my inexperience, satisfied me more than I would’ve imagined.
“Raine…” His fingers tightened on my thigh. I wanted him to mark me, to leave bruises so I had a visual reminder of what he’d done to me. Did that make me messed up?
Suddenly, he was rising out of his seat, and then he was gone. The guy sitting across from me glanced over, and I shrugged. He shrugged, too, returning his gaze to his phone. Somehow, Prof. Patel had remained completely oblivious, still staring intently at the screen.
The next moment, my phone vibrated with a text. Three words.
Carter: Room 103. Now
My feet had made the decision before my brain had even had a chance to catch up. With one last glance at Prof. Patel, I was rising out of my seat and slipping out of the door.
Carter’s lips were on mine the second I’d stepped foot in the darkened science lab. He pushed me up against the door, grinding against me as he tangled his hands in my hair.
“Wait.” I broke away from the kiss, panting. “Let me.” My head may have been completely messed up with everything that was going on between us, but I needed to make him feel. Needed to see
