His eyes don’t leave mine as he lifts his fingers that were just inside me to his lips and licks them clean. “Stay away from the new girl. I won’t ask you again.” He picks my panties up off the floor and shoves them in his pocket. Embarrassment rushes through my entire body and quickly turns to anger.
“This is you asking?” I hop off the desk and smooth my skirt in hopes that it might make me feel like my dignity has been restored. I try to pretend that my pussy isn’t still clenching, waiting for release only he knows how to give me. “I told you I don’t know her. That chirpy bitch in the office forced me to show her around when all I try to do in this goddamn school is blend in and get through until I can get the hell out of this town and out from under your shadow.” I wipe angry tears off my cheeks as he advances on me, towering over me like the bully he is.
“I own you. If you think that stops after graduation, you’re delusional.” He lifts a hand to my throat, squeezing gently as if he just enjoys feeling the delicate slope of my neck beneath his fingers. His hand leaves my throat, slides down my chest, tugging my top down just enough to see the healed burn mark above my left breast. His thumb rubs over the raised skin of the brand he gave me when we were fourteen. The same one that matches his and Kai’s. A constant reminder that at a point in time I was one of them. “I forgot how much fun you were to play with. I think I’m done ignoring you.”
And just like that, Killian Pierce leaves me again.
By the end of the day, I’m still shaken up from the run-in with Killian. I used to hate it when he first started ignoring me, but now I prefer it. I end up feeling like a simpering fool when he’s close.
I feel absolutely naked without my underwear as I start the walk from school to the place I’ve been staying since the summer. Finding a safe place to stay when you’re a broke high school student with no family isn’t easy. But it was better than foster care or anything mandated by the state. At least I was in control. If anyone got handsy with me, or rude, I had the option to pack my bag and skip out and find another place to live. The place I’m staying isn’t great, but the single mom who agreed to let me stay on her basement couch for a hundred dollars a month is better than some pervy old guy. I work at a boutique in town a few days a week. It’s not the best paying job, but it’s enough to pay my rent and to keep food in my stomach.
“Hey! Wait up!” I don’t turn around when I hear the girl from this morning yelling at me from across the road. I don’t want to be rude to her. She’s new and she seems nice enough, but for whatever reason, the Pierce brothers don’t want me talking to her and I’ve got enough of a target on my back with Killian already. I don’t need the target to be made out of a flashing red light too.
“Ava! Are you okay?” She’s closer and I slow my pace because I realize that the only thing more persistent than a Pierce brother is someone who sees them in action and doesn’t realize that they make the rules. She’s in for a shock when she realizes that they can absolutely do whatever they want to whoever they want. She’s not going to change that.
“Hey. Sorry, I’m late getting home,” I lie. Sandra doesn’t care when I come or go as long as I’m quiet and pay her before the 1st of the month.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay, that guy was pretty rough with you.” Desiree syncs her stride with mine and I glance around. The Pierce brothers have eyes and ears all over this town. When I don’t answer her she asks, “Is he your boyfriend?”
“No. I’ve just known Killian for a long time,” I say honestly. “You should steer clear of him. He seemed pretty adamant that I shouldn’t talk to you, but he didn’t say why.” I might as well get it all out in the open. I don’t want to see her get hurt, and they’re unforgiving bastards.
“He doesn’t even know me.” She stops when I do in front of Sandra’s house. “What is it with random British guys hating me today?” She huffs but doesn’t make a move to keep walking, so I stand there, glancing around one more time.
“Was he blonde? Tattoos?” I already know he is. There are no other English boys at our school, especially not with explosive tempers. She slowly nods, biting her bottom lip. I don’t know what she could have done on her first day of school to be on their shit list, but it’s too late at this point to turn it around. “That’s Killian’s brother, Kai. What did you to them?”
“Nothing. He came into the bathroom and threatened me and I…” I cut her off, holding my hand up. I don’t need the gory details. I don’t want to get involved. I just want to go back to being invisible and make it through the next year without losing my underwear to that cocky asshole again.
“It doesn’t matter. They’ve decided you’re the enemy.” I reach out and pat her on the arm when her face drops. “Everyone except their immediate circle is the enemy. They’re the only reason we have a decent basketball team, and they don’t even acknowledge the other guys on the team or the coach for that matter.
