Fierce (4 page)

But I don’t. He grasps for the bottle, and
our fingers briefly graze. I shudder from his touch as he takes the bottle from
my hand and puts it to his lips. I watch him gulp it down with eagerness.
Rivulets of water stream down his chin and end up on his shirt, making him look
even rawer and more intense than before.

The way he drinks makes me swallow, too. As
if there’s some kind of lump in my throat. His lips suck the opening of the
bottle, and it looks … My God … Too hot to handle.

For a brief moment I imagine jerking the
bottle away and pressing my own lips on his.

It strikes me that I’m having these weird
fantasies about him. I haven’t seen him like this before. Somehow he looks
sexy. And I like it.

As he lowers the bottle again, he gazes at
me with a fierce look that makes me want to step back a little. He seems angry,
but I know it’s not because of me. I didn’t do anything wrong.

“Thanks,” he says in a gruff tone.

It doesn’t sound thankful, but mostly
because I know he’s pissed at something else. The something that made him cry.

Hunter Bane, of all people, is standing
outside his room, crying.

I didn’t expect to witness something like
this.

“No problem,” I say, and I turn the cap
back onto the bottle.

“Please don’t tell anyone you saw me,” he
says, glancing sideways at his dorm room, avoiding my eyes.

My breath hitches. Why would he ask me
that? Is he afraid or something?

“Good night,” Hunter says, and he puts his
hand on the door handle.

“Sure … good night,” I say, and I turn
around as well.

Biting my lip, I walk toward my room, every
step feeling like a mile. Before entering my room, I turn my head to watch him
walk into his room and close the door.

Sighing, I enter mine, too, and close the
door behind me.

Out
of my League

I couldn’t close my eyes last night. Not
one second did I sleep. One moment I was thinking about Hunter so much I
thought I was dreaming, but of course I wasn’t. Sometimes I even wondered if he
was awake, too.

Dragging myself out of bed this morning was
no easy feat. Normally I wake Evie up, but this time it was the other way
around, which is unusual, to say the least. With half-mast eyes I make my way
to class and sit down somewhere comfortable.

Suddenly the door to the classroom opens,
and someone comes stumbling in. Everyone turns around in their seats, but I
don’t really care today. I’m way too tired to check and see who it is.

“Well …” the teacher says, and puts down
his book. “Mister Bane.”

The moment I hear his name my eyes jerk
open, and I turn my head like an owl peering around. Hunter walks down the
steps, carefully watching where he puts his feet. His eyes look even more
swollen than last night, which I thought wasn’t possible until now.

“Be on time from now on. Next time you can
wait outside,” the teacher says, his eyes following Hunter all the way down.

Until he sits down right next to me.

I gulp the moment he slumps down in his
seat, his arm grazing mine. I hesitate to look at him, because I’m afraid he
might look even worse than before. No, I know he does. And I don’t like seeing
him that way.

The teacher glances sternly at him one more
time before continuing with his lesson.

Hunter sighs and buckles. He drops his arms
on the table in front of him and lets his head rest on them. With his head
completely buried between his arms he looks like he’s falling asleep.

When he starts snoring, I know he has.

I pick up a pencil from my stack and poke
him with it, but he only groans. He moves around a little, but doesn’t stop
snoring. The more I try to wake him, the more he starts making noises, and I
don’t want the teacher to hear. What if he looks this way and sees him sleeping
in the middle of class? I don’t want Hunter to get in trouble. However strange
it sounds, even to me.

I bend over and put my mouth close to
Hunter’s ear. I’ve never been this close before, and it makes me shiver. My
lips are so near to his skin, I could kiss him and feel what it’s like. If I
could only do it. If I had the courage.

God, what am I thinking?

The smell of his aftershave is
intoxicating, and my lips start to quiver the moment I try to speak. “Wake up,”
I whisper.

He takes in a huge breath, and suddenly his
face is turned to me.

A squeal almost comes out of my mouth, but
I stop it by jamming my lips shut. He’s looking straight at me, eyes wide open.
His lips are parted, his hair is messy, and I can feel his breath tingle on my
lips.

Holding my breath, I just stare back.

“Well hello there,” he says, a devilish
smile appearing on his face.

“I … uh …” I stammer.

I scoot back to my place and draw back as
far as I can. I suddenly feel very, very exposed. Like I just kissed him or
something.

As if I would ever do something like that.

“You what?” he says, leaning on his hand.

“You were sleeping in class. I was waking
you up,” I say, staring ahead.

I don’t dare look him in the eye, because I
realize what those eyes are starting to do to me. Once I see them, I can’t look
away. They’re pulling me into something that’s really not good for me.

But damn, those eyes. I just can’t look
away anymore.

“Nah,” he says, closing his eyes. “I wasn’t
sleeping.”

He yawns, and it makes me chuckle a little.
“Guess you didn’t sleep either last night.”

“Not really, no.” He comes up from his
sleeping position and stretches, making me gaze in awe at his well-built
features.

I can’t believe I’m doing this.

Why am I drooling like this? This is so
unlike me. I never fall for the bad boy. I never like guys who act like him,
aloof and cocky. Why is this so different?

Frowning, I sigh, and start twiddling with
my pen.

“You always come so close to guys you
barely know?” he suddenly says.

I open my mouth to say something, but I
have no clue what he’s talking about. Shaking my head, I say, “What?”

“You were only a few inches away from my
face a couple of seconds ago.”

I blush hearing him say that. I know I was,
but I’d rather not be reminded of something embarrassing.

“I’m just trying to help,” I say.

“I don’t need any help,” he says, clearing
his throat.

“You said the same thing last night.”

“Yeah, and I meant it.”

“Well, you sure looked like you could use
some help,” I say, pursing my lips.

He sighs. “As if it could do anything. As
if it could solve my problems.”

“Maybe it could, if you’d accept it.”

He slams his hand on the table, and the
sudden bang makes me jolt up in my seat. He stares at me, the look in his eyes
violent.

“Nothing,
nothing
, can help me,” he
says, his nostrils flaring.

My eyes sting with tears, and my hands form
fists just from anger. “Fine. Whatever. I’m just trying to help. You don’t have
to take it.”

His hand slips from the table, and he turns
his head toward the exit, probably thinking of a way to escape. He’s still
breathing heavily, and I feel terrible because of his sudden outburst.

But we barely know each other. This whole
thing, the way he’s acting, is not because of me. Something must’ve happened to
him to make him act like this. I wonder what’s bothering him so much that it makes
him so explosive.

Was it the phone call?

“Look … I’m sorry,” he says quietly.

I bite my lip as I almost see him think.
He’s staring at his table, probably mulling over his words, over what is
happening in his life.

Sometimes I wish I could see inside.

“I just had a rough night, and I’m kind of
pissed about it, okay?”

“I understand,” I say.

He nods, still looking like he’s thinking
about a whole lot of things at the same time. “Okay.”

I know I said I understand, but I don’t.
I’m only saying it so he won’t be so angry anymore. It frightened me, but at
the same time I’m still trying to figure out what the hell is going on in his
mind.

♥♥♥

It’s hot outside, and the sky is clear
blue. There’s not a speck in the sky, and I feel good just being here. I’m
sitting on the grass together with Evie. We’re studying and enjoying the nice
weather. I like changing the location sometimes, keeps my brain from dozing
off. Besides, the excitement of a new room quickly fades if you spend hours and
hours locked up there.

Evie’s eating an apple, and every time she
takes a bite it sounds like a horse is chewing.

I wince at the sound.

I look up, and before I can say anything I
see a girl in a tight black dress stumbling over the grass, coming toward us in
her sky-high heels. Scarlet.

I poke Evie in the side, and she almost
drops her apple. With one eyebrow raised, I say, “Look who’s coming.”

When she sees Scarlet, she stops chewing.
“Oh. My. God. Is she coming to us? Oh, please, no.”

I nod, sighing. I try to put up a smile for
the girl, but I know everyone can see it’s fake.

“Hey girls!” she says with her usual
cheerful voice. “What are you doing?”

Evie holds up her book and dangles it in
the air without saying anything. Then she takes another bite of her apple to
ensure she doesn’t have to speak.

“Studying,” I say.

“Oh … interesting,” Scarlet says, and she
puts up a pretentious smile. “Mind if I join you?”

Before either of us can protest, she sits
down on our blanket with her legs crossed like a real princess.

“Well don’t wait on us,” Evie snaps, and
she throws away the apple.

“Wait for what?” Scarlet says.

Evie frowns and shakes her head, then she
whispers in my ear, “Brains of a sheep.”

I muffle a laugh and hide it behind my
hand. “Look, we really just want to study,” I say.

“I know. I was planning to do the same, but
when I saw you girls out here I thought I could join you.” She smiles brightly,
as if she thinks it’ll help convince us to let her stay.

Well, it’s not like she’s been mean. We
have.

It’s just that she’s so not Brody’s type.
He used to like the geeky girls. The strong girls. Not the Barbie-doll types.
And from the looks of it, that’s all she’s got.

“Oh, and you know about English literature?”
Evie scoffs.

“As a matter of fact, I do. I followed a
class about poetry in high school.”

Evie chortles and has trouble stopping
herself from bursting out into laughter. “Okay. If you say so.”

“Besides, you guys and Brody are friends,
so I thought I should get to know you guys.”

Evie rolls her eyes and glances at me.

“Actually … I’m here to ask you for a
favor,” Scarlet continues. “I’m doing research about discrepancies between the
different social classes and common portrayals of stereotypes. I thought you
girls could help me out with that, since you seem just like the type to discuss
this. I study sociology,” she says.

My jaw drops. I’m struck in awe by the fact
that her words came out in a way that make her seem smart. Her clothing and the
way she acts hides all that, but now I’m starting to think she’s smarter than
we thought. Maybe we misjudged her.

From the corner of my eye I see Brody
approaching. He’s frowning heavily and his lips are smashed together. He
doesn’t look happy.

“Scarlet!” he yells as he marches closer.

She turns her head, and when she sees him
she starts waving. “Hey!”

“What are you doing?” he says with a high-pitched
voice, as if he can’t believe she’s here.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“You know you can’t be in the sun,” Brody
says to her, ignoring my question. “Are you just going to ignore the doctor’s
advice?”

“No, I was just talking. I didn’t plan on
staying long,” she says, pursing her lips. “It’s just sun. Nothing scary about
that.”

“You know it’s too hot for you!”

“Brody. It’s the sun. What’s your problem?”
Evie snarls. “She have a heart disease or something?”

“Yes,” he snaps.

“What does the sun have to do with heart
problems?” I ask.

“It’s none of your business,” he says,
furious.

I draw back and look at him in confusion,
while he grabs Scarlet’s arm and pulls her to her feet.

“Your heart is too fragile for this. You
know better than to expose yourself to danger.”

“As if the sun is going to make my heart
explode,” Scarlet says. “C’mon, Brody. A little warmth isn’t going to kill me.”

“You don’t know that. If you heat up too
much your heart has to work way too hard to cool you down. There are risks. You
know all this,” he explains.

She sighs. “It’s
my
heart, Brody.
I
know
. I know the limits. Don’t tell me what to do.” She jerks her arm loose
and turns her head away from him in defiance.

He lets out a huge breath. “I’m just
worried about you.”

“Thanks, but I can take care of myself.”

He frowns. “I don’t have time for your
nonsense. Stay if you want. I just want you to be safe.”

“Well, thanks, but see ya,” she says, still
ignoring him.

In the meantime, Evie and I look at each
other with raised eyebrows, both thinking the same thing. I don’t know what the
hell is going on, but it has something to do with her heart. And Brody is
acting like a total bitch because of it.

God, this is so not how I remember him from
high school.

Has it been so long? Has he changed so much
in the last couple of years?

He storms off again, and after a while
Scarlet gazes at him with a sad look on her face. “I’m sorry, girls. I don’t …”

“Yeah, we know,” Evie says, nodding. “Don’t
apologize for him. Not your fault.”

She smiles lightly. “Thanks. I’m sorry. I
really have to go. But I’d really like to hang with you sometime.”

“Yeah …” I say, and a pathetic laugh comes
out of my mouth. “Maybe sometime later.”

“Okay. Well, see ya!” She waves and then
runs after Brody.

“Jesus. That girl’s something else,” Evie
says after a while.

“Tell me about it.”