Cruel Kisses (It's Just High School #2) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,43

way they looked at you, even Cole Perry gazed at you like you mean something to him.”

“No…”

“Go back to them, they’ll protect you.”

She pushes the bag into my arms—just like Nicky did a few hours ago—and starts ushering me to the door with a quickness to her movements, like she can’t stand me being in her house a second longer.

“But, Kristine…”

“Mia, you’re not stupid or dumb. I know you can sense the danger around, and I know you think you’re strong enough to take them on, but you can’t. Not when they’re like this.”

I hate the fear in her voice, and I hate that it’s making chills race down my spine.

“Go, run away if you have to, whatever you do, make sure you’re with them because if Sean or Shane find you, they will hurt you. And it won’t be just to teach Julian and Liam a lesson, but because they want to retaliate on you.”

“On me? Why?”

“Because they couldn’t control you and you stood them up.”

I glance at her bruised throat, then up into her dead eyes. They broke her.

“What they did to me is child’s play compared to what they have planned for you if they get you, Mia,” she whispers hotly. “If I were you, I’d get as far away from Palos Verdes as I can and never come back!”

She pushes me toward the door, but fuck, I can’t just leave her here.

“But Kristine you can’t stay here alone.”

“Mia, I swear to God if you come back here, I’ll tell them where they might find you. I bet you are living with the Fitz brothers, aren’t you?”

“I don’t live there anymore.”

“Yeah but it’s all the confirmation they’ll need to hunt you down now that you’re homeless.”

And with that, she opens the door and practically pushes me out then she slams the door in my face, leaving me stunned with shivers rolling down my spine.

They’re coming for me and the only people that might help me are the ones I ran away from.

What do I do now?

10

That afternoon, I decide to get a room at a four-star hotel and try to gather my thoughts on what to do next.

On my way there, I stop at some random shop that I wouldn’t have been caught dead shopping in just two years ago but now, I just don’t give a damn, besides, the fact that I’m wearing a hoodie in this weather, helps to hide me.

I don’t bat an eye when the cashier looks at me funny when I pay with a hundred.

I don’t bat an eye when I book the room with my new-fake identity.

I don’t bat an eye when I realize that on the documents Nicky gave me, I’m nineteen years old when in fact, I’m still seventeen.

I just take it all in stride and go up to my room, feeling…nothing.

I look around the hotel room, noticing the tasteful decorations and lavishly styled tones all over room and sigh. I might be homeless and hopeless, but there is no way I’m going to hide out in some stuffy motel where three-dollar whores do their business.

Dropping the three shopping bags full of clothes and toiletries as well as the backpack Nicky gave me, I stand in the middle of the room, completely alone.

Alone.

Lonely.

Is there a difference?

Whatever the hell it is, it’s an oppressive feeling that weighs down heavy on me. I’ve never been good at being alone. In one capacity or the other, I’ve always had someone around, but this, this is different on so many levels.

That numb feeling in my chest is fading bit by bit and now that there’s nothing but a loud, menacing silence around me, and without a particular agenda in mind, the gates to my personal hell might break loose on me and I don’t want that.

Pushing all that aside, I take out the pre-paid phone I bought and then power it on. I fish out the piece of paper with the number from the backpack. I have no idea whose number this is, but I have to believe that this is my lifeline. Why else would Nicky put it in there?

When the phone starts ringing, I wonder then what’s going to happen. Who will pick up the phone?

“Mia,” the voice whispers hotly as soon as the line picks up and I almost jump in relief. “Mia, are you there?”

“How did you know it’s me?” I rush, my heart thundering in my chest.

“You’re the only I gave this number to,” Nicky whispers, her voice