Cruel Kisses (It's Just High School #2) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,79

ready for the game.

“Cole!” Aiden exclaims excitedly, that hero worship he always reserves for my best friend bright in his eyes. I roll my fucking eyes, making Cole’s grin even wider.

Not this shit again.

“Hey buddy,” Cole says, practically pushing me out of the way as he passes the last game ball into Aiden’s lap. “I’ve got something for you.”

“Is it from the last game?”

“Yup, I couldn’t trust his royal pain in the toosh to give it to you,” he says, pointing at me, making Aiden laugh. “So, special delivery for you.”

“Gee, thanks Cole! You’re the best.”

Am I suddenly invisible or something? Cole grins, then ruffles Aiden’s hair. “Now, you be good, okay? We’ll be partying with you after the game.”

“You will?” Aiden practically jumps up and down in his wheelchair, glancing at me for something. Reluctantly, I nod, letting him know that we will in fact, be here tonight. After I get to Mia of course.

“Sure, that is, if you’re good.”

“I will!” My heart stops when I see the smile on his face. It’s so big, transforming his face from sick to full of life in an instant. Even his eyes sparkle.

Oh God, please don’t let this be one of the last smiles I’ll ever get from my older brother. But fuck, I know better than to hope on a prayer that I know will probably go unanswered. God is almost always busy with other people.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I stand up and fish it out and there’s another text, this one raising the hairs on my arm as I read it.

Unknown: JULIAN, I LOVE YOU. I NEED TO SEE YOU TONIGHT OR ELSE.

As always, I delete that shit without a second thought. I don’t need this shit before a game.

“Let’s go! It’s time to school those irrelevant suckers!” Liam shouts, as adrenaline and something else entirely different—superiority—courses through my veins. We’re the best and we know it and tonight, we’ll make sure Clintwood knows it again and again.

“Fuck man, you look ready to demolish,” Cole says when we get to our school.

We could have gone to Clintwood directly, but because our team does everything with finesse and swag that would make anyone and their grandmother weep with jealousy, we get into our cars, doing the whole Rebel Saints motorcade thing, everyone following after the Cole’s car with the school bus at the end. It was a pride thing.

He isn’t wrong. I’m ready to play on my Little Minx’s turf and show her that I’m the motherfucking best.

That there’ll never be anyone like me.

That I fucking claimed her, and she’ll never escape me.

I need to remind her that she’s going to face her consequences soon. I mean, I’ve had about two weeks to stew over her kissing my brother at that party and fuck my life, each time I close my eyes, I still see her kissing him.

She needs to learn boundaries and I’m the right teacher I speak her bitchy, ice cold language fluently.

“I’m fucking ready.”

I sense her penetrating gaze on my back the entire time. It’s crazy to know someone’s gaze like that, but with Mia, it’s like I can feel it when she’s looking at me.

Or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve felt her watching me before. In all those times, I pretended not to notice, but I did. I’ve watched her in secret as well, it almost feels like dirty voyeurism at this point.

Is she thinking of me as I demolish these fuckers? Is she wet for me as much as I’m fucking aroused? Is she imagining how my body moves like I sometimes sneak into her ballet rehearsal just to watch her dance? Fuck, I’m working myself up.

The fact that she’s sitting in the bleachers close to our team’s bench isn’t making the situation any better. She’s sitting there like the Ice Queen she is, surrounded by her school’s elite squad. If you didn’t know her, you’d think she looks unaffected but I know better. I’ve seen that look in her eyes before, and I can see how pale her beautiful face is and I smirk when our gaze connects again for the tenth time since the game started, sure that she can tell that I’m practically decimating her in my head.

Are you scared of me, baby? Can you feel the danger in the air tonight? Good.

I play like I have something to prove, sacking sub-par Clintwood players like it’s nothing. The atmosphere in the stadium is almost electric, making the blood in