Cruel Kisses (It's Just High School #2) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,80

my veins rush as my adrenaline spikes to an all new high.

High on this game, high on showing off in front of her.

High on her.

Fuck this slow-burn revenge thing, tonight is the night. I need to taste her again, to feel her shudder against me again. I need to shatter that ice-cold heart and show her that my monster is bigger and meaner than hers.

Simply put, the asshole in me is demanding that I deal with her, to do something to get her out of my damn head because fuck me, obsessing over her is annoying at this point. Like a slow throb at my side that’s only intensifies with each day that passes.

“Your game is weak, asshole?” someone says, shoulder checking me. I freeze in my tracks, sparks of anger igniting in me, searing down my back.

I turn around to look at the asshole, who’s just begging for another face rearrangement.

“Walk away,” I grit out, giving him a withering, yet dismissive look that makes his face cloud with anger, making his crooked nose that I broke the last time I gave him said face rearrangement, much more prominent, sticking out of his helmet like fucking Pinocchio. Which was an insult to the lying kid.

“Nah, this is my fucking field, my turf, it’s all fucking mine,” he growls like a fucking dog with rabies. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

A deadly silence falls over the crowd. From the corner of my eye, I see my teammates all look in my direction, waiting with bated breath to see how I respond—including the asshole who’s begging for a beat down.

I take a step toward him and watch in grim satisfaction as he tenses up, but his eyes harden. And yet, he looks like he’s pleased at my reaction, like he was waiting for this, pissing me off.

See, there’s something about Sean Matthews that turns my stomach. It’s like he has a few screws loose in his head and I have a gut feeling that he wouldn’t mind breaking every fucking law known to men just to fuck a person up and since I pissed all over him our freshman year, ridiculed him and made him feel fucking inferior ever since, he’s been itching to get at me.

I hate the predatory look he has in his eyes right now, like there’s something he’s planning. Something particular sinister, just for me.

He was a douchebag sure, but he was calculated, provocative fucking psycho junkie. The whole family was screwed up like a bunch of juvenile inbreds.

“Walk the fuck away before I give you something to shit your fucking pants about,” I grit out, feeling the violent rush of blood in my veins.

“Or else what?” he taunts, a sickening smile on his face.

“Go beg your daddy to get his hooves off your peanut balls, Matthews,” I mutter, watching as he gets even angrier. “You look a little pressed.”

He steps closer to me and a murmur rises from the crowd, everyone feeling the tension in the air, the taste of violence hanging over us like a cloud.

“I’ll fuck you up, right here, right now, Fitz!” he growls menacingly. I just stand there looking bored, daring him to get on with it. “I’ll fuck you up!”

“What’s stopping you?” I question, my voice almost hypnotic, too soft, too low, a dangerous note there that makes my best friend run to us, getting between Matthews and me.

“Okay, Undertaker,” Cole shouts, pushing me back but staring at Matthews. “We know you’re itching for a fight, but not here.”

Matthews opens his mouth to say something, but Cole ignores him, turning around to look at me, He grabs the front of my helmet, and stares me in the eye.

“Not. Here,” he growls so low, no one else hears him.

I knew why he was saying that. College scouts were in the stands. Misconduct isn’t something D1 schools like in their players and well, there’s no way I’m going to let an asshole like Matthews ruin that for Cole and me.

“Nah, let’s sort it out right now, unless you’re too much of a pussy, Fitzgerald!”

“Fuck off, Matthews!” Liam with a careless chuckle, aiming to ridicule him. As always, my brother succeeds.

“Oh, look who just joined the Zoom call,” the younger Matthews brother starts, coming to a stop beside his brother, but I don’t bother with him.

“Fuck off, douchebag, go suck your brother’s kindergarten pencil sized dick,” Liam says with a yawn.

All hell breaks loose after that. The rivalry between St. Jude and