Damaged (Boys of Winter #2) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,36

completely separate. She’s my light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe it’s her innocence that draws me in. The last thing I want is to corrupt her precious soul and expose her to the real ugliness of what my life has been like over the past month. Besides, if she knew just how easily I shoved that blade through Royston Carver, she’d be horrified. She’d never talk to me again, and I couldn’t possibly handle that.

I need Ember in my life; I need her to keep me grounded and remind me of the important things.

Ember goes on about her date and tells me in fine detail about the extra special activities they participated in afterward. As she does, I find myself comparing Jacob to King and Cruz, and I come to the conclusion that Jacob Scardoni doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. It looks like poor Ember got the consolation prize while I took home the gold.

As she talks, I look back over my shoulder just as Grayson slips my helmet inside his locker and my lips press into a hard line. I know he’s just trying to be helpful by holding it for me, but in reality, he’s taking my freedom without even realizing it. Though, how could he? Normal people wouldn’t have an issue with it, but I’m not normal people.

I never ride my bike without my helmet. I’ve heard way too many horror stories and it makes me cringe every time I see Cruz taking off without one. But not having it close by means that I can’t just run out of here and escape in the blink of an eye. I’m trapped here until Grayson decides to walk his toned ass back down the hallway and unlock his damn locker. Though, I could always go and ask for it, but that would mean admitting that my helmet is a security blanket, and I’m not about to lower myself to those standards in front of a guy like Grayson, who would no doubt use it against me.

Letting out a sigh, I turn back to my locker to close the door, but as I go, I catch Carver’s pained stare and a heaviness instantly drops into my stomach. I hold his stare for a second longer, and as I do, a million messages seem to pass between us, but like two people who struggle to communicate, I can’t understand a damn thing that he’s trying to tell me. All I know is that whatever he’s trying to say, it’s going to hurt.

Fuck him. Why does this have to suck so bad?

Not being able to handle his intensity, I tear my gaze away and focus on what I’m doing, and before I know it, the bell sounds through the school and Ember drags me away. We step into our homeroom class and watch as Mr. Bennett makes a point of ignoring the students piling through his door.

I take my seat beside Ember and we talk quietly between ourselves until Mr. Bennett is striding across the room and closing the heavy door. He goes through the attendance, and by the time he’s taking his seat again and putting his feet up on his desk, the classroom door flies open.

All eyes fly toward King in the doorway as his eyes come to mine. “Let’s go,” he grunts as though stealing a student right out of homeroom is completely acceptable.

“What? No,” I say, glancing back at Mr. Bennett, who watches on with a scowl across his face.

“Don’t make me come in there and throw your ass over my shoulder,” he warns me. “You fucking know that I will.”

I let out a loud sigh, hating how he uses that authoritative tone on me, but screw him. If he can use it on me, then I’ll sure as hell use it right back on him. “Why? What is so freaking important that it couldn’t wait until break? Hell, I just stood in the fucking hallway for the past ten minutes. You could have talked to me then.”

King’s eyes narrow. “Now, Winter.”

I groan and stare at him a second longer, but it’s clear as day that he has absolutely no intention of walking away. I quickly glance at Mr. Bennett who instantly drops his gaze in dismissal, and just like that, I push my chair back, letting it scrape across the classroom floor.

I make a show of my irritation by slowly getting up and grabbing my things off the desk in front of