give you when they tell you that someone you love is gone. My heart instantly clenches.
“What’s wrong?”
He puts a hand up to catch his breath, then he rasps out, “Your girl out there is taking on Belle.”
I shake my head. “My girl?”
“Demi, fuckwit. She’s got her rounded up on the field, all her bitches behind her.”
Fuck.
I turn and run in the direction he came from. I can hear his footsteps behind me but I don’t stop. I pound the pavement until I hit the grass, then I break into a full sprint towards the group of girls. I hear the hissing voices and screeches of pain as I near closer, and what I see is not what I expect. Instead of Belle being abused, or punched, or hurt, I see Demi on the ground, screaming up at Belle with a bloodied nose. My eyes dart to Belle, who is panting, tiny fists clenched, eye black and swollen still.
Even Demi’s friends are standing back, with shocked looks on their faces.
“Stay away from me!” she screams down at Demi.
“You stay away from Max. He’s mine, you stupid, ugly, bitch.”
“You can have him,” Belle bellows. “I don’t give a shit about any of you.”
That hurts. It hits my chest somewhere deep down.
“Then why the hell do you keep following him around like a pathetic puppy? He comes to me, you stupid slut. He fucks me. He sleeps with me. Honestly, what made you ever think he’d be interested in you?”
Belle’s face drops, and a pain I’ve not seen before flashes across her face. I leap in before Demi can spit another disgusting word. Fuck the reputation. Fuck what I could lose. Nobody is going to make Belle feel like she’s anything but the most beautiful person on this planet.
“Shut your fuckin’ mouth,” I bark as people move aside to let me in.
Demi looks over to me, eyes wide, and then she starts the waterworks. “She came in here and punched me, Max. She won’t leave me alone.”
Fucking liar.
“I heard every fucking thing you said to her, Demi. You so much as look at her again, I’ll make you wish you were never born. We’re done, through. Do you hear me? I’d rather fuck a bucket of hot water.”
Everyone around us laughs, but Demi’s face floods with rage.
“You know you belong to me, Max. You can’t just end it. I won’t let you. That little bitch has nothing on me.”
“Call her that again,” I growl, “and see what happens. That woman is thirty times the person you are.”
“You can’t do this!” she screams as I turn away.
“Just did, babe.”
I flick my eyes in the direction Belle was in, but she’s gone. I didn’t notice her run off. God dammit. Fuck. Leaving Demi where she is, I spin around and shove past people, running towards her car, because I know that’s exactly where she’s headed.
I’m right. I catch her just as she’s swinging the door open.
“Blue Belle, wait.”
She spins on me, and screams in a voice so loud I’m shocked it could come out of someone so tiny. “You go away, Max. I won’t do this. I won’t be your little companion that you turn to when you’re bored. Leave me alone. I don’t want to be a part of this.”
“Just wait,” I say, shoving her door closed so she can’t get in. “Let me—”
“No!” she shrieks. “Why did you even seek me out, Max? What purpose did you have to try and be my friend? I was happy before you came along! Then you jumped into my life and now I can’t . . .”
“You can’t what?” I growl, stepping up close so her back is pressed against the car.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like without you. I don’t want to feel like that. I didn’t want to feel the desperate feelings I felt the other day in my room, and I don’t want to feel them right now.”
She feels it too.
Fuck.
“You can’t make them stop, Blue Belle.”
“Stop calling me that,” she croaks. “Stop talking to me. Stop trying to be my friend. You’re too good for me, Max. That’s been proven. Just leave me alone.”
“There’s one big fucking problem with that request,” I say, stepping closer until my body is flush against hers. Her pink lips part and she sucks in a breath.
“What’s that?” she whispers.
“I don’t want to fucking leave you alone.”
Then I take a risk. I lower my head and crush my lips against hers. She’s silent for a moment, still