Here With You (A Laurel Heights Novel) - By Kate Perry Page 0,26

pick at it and make it worse.

So she shrugged. "Whatever."

Both the –sons smirked as they got out of her way, but they still hung around as she opened her locker.

"I don't know what you were worried about, Mads," Addison said. "Aaron would never choose her over you. That's insane."

"I know. But it's better to have clear communication."

Rachel rolled her eyes again, knowing the girls couldn't see her since she faced her locker. She shut the door, clicked it locked, and stepped around the two witches. The final bell rang, and she sighed. Great—she was late.

"He could never like someone like her," Madison added. "I bet even her parents wish they didn't know her. I mean, her mom probably wishes she had a normal, pretty daughter."

"Yeah, I bet her mom totally regrets her."

Rachel stopped in her tracks. For a moment she just felt frozen, stunned that someone would talk about her mom.

Then the hurt set in. Would her mom want a better daughter? She didn't want to believe it, but she hadn't been acting her best lately.

Still, she knew her mom, and she knew her mom loved her no matter what. So she whirled around. "You don't know what you're talking about."

The –sons looked at her incredulously, like they couldn't believe she'd spoken to them. "Excuse me?" Madison said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"You know nothing about my family. You're just acting stupid and petty. Do you think Aaron's going to like that?"

Addison's jaw dropped as Madison strutted up to her, her mouth set in a mean line. "Don't even talk about him. I knew him first. Besides, I have way more going for me."

"Like what?" Rachel asked. "Community college?"

Addison gasped.

Madison got directly in her face. "You're just a loser that no one likes. I bet you don't even have a family. I bet your mom left you, because you were such a loser."

Her fury was quick and sharp. For a moment, Rachel knew she could strangle the evil —son.

Instead, she chose a different method of revenge. She lifted her chin and looked Madison in the eye. "If I were such a loser, Griffin Chase wouldn't be using my poem for lyrics for one of the songs on his upcoming release."

Both the –sons gasped, but it was Madison, of course, who spoke. "You're such a liar."

Her heart beat hard with the slight exaggeration. It wasn't an outright lie because she was going to make it come true. But she wasn't going to show weakness in front of the –sons of anarchy, so she shrugged nonchalantly. "Believe it or not. It's the truth."

She turned on her heels and hurried to French. She was so late, but that was the least of her worries. She'd just told the mortal enemies that Griffin Chase was going to use her poem, and she hadn't managed to talk him into it yet.

What had she done?

Chapter Twelve

Grif sat on his makeshift bed in Nicole's living room, Roddy's latest message playing in his head: Chase, you're effin' blowing this. The execs are getting nervous.

Well, so was he. He'd had a couple ideas but nothing of quality. His guitar mocked him from where it rested against the wall across the room.

The closed door of Nicole's room mocked him, too.

They'd hung out with Nicole's roommate that evening, and it'd been fun. Dinner at home, laughter and discussion. Susan had asked him about the rock star lifestyle, and he'd teased her about pushing drugs.

It's been nice. Really nice.

Nicole had been quiet, but she'd seemed to have relaxed as the evening went on. At least he'd thought so until she announced she was retiring to her room.

He stared at the bedroom door. He was desperate to know what was going on in there. Was she drawing? Was she in bed? Did she have clothes on?

In high school, she'd gone through a phase when she fell asleep in her street clothes. She'd said then she didn't have to spend the extra minutes getting dressed for school. He couldn't see her sleeping in her clothes anymore. He saw her sleeping naked.

Not something he should be seeing. He squeezed his eyes shut, but the image burned bright even in the darkness of his mind. Sleek limbs, smooth skin, her shiny smile, and her dark hair fanning on her pillow.

He was lusting after his best friend.

It'd caught him by surprise. He hadn't expected it. He'd thought seeing her would be grounding, like it always had been. But there was nothing settling about seeing her. He