I’d let myself be consumed with vengeance for a while, but now, after everything, I didn’t see the point. Brittany was dead. Ryan and his friends were dead. Everyone was on high alert, not to mention the fact that I was a suspect.
No. No more revenge. Not right now, anyway.
“Hey,” I said, feeling my thighs clench a bit when he gave me a dimpled grin. How I did miss those. His dimples, his smiles, his laugh, even his sarcasm—sarcasm which sometimes didn’t hit the mark, but I’d never tell him that. I didn’t miss the lying Archer, but I did miss how easy it used to be between us.
“Hey,” he echoed, running a hand through his blonde hair and messing it up. And also calling my attention to his bicep. He was very muscled, wasn’t he?
My mind suddenly thought back to the day I had him naked and on his bed. Oh, yeah. He was muscled in every way, to say the least. Not that that was something I should be thinking about, but what could I say? I’d embraced my inner slut here. Why not? Might be thrown in jail at any minute, so I figured why not make the most of it.
“How’s your mom doing?” I asked. I tried asking once every day if I remembered, to show him that I did care. Archer and I were trying to start over, but it was hard.
He shrugged. “She’s doing okay. Same as yesterday.” Still that dimpled grin that made me squirm. “How’s yours?” When I laughed, he added, “Figured I’d ask, since you keep asking about mine.”
I quieted. “I just want to make sure you guys are okay.”
Archer’s azure stare lingered on me for a while, and he said nothing. I couldn’t even guess where his mind was at right now, how he felt about me or what he wanted to say, deep down.
As it would turn out, he said nothing, because it was at that moment that the announcements came on. The teacher in the front struggled to quiet the class, and the day began just like any other. Once the announcements were over, class started, and I took diligent notes, trying not to constantly stare at the cute blonde beside me.
Archer still made my body go haywire. You’d think I got enough dick to not let it affect me, but here I was, feeling like a schoolgirl with her first crush.
When the bell rang to signal the end of first period, everyone packed up. I was one of the first out of the room, because I was trying to avoid the hormones threatening to overpower my common sense and make me swoon anytime Archer looked at me, but the moment I stepped into the hall, I felt a hand touch my arm.
I stopped, looking back.
Archer. Of course.
He pulled me out of the main hall, away from the crowd of students hurrying to their next class. If I paid more attention to where I was going and where we were standing, I’d realize that I stood with my back against a classroom wall and Archer before me. Kind of boxed in.
Not that I hated being boxed in by him, even though I should.
“There’s something I want to ask you,” Archer said, looking a tad uneasy as he rubbed the back of his neck. So unlike him. Normally he was so confident and cocky, so easygoing and fun to talk to.
And cold and cruel, but to be fair, he’d thought I was the one who was ruining his life, so I understood.
“Shoot,” I said.
“There’s a party happening on Friday—” When I gave him a certain look, he quickly added, “Just hear me out. I know what happened the last time I took you to a party, but this…I don’t want this time to be like that. I would like this to be a redo, if you want to go.”
I looked at him hard, trying to see if he was playing any games with me. I was so not in the mood for it, and yet I knew I was weak against this particular boy. Of course, I also then wondered who the hell would be throwing a party now, after so many students from Midpark High had wound up dead.
“I don’t think anyone would want me at their house,” I said. That much was true. Everyone else viewed me as guilty, so Archer bringing me to a party would only cause further issues.