toward me and I thought she was going to tackle me.
I put my hands out. “What’s going on?”
Gia froze and looked at the house. “Is he still here?”
“Who?”
“Talon,” Gia said.
“What? No. God, no.”
“Winter…”
“Gia, I swear on my life, nothing happened,” I said.
“Then why was he here?”
“Why do you think?”
“And you shut him down?” Gia asked.
“He’s a Troc,” I said.
“That shouldn’t even matter to you,” Gia said. “You have no memory of anything. You can do whatever you want. Why are you resisting it? Talon is hot as fuck. Did you not see him?”
“I saw him, Gia. But then he talked.”
“So put something in his mouth so he stops talking,” she said.
“What?”
“Your tongue. Your boobs…”
“God, stop it,” I said. “Maybe you should… never mind. What were you all excited about just now?”
“Oh, fuck, that’s right,” Gia said. “You’re never going to believe this.”
“What?”
“Noah got arrested this morning.”
I jumped toward Tank Two. “What the hell happened?”
“He beat the hell out of some guy and got caught,” Gia said. “Everyone is talking about it. This is crazy stuff. Those guys never get caught doing anything wrong.”
“I need to get to BFH right now,” I said. “Find out what’s happening. I can talk to Easton and Xavier.”
“Look at you… hanging with a Troc last night and then talking so casually about Easton and Xavier in the morning. Do you even realize how much of a badass you are right now?”
Gia laughed.
I wasn’t in the mood to laugh.
Something didn’t feel right about this…
I got behind the wheel of Tank Two and backed down the driveway, then I took off in a hurry on the main road. As the giant SUV sped up, my heart raced and my hands gripped the wheel tighter. Memories of the accident flashed through my mind. But I just needed to push through it.
When I arrived at BFH, I waited for Gia to park, then I lunged at her, taking her hand, and leading the way into the building. I was at risk of blowing my own cover by the way I was moving, but I didn’t care at that second in time.
Inside the building, there was a strange feeling in the air.
Everyone seemed surprised and they were all enamored by the gossip about Noah.
So this thing was real.
He got arrested…
It made my mind shatter.
It made me wonder…
I spotted Easton and Xavier at the end of the main hallway.
Xavier stood stoic, touching his jaw, staring off at nothing. Easton threw a punch and dented a locker. I heard the smash of his fist all the way to where I was standing.
I kept walking and Gia started to hesitate.
“Winter, wait,” she said. “They’re pissed.”
“So?”
“They’re deadly when they’re pissed.”
That phrase made me shiver.
Deadly? When they’re pissed? Oh, I know, Gia. Trust me, I know.
“I don’t care,” I said. “What are they going to do to me? I’m a girl.”
I pulled away from Gia.
“Winter, please…” She looked scared. “Be careful. Or let me come with you.”
I shook my head. “No. Stay here.”
I didn’t want Gia to get hurt more than she already was going to be by my actions.
I casually walked down the hall toward Easton and Xavier.
My heart pumped hard and fast.
My knees felt tingly, ready to quit at any moment.
“Hey, Xavier,” I called out.
He looked at me.
Dark, dark, dark eyes… so dark…
I swallowed hard.
“Just wanted to say thank you again for helping,” I said.
“It’s done and over with, Winter,” he said.
“Yeah, but you did it for free. I still don’t get why you did that.”
“Who gives a fuck?” Easton snapped. He looked at me with enraged eyes. “You want to keep talking about it?”
I stepped back. “Oh…”
“Fucking Christ, Easton,” Xavier growled. “She didn’t do anything to Noah.”
Or did I?
“Noah?” I asked. “What’s…”
“Don’t act fucking stupid,” Easton said. “You heard.”
I licked my lips. “Right. Sorry. I’ll leave you two be then.”
I started to turn and spotted Gia staring at me.
She hadn’t moved an inch.
Xavier grabbed my arm.
“Don’t go running away yet, Winter,” he said. He pulled me against him. “Let’s go somewhere and talk.”
I walked between Xavier and Easton.
Neither touched me but I felt like a captive.
This is it. They know something is up. Everything is fucked up now.
I kept licking my lips, swallowing hard, reminding myself it was okay to breathe. That I had to breathe or else I would end up passing out.
We ended up going down the quietest and darkest hallway in the entire building.
It was the famous rumored hallway where people would hang to get high or fool around.
That