Havoc at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys #1) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,38
says as Hael snarls colorful curses under his breath, obeying his boss whether he likes it or not. “And the rest of you, fuck off.”
“Screw you, Channing,” Mitch snaps as Kali throws herself into his arms, ever the whimpering, simpering little victim. I should never have trusted her, spilled my dark secrets to her during our sleepovers. All she ever did was turn my own words against me, from my stolen essay to my nightmare with Havoc. Kali Rose-Kennedy is a backstabber, and a nightmare, and I swear if the guys don’t take action soon, I will. “Touch my girl again, and we’ll find out who’s really in charge here.”
Vic smiles.
It’s not a pretty smile, the way he does it, this ironic, bemused twist of lips.
“Counting on it,” he says, and then he scoops me into his arms and takes my breath away.
“Where have you been?” I ask, but his eyes darken, and his face goes cold.
“Later,” he murmurs, and then he carries me down the hall for the whole school to see, the engagement ring on my finger sparkling in the sunlight.
It’s disgusting, how much I enjoy that.
On Friday when Victor invites me back to his place, I take my backpack, but I leave my sleeping bag. As usual, when I get there, he's sitting outside in a lawn chair, a cigarette in one hand, watching the sunset.
“Where is everybody else?” I ask, tossing my bag to the ground as I pause near him. He turns those dark eyes over to me, clearly pissed about something.
“Not here yet.” Vic ashes his cig out on the metal ashtray and then reaches for my wrist, yanking me onto his lap. A small sound escapes me as I stumble into him, and fire burns through me in a fierce wave, promising that it’ll feel oh-so-warm before it hurts, before it burns so bad that I go numb and never feel again.
He stares ahead, at the overgrown foliage that creates a sort of natural fence around his front yard, and glowers. All week, he’s been touchy as hell and pissed off about whatever happened on Monday. But when Victor Channing says later, apparently he gets to decide when and where he tells us all what happened in Principal Vaughn’s office.
“Do you always get together for sleepovers on Fridays?” I ask, and he shrugs, the muscles in his big shoulders moving like well-oiled pistons, taut and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. I recognize that alertness in him, that readiness, even when he’s at rest, because I have it, too. Deep down inside of me, a jungle cat paces, waiting to unleash her claws, her fangs, knowing that she has to because it’s a wild, wild world out there. One wrong step, one wrong move, and everything comes crashing down.
“Been doing it for years. Keeps us focused. We get most of our work done on the weekends anyway.” Victor turns to look at me, the wind ruffling his dark hair and making my heart do strange things inside my chest. “Where’s your sister?”
I feel my throat get tight. We haven’t talked much about Heather or what she means to me, or what I have to do to keep her safe. But somehow, it feels like Victor already knows. Reaching up, I trace a finger along the hard edge of his stubbled jaw, just to see if he’ll let me. I’ve never actually seen him with a girl, but clearly, he has them. Loads of them, probably. Something dark slithers around inside of me, and I clamp down on the emotion before it can rear its ugly head.
“At a friend’s house. But to be honest with you, she’s starting to run out of friends and favors.” A dry laugh escapes me as I slide my palm down my face. Tired. So damn tired. That’s the story of my life. I feel like I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in years. Those two nights at Aaron’s were like a dream, an almost painful reminder that I don’t often get much rest, not even when I fall into one of my light, fitful little spells of sleep. “And my mom, Pamela, she doesn’t like us being gone so much. Eventually, she’s going to snap.”
Victor chuckles, but it’s a dry, dark laugh. Humorless. He lights up another cigarette and holds it between his fingers. Today, some bitch yelled at him for smoking out front of the school. He flashed white teeth at her, told