Havoc at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys #1) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,87
hits mine before I can even think to turn away, searing through the haze of anger and leaving me panting.
“I wanted to see what I'd taste like on your lips,” he says, and then he laughs again and pushes off the wall, disappearing down the hallway toward his next class. Everyone's staring at us, but it doesn't matter.
At Prescott High, everyone knows … you don't mess with Havoc.
I head down the front steps after school to find Hael waiting for me in his car on the curb across the street, music blasting from his speakers, one tattooed arm hanging out and tapping a rhythm against the cherry-red metal.
Like a good girl, I look both ways before I cross, skirt around the hood, and slip into the passenger seat.
“Waiting for Oscar and Callum,” Hael explains when we don't take off right away, smoking a cigarette and blowing gray smoke out the open window. He offers me the pack, and I take one, careful to avoid our fingers touching.
I let Hael Harbin go down on me in the principal's office, I think, and then pull in a deep inhale to banish the thoughts with nicotine. And all for the sake of revenge. A small smile curves my freshly painted lips. I mean, there are worse ways to ensure the downfall of one's enemies.
Oscar appears in his suit, Callum right behind him, wearing a baggy blue hoodie with the sleeves cut off, like always.
They head across the street and I start to get out, but Hael beats me to it, climbing out and lifting his seat up so the other two boys can crawl in the back. They look ridiculous back there, like we're in some sort of clown car or something. It's far too small for them, but nobody complains.
“Can we please grab something to eat on the way to Aaron's? I'm fucking starving,” Callum groans, that throaty voice of his giving me the chills. He curls his fingers over the back of my seat and peers at my phone as I tap out yet another lie to my mother. His smell drifts over me, this pleasant mix of shaving cream, talc, and aftershave. “Maybe the drive-in?”
“If it's not sanctioned by Vic, I'm not doing it,” Hael says on the end of a forced laugh. “Pretty sure Blackbird and I are in enough trouble as it is.”
“For fucking in your car behind the school, or taking your lunch assignment to a different level?” Oscar asks, and I can see in the rearview mirror that he barely lifts his eyes from the screen of his iPad.
“Lunch assignment?” I ask and Callum chuckles, low and dark. There's some deep-seated pain in that laugh, but also a grudging sort of acceptance. The darkness is where I live; I've learned to be happy here.
I shiver.
“You know how hunters send their dogs in to flush out the prey?” Callum asks, and I glance back to give him a questioning sort of look. “Hael is the dog.”
“And who's the prey?” I ask, just before I come up with the answer on my own. “Principal Vaughn.” I hit send on my text and wonder how long my luck's gonna hold before Mom starts after me for being gone all the time. That, and because I've always got Heather with me. Always. Once she's done with her after-school program, we'll go pick her up. “I thought we were going after Kali next?”
“Kali's tied up with the Ensbrook and Charter brothers,” Oscar explains in that Lucullan smooth voice of his, like some sort of dark angel. Finally, he turns off the screen of the iPad and sets his inked hands over the top of it. “It's going to take a bit more finesse. Principal Vaughn is becoming a problem.”
“He hauled Vic into his office yesterday and nailed him with weekend janitorial duty for a dress code violation,” Callum explains, and Hael makes a sound of surprise, his hand tightening on the wheel.
“Why is this the first I'm hearing of that?”
“Maybe because you guys were too busy screwing each other to check the group chat?” Callum asks, leaning over me again and snatching my phone. He hits my text messages and pans up the long list of speech bubbles to one from Vic, timestamped for early yesterday afternoon. Oops. I was a little distracted last night when I glanced at the messages. I'm not used to actually being a part of a group chat that's worth checking. “Now, Bernadette, ask him if