Never His Girl (Kings of Cypress Prep #2) - Rachel Jonas Page 0,72
of guys and girls.
“Guessing you realize you fucked up,” is how I announce myself, causing the group of pissants to back off from Scar and the kid I remember being with her at the block party.
I pinpoint the ringleader and level a look his way.
“You the one who started this shit?” I ask, backing him down when I step closer. “What are you, ten?”
“N-no. I’m fifteen,” the kid stammers.
“Perfect. Just old enough for me to kick your ass and not feel guilty about it,” I growl. “Now, what happens next is up to you, but choose wrong and I swear I’ll be your worst fucking nightmare.”
Kid’s shaking in his boots, taking a few more steps back.
“We were only playing,” he reasons.
“Worst. Fucking. Nightmare,” I say again.
He taps one of his little friends. “Let’s take off,” he announces, prompting the others to parade behind him, but I don’t miss their conversation as they’re walking away.
“Isn’t that the guy from the porno with her sister?”
If I knew which one said it, I’d trip the little bastard, but they’re already pretty far away now.
I turn to Scarlett.
“You good?”
She’s still a little shaken, but nods. “I’m okay.”
I raise a brow at her friend, having a hard time reading him. “You all right?”
“I had it handled,” he snaps, and it takes a second to figure out why he’s pissed at me, but then I get it.
He’s got a thing for Scarlett and I just stepped on his toes.
My bad, kid.
“Yeah, I saw that,” I lie. “I just came over as reinforcement. I’m sure they would’ve backed off either way.”
He straightens his jacket, and his face turns bright red. Since he doesn’t seem to appreciate my clean-up job, I leave him alone and only speak to Scarlett.
“This kind of thing happen often?” I ask, recalling the situation from the other week, when Southside had to rush to her rescue.
She smooths her hair, taking a deep breath to calm down. “Only since, well… you know.”
Fuck. I do know.
She means since ‘the porno with her sister’, as that little shit put it.
I feel like the biggest fucking asshole right now, knowing this is my fault, so I’m glancing down at the bags in my hands.
“Here, take this,” I say, handing over the game system that was supposed to be Joss’s to Scarlett.
Next, I nod at the other kid.
“What size shoe do you wear?”
“Eleven,” he grumbles.
I glance down at Sterling’s size thirteens in the bag. “Here, you’ll grow into these.”
I hand off the gifts and know I’m kind of a walking contradiction right now—using presents to make up for shit I messed up. Like Vin does.
Scarlett beams from ear-to-ear when she realizes what I’ve just given her, and the other kid’s smiling a little, too, now.
“Holy crap! Thank you!” Scarlett screeches, coming in fast for a hug. I embrace her lightly, so I don’t smash the few bags I still have left.
“Don’t mention it.”
I scan the area after that, as discreetly as I can manage, but who the fuck am I kidding?
“Your sister here with you?”
I definitely just violated this whole ‘give her space’ thing by even asking, but damn. I’m over all the rules and gameplay at this point. I like her, want to be around her, but can’t even admit that shit for fear of scaring her off.
“No, we’re here with Shane’s Aunt Carla,” Scarlett shares. “Blue’s visiting our brother.”
That was about the last thing I expected her to say, but guess she’s on a quest of her own for answers.
“Should I tell her you say hi?” Scarlett asks, flashing a coy grin right after. Basically, she knows as well as I do that I’m obsessed with her sister.
“Sure. And if those kids mess with you again, Blue’s got my number. Call me and I’ll drop everything to come back up Shane.”
He seems to appreciate that I didn’t leave him out of that.
“Noted,” Scarlett pipes up. “Merry Christmas.”
She walks off the next second, grinning when she peeks inside the bag with her new game system in it.
I hear footsteps coming up from both sides, but don’t turn to face my brothers. Not while their gifts are still in sight, walking off toward the food court.
“Was that Southside’s sister?” Dane asks, popping a cookie into his mouth.
I nod. “Yep.”
“What was that about?”
“Nothing really,” is all I say.
He shrugs and then they both glance down toward the bags in my hands. It only takes a second to notice I’m carrying far less than when they walked away a moment