Don't Follow Me: A High School Bully Romance (Diamond In The Rough Book 4)(25)

Then he came to stand in front of me.

“What has gotten into you tonight, gorgeous?”

I quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Meredith giggled. “Yeah. What do you mean?”

He glared at her before his eyes came back to mine.

“This isn’t like you. Getting drunk. Getting high. Are you crazy? What if you get caught?”

I shrugged. “It’s part of the college experience. Everyone does it.”

He blinked. “Seriously?”

I snickered. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you know better than I do. Really, Clint?”

His face softened. “That’s not what I was--”

“Yes, it is!”

I leapt off the porch swing and everyone turned their attention to us.

“I don’t need you protecting me, Clint. I can look after myself. I did before you came into my life, and I will after you’re gone. That’s what this is all about. Me standing on my own two feet and carving out a life I want for myself. Not the life you want for me. This is about me taking care of me. Not about me being dragged around like a damn child by my fucking boyfriend.”

His eyebrows rose. “Dragged?”

I snickered. “Yeah, Clint. Dragged. Look around you.”

I gestured at the party as I slowly circled around.

“Look at it. All of it. I’ve been so fucking afraid to leave high school behind. But look at all this. Do you think these people brought their high school with them? Their friends and their boyfriends? No, they didn’t. They came alone, like I didn’t have the balls to.”

“What are you saying, Rae?”

“All right, I think it’s time to go home. What do you say?” Michael asked.

I felt his hand come down against my arm, but I ripped away from him.

“You might be Allison’s boyfriend, but you’re not mine. You won’t touch me that way.”

Michael narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, but you’re my best friend, Rae. And you’re drunk. High, too. It’s time to get out of here.”

Allison peeked around the corner. “I’m ready to go whenever you guys are.”

I pointed at her. “Did they put you up to this? Did Michael threaten you or something?”

Michael scoffed. “Threaten her? Do you even hear yourself?”

Clint sighed. “This is what happens. Alcohol and weed create paranoia.”

I stepped back. “I’m not paranoid!”

Meredith piped up. “She’s just trying to have a good time and you guys are trying to control her.”

One of the guys spoke up. “Yeah. Not cool, dudes.”

Clint snickered. “Yeah, dude. Well, see your way out of this conversation. Come on, Rae. We’re going back to the hotel.”

I crossed my arms. “And if I don’t?”

Clint sighed. “Pouting doesn’t look good on you when your eyes are bloodshot. Now, come on. You need food and a shower.”

I licked my lips. “Maybe what I need is another boyfriend.”

Michael held out his hand. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s take it easy with all this shit.”

Allison came up to my side. “You’re going to regret this in the morning. Just come with us. You can sleep with me tonight.”

Michael paused. “Wait a second, what?”

Clint sighed. “Fucking grand.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yeah, sorry I don’t feel like bouncing on your cock tonight, you jealous asshole.”

He snickered. “Oh, I’m the asshole? You’re the one preaching about new boyfriends and not giving a shit how any of this makes me feel. But I’m the asshole?”

I glared at him. “Yeah, that’s right! You’re the asshole!”

I pulled away from Allison and stumbled over something. Whether it was my own two feet or Allison’s shoelace, I didn’t know. All I knew was that my drink went flying into the air, all over Clint. And his arms fell open to catch me. My cheek pressed against his chest as I struggled to stand up. And feeling him against my body made me shiver.

But not in a good way.

“Rae, you okay? Can you stand?”

I shoved him away. “Leave me the hell alone.”

I pushed my way through the crowd as blood rushed through my ears. I stumbled against the porch, trying to prop myself up.

“Rae! Wait up!”

I rolled my eyes at Allison’s voice and kept going. I pushed my way through the crowd as guys held out their arms to catch me. I couldn't stand up. I couldn't keep myself fucking upright. I felt someone guide me to a couch in the living room as music thudded against my ears. Asses swayed in my vision. Guys looked at me and winked before sticking their tongue down someone else’s throat.

“Rae, there you are.”

I sighed as Allison dropped down beside me. I felt her rubbing my back, but I shrugged her off. I didn’t want her concern or words of encouragement. What I wanted was to relax. To forget about everyone and cast all hell to the clouds, for once in my fucking life. I leaned into the couch cushions and closed my eyes. I let the beat of the music whisk me away. And as Allison batted away people who tried to offer me drinks, I felt the world tilting around me.

Must be the weed.

Clint got to do this with his life. If anything, he should understand. He got to party to relieve stress. He got to drink. I’d seen him more than once come into school with bloodshot eyesand the smell of pot on his leather coat.

I wonder what happened to his leather coat.

“Rae? You need anything?”

I sighed. “I need you to shut up.”

Allison murmured, “Sorry.”

My head fell off to the side. Smoke started filling the room. Someone ‘woo hoo’’d off in the distance and I shoved my fist into the air.

“Woo hoo!” I exclaimed.

But Allison didn’t join me in the exclamation.

I rolled my head over to her and opened my eyes. And when I saw her, I sighed. She had her arms crossed over her chest. Her leg crossed over her knee. She stared down at the floor, her lips moving as she talked to herself.

“Allison, don’t let Michael ruin this night for you.”

She shook her head. “And what makes you think he’s the one ruining it?”

Her eyes met mine.

I scoffed. “I’m not the one ruining it. You were having a good time with a drink and everything before they found us in the backyard.”

She sighed. “Did you have to be so mean to Clint?”

“He wasn’t getting the picture. He never gets the picture.”

“Do you ever talk to him about the picture?”

“I talk to him plenty enough, thanks.”

Allison sighed. “What’s really going on, Rae?”

I shrugged. “You mean other than my mother stealing my money, wanting to keep me home as a permanent paycheck, and Clint not wanting to move anywhere near me? Nothing.”

She blinked. “Wait, what’s this about your mother?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“It is nothing, okay? You know how my mother is. You give an inch, she keeps taking miles until you piss her off for good.”

“Does Clint know you want him to move with you?”

I closed my eyes. “If he really loved me, would I even have to ask?”

And when Allison didn’t answer, I knew I had mine.





22





Clinton





Mike put his hand on my shoulder. “She’s just drunk, man. You guys are solid.”

I barely heard his voice. I barely registered his touch. My mind reeled as I watched Rae storm off, her tense body falling away from me. She peered over her shoulder, casting me a look that could’ve buried an army six feet under if she had commanded it.

I sighed. “I should’ve seen this coming.”

Mike slipped his hand off my shoulder. “See what coming? The fact that she was going to get drunk and high at a party and lose her mind? Come on, you know the kind of pressure she’s been under.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I do. And she’s been pulling away. Nothing’s been the same ever since I told her I wasn’t applying to college. I know she resents me for that.”

“Dude, she doesn’t resent--”

“You mean after all those times she helped me with homework? All those tests she helped me study for? All the work she put in to helping me bring my grades up? And you don’t think she resents me for not going to college when she helped with all that?”

Mike snickered. “She helped you graduate. That’s all she wanted. It’s not her fault her mother started breathing down her neck around the same time.”

I shrugged. “Maybe so, but can you see why my mind is doing what it’s doing?”

“Sorry. Excuse me. I’m going to go get her,” Ally said.

I shook my head. “It won’t work.”

She snickered. “Then don’t have faith. But I’m still going after her.”

I watched Ally push between the two of us as she went after Rae. Raelynn Cleaver. The girl who saved me more times than I could count. The girl who pulled me up from the mire of my life and helped me to fly. The girl I had fallen madly in love with.

This shit was never about what school program she wanted to enroll in.

This was about me. It had always been about me. At least, it seemed that way. Had I become too controlling of her actions? Did I not give her the space she needed? Did she feel smothered? Or manipulated?