“Did she just do what I just think she did?” Amo asked, pointing in the direction Elle had run away from Nero, again.
“Yep, she did.”
Amo held up his hands. “Hey, man, I didn’t do anything.”
Nero grabbed Amo’s shoulder. “It’s fine, man. Someone looks like shit today. Rough night?”
“Try rough fucking morning.” Amo lowered his voice. “That girl is fucking nuts. I can’t babysit her anymore. Tell Vince to do it; he’ll like watching her.”
“That’s exactly why he can’t watch her. Elle ain’t going to trust him with her.” Hell, Nero wouldn’t trust his sister with Vincent. In five seconds, he could have any girl drop to her knees.
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. She practically screamed when I almost touched her, and it wasn’t the kind of scream I made Christa do last night.”
Nero knew this job wasn’t going to be easy. The girls were possibly tighter than him and his crew.
“Listen, you know our job. We want in, don’t we?”
Amo nodded. “Okay. Fine.”
Nero decided to change the subject. “Christa, huh?”
“Yep, and Christa has a shit ton of friends waiting to meet some prep school guys tomorrow.”
“Good. You, me, and Vince deserve a reward after these two.” Nero had to get laid.
The way Elle’s mouth felt only made it worse. He hadn’t planned to kiss her like that; however, the only other thing he wanted to do was choke her for telling him to go to bed earlier. The only reason he had stayed up the whole night was because all he could think about was a way to get her to stop riding the bus. And fucking her brains out. Then, when she moaned in his mouth, he had to stop because, if she made another sound, he was sure to take her on the hood of his car.
“Yes, we do, man. Oh, that reminds me, when I met Chloe this morning, her car was still there. I figured her dad would have picked it up.”
“Yeah, me, too. Maybe he was too busy running the city.” He didn’t know why else he would leave a BMW.
“Or maybe he doesn’t like dealing with her crazy ass just as much as me.”
* * *
“Elle, I can’t deal with him. He’s crazy!” Chloe tried to keep her voice down, but Elle knew she was about to lose it.
“Shh, I know, but you are here in one piece, untouched, right?” Elle was making sure no one had tried to give them any trouble.
“Barely! He tried to push me to walk beside him. All he had to do was tell me to.”
Elle laughed. “Chloe, you gotta start to get used to walking beside us. It’s okay as long as we’re with them. This is a good thing we got going now. I’m not as worried anymore. Are you?”
Elle knew she wasn’t by the way she looked. She definitely had gotten more than an hour of sleep.
After a minute, Chloe finally answered, “No, I’m not that scared when they are around.”
“See, Chloe. They can get us to survive the rest of the semester. Then, when we’re out, we won’t need them anymore.” She knew they would finally be free, and it was going to just be her and Chloe.
Chloe sighed. “Whatever. Fine.”
“Want to go shopping tomorrow? I got Friday off. I think we deserve it.” Her closet seriously needed some help and she deserved a girl’s night.
“We sure do, surrounded by those three idiots.”
Chapter Sixteen
What’s Up His Butt?
Elle watched Nero walk into the classroom. Whatever he and Amo had been talking about had made him pissed. Geez, I thought he was pissed earlier.
This time, Nero was fuming. Elle thought she should probably be a little scared. When he started to take his seat right in front of her, he gave her the look of death. Okay, now I am a little scared.
She had no clue what had gone on between them in the hall, but something told her she probably didn’t want to know.
After Mr. Evans assigned everyone Beowulf, they started going around the classroom, reading a scene aloud by playing popcorn. Elle honestly wasn’t paying attention; she was too preoccupied thinking about what Nero was so pissed about.
Nero’s look of death brought a memory to her mind.
Elle and Chloe left their science class a bit after the final school bell rang, waiting to let the crowd die down. Elle had noticed Chloe had started walking a step behind her, but still halfway at her side. Every day since they had started to become friends, she felt her edge over more and more at her back. Elle understood why—hell, even her head stayed down to the point where she needed to use Elle to guide her anyway.
Elle didn’t mind being her guide. She knew it was hard for Chloe to show her new markings. Elle would have been the same way. The cuts still looked red and nasty, but they were healing better every day. Elle just wished her mind would begin to heal.