6. Marcus

Shehasn’tnoticedme yet, hasn’t even looked this way down the corridor. It’s probably deliberate since she knows my locker is in this direction, but she can’t avoid me for much longer. She has to walk past my locker to get outside, where I’ll probably follow her around during recess. It’s inevitable.

Fuck, she looks hot. My dick is hard just seeing her in the flesh again. This last month has been hell. I didn’t think she’d be heartless enough to completely ghost me. I lost my fucking shit when I thought she must have blocked my number or something. But then Ayden told me that Lexi couldn’t get a hold of her either, and when I reached out to Tillie, one of Rhys’s closest friends, she said she was worried because she also couldn’t reach Rhys on her phone.

Principal Rogan, Rhys’ foster mum, lied to our faces, telling us Rhys was visiting an old friend when she didn’t show up at the start of term. My fucking brain naturally assumed she was fucking someone else. That she was staying with some guy somewhere, moving on from me. Lexi reminded me that Mrs Rogan wouldn’t allow something like that, and I had to slap myself out of the bullshit I was letting my brain conjure up. I’ve always known I’m not good enough for someone like Rhys George, yet I still want her.

In the beginning, it was nothing but a bit of fun. At least that’s what I told myself. Rhys told me the same thing, but I thought I could somehow win her over. Somehow be enough for her that she’d want to commit to me or some shit. I’m a fucking dickhead for thinking it. Rhys George is a force of nature. She commands attention without even trying. She’s the life of the party and the free spirit we all wish we could be. I should have known her interest in me would be brief. Someone like her, with so much experience in the bedroom, will never be satisfied by a fucking seventeen-year-old amateur delusional dick like me. She has never been known to date or even fuck guys my age. The fact that she chose me gave me the false sense that I was different.

I was wrong.

“I think her skirt is shorter than it was last term.” Garrett comes to stand by my side, and I glance up at his towering height. His blue eyes are on Rhys, and a fucking jealous pang tightens my chest. I’ve seen the way my mates look at her. Hell, I look at her the same way. But that used to be ok because I was the one fucking her. Now, she’s free game.

“Yep. She’s probably already got detention after school for wearing it so short.” I sigh, turning my gaze back to where Rhys is doing some weird handshake thing with her friend Dale.

“What are we looking at?” Simon’s blonde head pops between Garrett and me, and when his eyes land on Rhys, he barges through us and bounds up to her like a fucking excited puppy.

“George! Where you been, girl?” Simon’s voice bounces off the walls, gaining the attention of the students milling around their lockers. When Rhys turns, hearing Simon’s voice, I finally get to see that gorgeous face with skin that looks like it glows, dark eyes that are almost black, and lips to match. I nearly lose all self-control and walk up to her.

No! She doesn’t like you anymore, douchebag!

“You doing alright, man?” Garrett asks, but I don’t look at him. I can’t take my eyes off her, so I shrug.

“Fucked if I know.”

He chuckles. “In other words, no.”

I shrug again.

I watch her interact with Simon. They have always had easy banter, both similar in a lot of ways. Their playfulness. Their need to always find the fun in a situation. Fuck, maybe he’d be a better match for her than me. I don’t care, though. I’d cut off his dick before I’d ever let him stick it in my girl.

But she’s not my girl, is she?

Laughing at something I can’t hear, Simon turns with Rhys, and they start to make their way in my direction. I hold my breath. I have no fucking idea why I keep the air trapped in my lungs because I start to feel dizzy, but I hold it anyway, watching and waiting to see if she will acknowledge me.

A few feet before Gaz and me, Rhys, still laughing, looks up, and those dark chocolate eyes lock onto mine. I’m sure she didn’t mean it. She probably forgot about the invisible pull we have on each other, but now she’s remembering. I can see it in the way her breath hitches. The way her eyes flare, even though it’s brief. And I can tell by the way her cheeks turn pink before my eyes.

Oh yeah. She may have said we weren’t a thing. She may have said we weren’t exclusive. She may have said that she felt nothing for me, but her body doesn’t lie. I affect her, even though she doesn’t want me to.

Garrett, being the fucking epic mate he is, steps to the side a little, blocking Rhys from passing. Ha! This fucker is making sure Rhys has no choice but to interact with me. The question is, will she?

“Good to see you, George. Have a good break?” Garrett asks, and with cocky confidence that only Rhys George has, she grins and shrugs one shoulder, turning her beautiful dark gaze to him.

Don’t look at him. Look at me!

“Hey there, Cole.” She smiles using Garrett’s surname just like he used hers, her straight white teeth making an appearance from behind those black lips.

Fuck, I miss those lips. They are so soft and so fucking naughty.

“I had a great break, thanks. You fuckers miss me?” She raises a dark brow in question to Garrett, and he chuckles right before she turns those dark eyes back to me.

There she is.

“I’m not sure that miss is the right term to use. Perhaps more like it was quiet while you were gone.” Garrett grins, and she rolls her eyes dramatically, looking back at him.

“That’s because you fuckers are boring. You need someone like me to light up your life.”

Garrett grins down at Rhys, and she kisses the air before shooting him a wink. When she goes to step past us, Garrett side steps, forcing her closer to me, and her arm has no choice but to brush mine. Without a second thought, my hand finds hers, and as if it’s totally natural, our fingers link.

Her steps falter as she stops beside me, her body facing in the opposite direction to mine when her head tilts up to glance at me. Those deep dark eyes of hers find mine as her delicate fingers squeeze tighter, our shoulders pressing together.

“Miss me?” I don’t know when the fuck I grew elephant-sized gonads, but fuck if they didn’t grow bigger at the flare in her eyes.

“Maybe.” Trying to hide her smirk, Rhys bites her bottom lip. She should know better. I know all her tells.

“Yeah. You did.” I smirk, my eyes flicking longingly at her black lips. Fuck, those lips look so good wrapped around my dick. I wonder if she’ll ever kneel before me like that again?

“I don’t know, Grady. The way you are eye-fucking me right now tells me you most certainly missed me more.”

Fuuuck. My dick twitches at her words. I love the way she speaks. The way she doesn’t hold back. Any other girl would have giggled shyly at my words and skipped off. Not Rhys George. No fucking way. She tells it how she sees it. It’s fucking refreshing, even when I don’t like what she has to say.

“Maybe.” I throw her words back at her, and she grins sexily. “Are you ok?” I ask the question I’ve wanted to ask her since she went radio silent four weeks ago.

There’s a brief second where Rhys lets her barrier fall, and I see the uncertainty in her eyes. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, there’s a slight tremble in her hand. She was definitely hoping I would keep our banter light. Not too serious. But her reaction isn’t because I asked a serious question. No. Something else is going on.

“I’m peachy. Thanks for the concern, Grady.” Her fa?ade slams back in place, and I no longer see the vulnerability in her eyes. Her fingers loosen in mine, and just like that, I’ve lost her.

Rhys quickly steps away from me and skips ahead to catch up with Dale. My eyes follow her as she links arms with him, and he joins her, skipping together like a pair of eight-year-olds. It’s only when Rhys glances back over her shoulder at me before she bursts through the doors at the end of the hall that I realise my concerns are right. Something is wrong.

The worry in her dark gaze is unlike anything I have seen her express before, which tells me all I need to know. Rhys George may not want to be involved with me anymore, but she sure as shit is getting me, even if it’s just as a friend. Because if something can make Rhys George look so scared, it means something in her life has gone wrong. Terribly wrong.