I sat on a bench inside the locker room, examining the familiar pink tiled walls and acknowledging my asinine reaction to some guy in a hallway. My toes pressed against the cool concrete floor, anchoring me, soothing my nerves. Cumulatively, I’d spent days in this locker room. The sights, scents, and sounds around me were safe, comforting, home. Liam Hale had followed me down the natatorium hallway. So what? I shouldn’t care. It didn’t matter. I hustled into my suit and swim cap.
My mind bounced back into forbidden territory before I donned flip-flops. Where had he gone and why? The only escape was a broom closet, the pool ahead of me, and locker room doors. He hadn’t run past me to the pool and I doubted he’d needed anything from the janitor’s supply closet. In a true show of paranoia, I stilled and listened keenly for someone hidden among the lockers.
“Get a grip, Callie,” I murmured.
Coach’s whistle blew. Thick block walls muffled the sound, but I’d recognize the sharp warning anywhere. Curious and thankful for the motivation, I closed my locker, spun the lock, and tossed a towel over one shoulder. Electricity zinged through my limbs, carrying me to the pool with haste, anticipating the nearness of a long swim. My heart leapt as I rounded the corner from locker room to pool. The water called to me. Chlorine clung in the humid air of the back hallway linking locker rooms to the pool entrance. I tugged the steamy glass door open and inhaled, enjoying the twitch of my muscles, eager to dive in and swim a mile before contemplating the day’s nonsense.
I threw my towel against the wall and left my flip-flops beside it. Coach stood at the far end of the pool holding a clipboard and nodding at someone in the water. A tendril of frustration drifted up my spine. This was my secret swim time. I liked the solitude. Coach nodded at me as I moved in his direction. I supposed if this other swimmer was any good, I might benefit from a lap partner to push me when I grew lazy or unfocused. Silver linings weren’t my specialty, but a partner had potential.
Long arms cut steady strokes through rippling water as I traversed the pool’s edge to meet Coach halfway.
Coach never took his eyes off the swimmer. “Looks good, yeah?”
“Sure.” We moved to the short end of the pool, watching as the half-human, half-torpedo swam, flipped, and returned again and again.
Pale green and blue glass tiles covered the walls of the natatorium where local and state championship banners hung. I’d been present for the earning of three of the titles. Stacks of bright orange life vests stood beside cubicles of goggles, fins, and water weights. Huge white life preservers with the school logo hung on the walls around the pool perimeter. Swim pride filled my chest. Tall glass walls invited sunlight into the space. Steam gathered on the glass, fracturing sunbeams and casting rainbows on the floor. I used to doodle my initials in the condensation beside Kirk’s. How I’d ever liked him in any capacity escaped me. Had he been different before or was I?
I crossed chilled arms over my chest, unreasonably agitated. My new lap partner suddenly looked a lot like competition. “So, who’s the eel?”
Coach blew his whistle and the swimmer stopped stroking ten feet from the pool’s edge nearest our feet. The swimmer was far too long and broad to be a girl. Also, no shirt. So, who was this guy? Lean arms stretched toward the wall. His fingertips latched onto the shelf below my toes. Liam’s face broke the water’s surface. Blue goggles masked his eyes as he climbed from the pool and ran huge hands over dripping hair.
“Hale.” Coach looked from Liam to me. “Callie Ingram. Callie, Liam Hale.”
“Hello.” Liam spoke. No nod. No pretending I didn’t exist.
“Hey,” I answered lamely.
His accent was fabulous. I smiled, pleased with the idea of having him to myself for an hour a day. My theory about everything being better at the pool might hold water after all.
Liam pulled off his goggles, revealing those unspeakably beautiful eyes. His frown returned and my smile fell. So much for my pool theory.
Coach turned his back on me. “Your times are remarkable, Hale. Our season begins November first. We practice Monday through Thursday immediately after school. Swim meets begin the first of December. Miss a practice, you miss the meet. Miss a meet, you’re off the team. You swim unless you’re hospitalized, comatose, or dead. Same goes for practice. Think it over before you sign on. This is a solid five month commitment, longer if we get to Nationals.”
“Thank you, sir.” Liam extended a hand to Coach and they shook on it.
Coach ambled to his office, reviewing whatever he’d marked on his clipboard and shaking his head. He stopped at the threshold and turned back to Liam and me, still frozen where he left us.
“You’re free to go, Hale.” He pointed his whistle necklace at me next. “Don’t wait for her. This one never leaves.”
I shot Coach a sarcastic look before he fell into his chair and put his feet on the desk, watching us through his office window. Liam looked at me, an odd expression on his face. I averted my eyes, avoiding his super intense soul searching stare. It wasn’t my best idea. As my gaze fell on his broad shoulders, I sucked air. “You’re not bad.” I lifted a limp hand toward the pool. “In the water, I mean.”
“No?”
I shook my head, visually tracing the path of water droplets over the planes and angles of his chest, following patterns down a well-sculpted six-pack. Two rough scars caught my gaze, pulling my interest back up a few inches. Ragged white lines swelled over his chest and rib cage on one side. The marks looked like the result of an awful accident at first, ragged at the edges, imperfect, but I recognized the symbol they made. I’d seen it a thousand times in the Hale Cemetery. Like a letter z, tipped on a diagonal and elongated in an ancient hieroglyphic way. The symbol repeated in varied sizes down his left side. I searched his body again, closer this time, seeking anything else I missed. Water continued to fall from his hair to his torso. I tracked the drops over his skin until they disappeared into the fabric of his waistband.
“And outside the water?”
I jerked my focus back to his face, heat creeping up my neck. We were basically in our underwear and I’d examined him like a shameless creeper. “Fine.” Fine? What was wrong with me? I didn’t ogle guys, stumble over words, or crush on my best friend. Whatever was happening to my brain, I didn’t approve.
My arms itched to fold over my chest and hide what they could, but that would seem insecure and I was completely secure…in the water. I pressed my hands to the small of my back and his eyes moved to the neckline of my suit. I dropped both arms at my sides, unsure what they normally did while I died from embarrassment.
The obvious slapped me across my head. “You went to the men’s locker room.” Liam wasn’t a ghost. He’d gone into the men’s locker room while I scurried down the hall ahead of him. By the time I’d talked myself out of the women’s locker room, he was already doing laps.
He crunched his eyebrows.
I frowned back at him. “You were behind me in the hallway. You disappeared. I wondered where you went and now I know.” I turned my chin away from his face but wasn’t sure where else I should look. Counting his abs seemed inappropriate. Staring into the wall seemed rude when he stood three feet away.
Liam’s relentless stare traced the line of my body to my toes and back, visibly unimpressed. “Here I am.”
I huffed and turned for the wall shower, ready to rinse off and dive in. Ready to forget I saw him without a shirt. I turned the shower on and walked under the water. Liam watched. My heart hammered ridiculously in my chest when I stepped out of the stream and he moved toward me. Unsure what would happen next, I froze. He sidestepped me and moved under the water at my back. I was such a complete loser. He wanted to shower off before heading back to the locker room.
I forced my feet forward and threw myself headlong into the water, splitting the surface with ease and gliding several yards before breaking into my best freestyle. I concentrated on each breath, each stroke, each flip, and each new lap, never looking up until I heard the whistle. I stopped at the next flip and looked for Coach.
The whistle dropped from his mouth as he twisted the stopwatch over his head. “Looking good, Ingram.” He nodded and turned back for his office. I appreciated the semblance of privacy he allowed me, all while keeping tabs nearby.
Liam was gone.
I checked the clock on the wall and paced my laps for the final thirty minutes, switching from breaststroke to butterfly. Improving on my strongest strokes was my senior year strategy. Instead of cultivating every stroke, I’d picked my two best and pushed them to the limit. If I wanted to catch a recruiter’s eye, I needed one specialty, something to awe them. Something spectacular and scholarship worthy. A way to pay for college without Dad’s money.
When the whistle sounded again, Coach had his team jacket on and a laptop bag over one shoulder.
“Nice work, Callie. See you tomorrow?”
“Yes. Thanks, Coach.”
I wrung the length of my hair out in the shower, as much as possible for a hundred pounds of sponge grade hair, opting to knot the sopping mess into a bun instead of spending the time to blow it completely dry before walking home. Drops dotted an ugly pattern over my white sweater as I redressed in a rush. My after-swim makeup consisted of lip gloss and mascara. My cheeks were flushed from exertion and a bouquet of freckles bloomed beneath each eye, meeting in the middle and running down the bridge of my nose.
The school was silent as I left, save for the low hum of a floor buffer somewhere on a level above me. The sun hung low on the horizon when I emerged from the building. Daylight savings time would make things worse in a few weeks when we were forced to “fall back” another hour. I gathered the material of my coat around my middle and hunched my shoulders forward as I walked. The wind was an unfriendly reminder of why I should dry my hair this time of year. The sloppy wet bun might freeze to my head before I got home.
A shiny black Mercedes stopped my forward momentum. I stutter-stepped, unsure why Liam leaned against his car, watching me. The lot was empty. For the briefest moment, I imagined he waited for me. Stupid for a number of reasons, but hope lifted in my chest anyway. Hope for what, I wasn’t sure. Hope for more than one word and a blank stare, maybe. What was it about him?
I took a tentative step toward him, changing my direction slightly.
Loud male voices boomed in the distance. A group of football players toting bags large enough to hide me, loped around the side of the field house.
“There he is,” one player yelled.
Their group stopped, slapped backs, and chortled before one player broke away from the herd. He jogged lithely toward Liam, his golden hair mussed and wet. They matched. This must be Oliver. I recalled Allison’s infatuation with our underclassman, but in Liam’s shadow, I didn’t see Oliver’s draw. Liam fixed his stare on me as his brother slid onto the passenger seat.
I changed trajectory, hoping for casual. I wasn’t on my way to talk with Liam. I was simply walking across the lot and his car was there. Liam’s gaze followed me on my new path a moment before he folded himself behind the wheel. His taillights disappeared down the oak-lined street a moment later, and I released a long, uneven breath.
No ride for me, but it was a gorgeous fall evening. Fiery hues of peach and gold streaked the sky. Trees dropped amber and scarlet leaves by the bushel full. Burning brush tinged the air with distant smoke. Fresh scents of earth and rain foretold a storm. The wind kicked up and I hastened my pace. Soaked in a warm pool was much different than drenched in a cold October shower. I put my hustle in gear before I experienced both in under an hour.
I passed Hale Manor ten minutes later, without looking, and jogged up the steps to my house. Would Liam realize I lived right next door? Scents of seasoned potatoes, carrots, and pot roast filled the air. My stomach groaned in response. Without the sweat of effort, it was easy to underestimate the toll a good swim took on my body. I dropped my bag at the door and toed off my shoes.
“Honey, I’m home.” I went straight to the kitchen for a snack while I waited for the pot roast.
“Callie?” Mom’s voice echoed from the sunroom, a clear add-on to our century old farmhouse. The room was like an enclosed patio with better carpet. Mom called it a three-season room, but the only season it was good for was fall. Three walls of windows gave it a greenhouse effect in late spring and all through summer. The pitiful ceiling fan did nothing to remove the suffocating heat that built there. In the winter, the room was an icebox and we kept our bulk pop and bottled water out there.
I peeked around the corner, rubbing an apple on my shirt. Mom and a guest sat on white wicker chairs, sharing what smelled like hot tea. The last time Mom or I drank tea was in March when we both had head colds from hell. Coffee was the drink of choice in our house. Coffee helped busy women do more things faster. It was the Ingram women’s motto. Our war cry.
“Callie.” Mom stood and smiled. “This is Mrs. Hale, our new neighbor.”
My brain stuttered. I lifted my hand in a low wave. “Hi.”
“It’s lovely to meet you, Callie. Please, call me Victoria. You probably met my boys today at school. Your mother tells me you attend Zoar High as well.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I looked at my mom for guidance. This was Liam’s mom? She looked like a movie star in designer clothes with camera-ready makeup. Her sons would tower over her. Even seated in the chair, she was clearly a tiny waif of a person.
“Callie’s a senior this year,” Mom said.
“Oh.” Mrs. Hale stood, placing her teacup on the table with a clatter, seeming surprised by something. “Goodness. I lost track of time. I should get home.” She tucked a patent leather clutch under one thin arm and squeezed past me in the doorway. The heels she teetered on didn’t manage to hoist her up to my eye level. Odd considering I’d stopped growing in tenth grade at five foot four.
Mom chased after her, shooting me an apologetic look.
I didn’t point out the fact school had ended nearly two hours ago. The sun was setting. How long did kids attend school in Iceland?
Like any curious person faced with another strange-behaving neighbor, I went to the kitchen and eavesdropped.
“Thank you for the tea, Marcy. I truly appreciate it. Sorry to run off. You understand.” Mrs. Hale rattled a bunch of short sentences in her unusual accent and disappeared out the front door.
I pushed the kitchen curtain aside to watch her jog in four-inch patent leather heels down the sidewalk. Her navy dress adhered to her figure like a sticker, permitting a small and unnatural gait as she hurried and accentuating her tiny athletic build.
“Spying, Callie? Really?” Mom pressed her hand to my back but didn’t steer me away.
Mrs. Hale stopped at the bottom of her front steps and looked at her house. She looked both ways on the street behind her then back to the house. She still didn’t move forward.
“Is she feeling okay?” I asked.
Mom was a nurse. Maybe Mrs. Hale had stopped over for some medical advice, perhaps to share why she’d screamed last night. If she’d screamed last night.
“A bit of culture shock, maybe. Moving to the rural Midwest from Iceland must take some adjusting.” Mom walked away and returned with the teacups from the sunroom. She ran water over them in the sink and ignored me as I continued spying on the neighbor.
“What’s she doing?” I whispered, mostly to myself.
Mrs. Hale stared at the house as if it might eat her alive. The ominous grey and black motif was probably considered stately at one time, but all things considered, she might think about hiring painters and choosing something less Addam’s Family this time around.
“It’s rude to stare.” Mom wiped the counters and pulled two place settings from the cupboards. She stopped before filling our plates. “Is she still standing on the sidewalk?”
“Yep.”
Mom moved behind me and put her palms on my shoulders. Together, we waited. I wasn’t sure what I expected might happen, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. What was she thinking as she looked at her home? Had she ever been there before their big move? Why such a big move? It couldn’t be for work. There was no work nearby. Surely, if her husband wanted to commute, he could have found something closer than America.
“Maybe she’s thinking of redecorating?” Mom offered. “New siding, windows, fresh paint.”
“Maybe.”
The front door opened and a man’s head moved into view over the cornstalks between his porch and our kitchen window. The view from my room was way better. Mrs. Hale smoothed the skirt of her dress and repositioned her purse beneath her arm. She ran a hand over her platinum hair and took a step forward, then another.
“Well, there she goes. Nothing to see here.” Mom went to the stockpot on the stove and lifted the lid. “Hungry?”
My stomach gurgled. Mom smiled.
“Have a seat, sweetie.” Mom’s soft voice soothed my ragged nerves. “Tell me all about your day.”
Oh, boy. Where to start?
* * * *
I zombied through the next morning, smiling appropriately at Justin and Allison—who hadn’t bothered picking me up for school. She knew where to find Oliver now. No need to stalk my house at dawn when she could take her time primping and corner him in the hallway. I didn’t mind. Allison was a lot of personality to take at seven in the morning, and I had things on my mind. I wanted to walk.
The walk to school had been peaceful. The night had been torture. I’d woken twice before dawn to images of the design on Liam’s chest. Seeing the symbols I’d long associated with a cemetery etched into his skin had triggered something in me. The unsettling connection buzzed in my tired mind, creating vivid dreams and obliterating any possibility of actual rest. I wrestled with thoughts of the mark. I imagined it glowing green beyond my window, calling me into the darkness, the cemetery or Hale Manor, I hadn’t been sure. Hadn’t cared. I wasn’t leaving the safety of my bed and Chester. I was afraid of getting too close in my dream. Reality was another story.
I watched for Liam in the crowds and waited for him to speak to me in class. To my dismay, Liam didn’t make eye contact with me in Ohio History and he ditched lunch. Did he realize joining swim team meant interacting with real live people?
Justin handed me my book bag outside study hall after lunch, a hopeful but pensive look in his eyes. “Can I drive you home?”
“I’m swimming again tonight.”
“Gotcha. Text me after?”
“Yeah.” I lifted my right elbow and Justin bumped his into mine. We hadn’t done that since middle school, but the urge to remind him of our long years of friendship burst forth. He smiled widely at our private exchange. A right elbow bump was once the secret handshake to our exclusive cowboy club. We’d held meetings in the last pony stall of his parents’ stable and his mom delivered sweet tea and peanut butter sandwiches. Delivered. She hadn’t stayed because she didn’t know the handshake.
I headed to the row of computers in the back of the library, hoping for an available one. On the walk to school, I’d decided to spend study hall completing scholarship applications, instead of counting books and thinking of a boy who wouldn’t even look at me in public. The last available computer was beside the one Liam occupied. Of course.
I held my chin high and sat, completely indifferent to his proximity. I entered my student identification number right away and started my scholarship search as a small crowd entered the library. I hooked a chunk of hair behind my ear, removing the veil between my eyes and the computer screen. Time for concentration.
Something hot and wet coursed over my ear.
“Gah!” I straightened, wiping my ear with both palms.
Kirk leaned over me, one hand braced on the back of my chair, the other on the desk in front of me. “Hey, sexy. You miss me yet?”
“No.” I fumed, humiliated. Again.
Mr. Heaver strode across the room to the librarian’s desk. Three students stood behind him. One disgusting stalker breathed into my hair. “These four missed my Chemistry exam Monday and need to make it up.”
Kirk nuzzled his nose against my neck. “Yes, you do.” His breath was hot and sticky, probably laced with spit from Hannah’s tongue. “You like being licked. I remember. It wasn’t that long ago, Callie.” He ran a finger across my jaw and I slapped it away.
He chuckled, proud to have incited a reaction. I lifted my booted foot and brought a two-inch chunky heel down on his toe.
“Bitch!”
Everyone gasped and looked in our direction.
“Kirk stubbed his toe,” I announced.
Mr. Heaver leveled his gaze on Kirk. “Language, Mr. Fennel.”
Kirk snarled. “If my toe’s broken and I can’t practice tonight, you’ll be sorry.”
I responded loud enough for our spectators to hear. “You should be more careful.”
“I fucking hate you,” he whispered, limping away.
In my periphery, Liam’s shoulders moved up and down. I assumed he laughed at me but I refused to acknowledge his response.
Across the room, Kirk glared with narrow, hate-filled eyes.
I turned to Liam, blocking Kirk from my mind and curious about what Liam was up to online. Completing scholarship applications like me? Did rich Icelandic kids need scholarship money? A dark site with strange markings in the banner and a bearded man carrying a staff filled his screen. Liam’s position obscured half the site’s title, but the man with the beard was Zeus. I’d recognize him anywhere, thanks to Mom’s former preoccupation with mythology. When Liam saw me looking, he shut the window.
What Liam had learned about me today: I liked being licked. I was still nosey and mildly violent.
Liam tilted his head in Kirk’s direction. “I heard that about you.”
“You heard I wasted two years of my life on an ear-licking moron?”
“No. You have a quick temper.”
Not what I’d expected. How perplexing. Did I have a quick temper? I glanced at Kirk. I’d lost patience with him because he was disgusting and provoked me relentlessly. “Everything he says is a lie.”
Did other people say that about me? How many Callie Ingram rumors had Liam been exposed to already? Ridiculous.
“Pity.” Liam’s voice was low, so low I almost missed the word. Pity.
I cocked an eyebrow and reversed through Kirk’s smart-ass comments, wondering what Liam thought was a pity. My mind locked on Kirk’s most humiliating words. He’d said I liked being licked. My face heated and Liam chuckled.
I faced him in an outward challenge. “You should know what it’s like. I’m not the only one buried in gossip.” If he’d heard things about me, surely he’d heard the things people said about his family.
His playful expression turned solemn.
“Sorry,” I whispered, turning back to my screen. It wasn’t nice to remind him of the awful rumors surrounding his sudden appearance or his family history. Maybe I did have a quick temper.
“I guess we have gossip in common. Sounds like the makings of a true friendship.”
I slid my gaze his way. My chest expanded in a sudden intake of breath. Liam wore a devastatingly handsome half-smile. A surge of energy coursed through me. I’d made him smile.
I rubbed nerve-slicked palms against my jeans. “I’ve bonded over worse things.”
“Do tell.” Liam anchored an elbow on the table and lowered his chin into his palm, batting long black lashes. I assumed this was his impression of a girl. I shoved his elbow off the table and his head dipped.
“Feisty, isn’t she.” Kirk approached with a slight limp and an evil look of jealousy, quite a fierce protector of his “sloppy seconds.”
I scanned the room for our librarian, who was nowhere to be found, and braced myself for whatever crap Kirk had come to deliver. Mr. Heaver had gone back to his class after giving Kirk and the other test takers their instructions. Liam was silent at my side.
“You should see her in the sack.” Kirk directed his stupidity at Liam this time. “Feisty there, too.”
“You dumped me because I wouldn’t get in your sack, remember?” I turned in my seat to face him and came too close for comfort with his waistband. I stood, popping a hip and squaring my shoulders. He was going to see feisty. “Which is it smart guy? Am I a total slut or am I a prude? You’ll have to decide because your constant contradictions don’t make any sense. I can’t be both, now can I? Or hadn’t that occurred to you?”
He laughed. “Relax, Callie. It’s okay if you want to spend your life as a virgin. Just don’t expect some guy to put up with it any longer than I did. You ruined a good thing. That’s all on you.”
My fingers balled into tight fists. “I plan to have lots of sex, Kirk, just never with you this side of a roofie.”
Snickers echoed through the quiet library, and I gritted my teeth against the embarrassment. Why did our every exchange need to be public and hostile? Why couldn’t I ever keep my mouth shut? Kirk looked around the room, maybe to egg his audience on, maybe checking for the teacher or his absent crew.
He leaned into my space, growling in my face. “You’re such a raging bitch, Callie.”
“No. I believe you’re thinking of the rash Hannah gave you. That’s the only thing raging around here.”
He curled his fingertips over my shoulders in a flash, stopping the blood flow beneath them.
“Let her go.” Liam spoke in a gravelly voice. The words blew down over the top of my hair. How tall was he? Kirk looked over my head. He pulled his lips back over his teeth like an animal.
“Back off, Hale. Sit your little Swedish ass down before I teach you the rules here.”
“I won’t tell you again.” Liam sounded serious.
I ached to warn him, but emotion strangled me. Kirk didn’t fight fair and he fought often. Whatever happened next wouldn’t be good and I had no way to stop it. Defeat and desperation fought for position in my muddled brain.
Kirk’s grip loosened on my shoulders. The muscle in his jaw twitched. A vein in his neck bulged blue. Fear for Liam replaced my concern for the bruises raising on my shoulders.
Kirk stepped around me, dropping his hands in a palms-up come-at-me motion.
Liam matched Kirk’s move. “He doesn’t like that you dumped him and he’s not ready to let you go so easily. He says whatever will make you angry, just to get a response—which you give too freely.”
I scoffed. Worst. Hero. Ever. “Excuse me?”
Liam continued speaking to me; his attention wholly focused on Kirk. “I suspect he regrets losing you and has dejectedly accepted public harassment as a way to remain in your life. It serves a secondary purpose as well, by warning off other potential suitors.”
“And you think I respond too freely?” I spat his words back at him.
“Your heated responses fuel the fire.”
For a moment, I wasn’t sure who I wanted to hit more.
Kirk moved forward, balling his hands into fists. Rage contorted his features, reminding me of the very real fight brewing.
Liam leered at Kirk. “Thank the gods. Are you finally out of words?”
Pleas crammed their way out of my mouth in a jumbled heap. “Don’t. Liam. Stop. He’s not worth a suspension on your second day. Forget about him. Let it go.” Much as I wanted to smack him for his insinuation I provided fuel for Kirk’s idiocy, I didn’t want to see him suspended.
“Nope.”
I blinked. What? Nope? Who was this guy?
“I’d listen to her, chap.” Kirk sucked his teeth, pleased at the only foreign expression he’d probably ever heard. One they probably never used outside of old movies.
Liam placed his hand on the small of my back as he repositioned himself between me and my bully.
“Callie’s my new friend.” An edge of possessiveness darkened the shocking statement. “You shouldn’t provoke my friends.”
Kirk dropped his head back and barked a laugh. I tilted my head back for a better look at Liam’s face. Did he not just insult me five seconds ago? The students all stared, texting rapidly in their seats.
Kirk repeated his orders. “I told you to sit down.”
“Nope.”
I smirked. Nope was strangely funny in the face of Kirk’s wrath.
Kirk dropped his gaze to me and pursed his lips. He shot a long arm out to grab me again, but Liam knocked it away midair. A gasp rolled over our crowd.
“Don’t touch her.”
“Fine.” Kirk shoved the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows. “Maybe a good country ass kicking will teach you a lesson, chap.”
Again with the chap.
Liam punched Kirk in the head without warning and his chin flipped upward. Kirk stumbled backward. Awkwardly regaining balance, he dove for Liam. I jumped out of the way, tangling my feet in the legs of my chair. I went down on the floor beside them.
“Mr. Hale! Mr. Fennel!” The librarian screamed. I hadn’t seen her return. “Stop it this instant!” She banged her palm on the little silver service bell at her desk. “Someone get the principal.” She stomped across the floor to where the guys were throttling one another. She rapped them on the heads with a green plastic fly swatter until they disengaged their limbs and stood like two fighters torn apart at an MMA match.
“Are you okay?” Liam squatted instantly before me when he saw me sitting on the floor. He extended his hand and pulled me up with him. To my utter disbelief, he tucked me against his side.
“Yeah. I’m okay.” My heart pounded. What the hell had happened here? My head spun with the implications of two guys fighting over me. In school. With an audience.
“No PDA.” Kirk motioned to me at Liam’s side.
The librarian harrumphed. Maybe she’d seen Kirk dry humping Hannah in the hallway between classes, too. I fought the urge to stick out my tongue and focused instead on the vibration starting in my hands and chest. Adrenaline kicked my heart into double time. Holy crap! What happened?
Liam’s gaze drifted over me, checking for injury, I assumed. The top of my head leveled below his shoulder. I did some mental math as the principal appeared, lectured on school policy, and insisted we follow him to his office. If I was five foot four and Liam’s head and neck were a foot tall… Wait, how tall was a person’s head?
Principal Mansfield led our group, with Kirk at his side, pleading his case. Detention would interfere with football practice and that wouldn’t serve anyone. I rolled my eyes. Liam walked behind them by a step. I followed on Liam’s heels.
He glanced at me. “I apologize if I offended you back there. I’m not good with words. And my social filter isn’t one of the best.”
I smiled. Stupidly. He hadn’t intended to be harsh. “Apology accepted. This time,” I warned. “I don’t mean to respond to Kirk the way I do. I know it’s stupid, but he hounds me until I want to choke him.” A tiny laugh bubbled in my chest. “I’m a struggling pacifist.”
He sniffed out a silent laugh. “Very well. I imagine pacifism isn’t easy.” A wicked gleam lit his eye as if I’d somehow missed an inside joke.
“How tall are you?” I whispered.
“Six four.”
Justin was six one and that was tall. “Will you be in much trouble for this?” I had no idea what his parents were like. Would they go berserk like Allison’s or shrug it off like my mom would? My gut twisted at the thought I’d caused him more trouble in a school already scrutinizing his every move.
“What’s the policy?” he asked.
I moved to his side, matching my pace with his. “A week’s detention, probably, but I meant will your parents be very mad?”
He shook his head and walked in silence the rest of the way to the principal’s office, leaving me cast aside once more.