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My eyes widen as he slides it across the counter towards me. “Mason, why do you have my locket?” I quickly snatch it up and grip it in my hand.
“See, this is kinda the part where I don’t want you to be mad at me,” he says as he pinches the bridge of his nose.
“No dice. You have my mother’s locket. The locket that was fucking stolen from me. The locket I thought I lost forever!” My voice raises an octave with each word. “Why the fuck do you have this, Mason?”
“We took it to mess with you. I was going to give it back sooner, but I just felt worse, and the longer I had it, the worse I felt. It was like a never-ending circle of shit-fucked feelings. I was always going to give it back, I just never thought we would be here.”
“Here where? Here as in you just giving this to me now? Here as in I thought I would never see this again?” I sputter angrily. “Do you have any idea how broken I was over this? You stole this to hurt me, and that’s exactly what happened. And now knowing you’ve had it this whole time is a whole level of hurt I don’t think you can even understand, Mason.”
Gripping the locket, I close my eyes, trying to picture my mom’s face. Picture her wearing this. They have no idea how much this necklace means to me, and they treated it as just a way to cause me pain.
I open my eyes and see them staring at me. Mason pleads, “I’m sorry, Red. I really am. I promise I’ll show you, make it up to you, somehow. But I never thought we would be here, asking you something incredibly important.”
“What is this oh-so-important question you need to ask? Especially now that you finally gave me back my locket that you stole from me?” I narrow my eyes at the guys.
Daxon’s lips trail along my ear, sending pleasant shudders down my spine. He takes the locket out of my hands and places it around my neck. Goosebumps form along my skin with every brush of his hand. “We were wondering if you would go to homecoming with us?”
My eyes widen in shock. That’s way off from this locket incident. “Whoa. Whoa. Us?” I pull back.
“Yeah. Me, Mase, and Colt.” Daxon moves back to me and kisses my neck. I shiver from his touch.
“First, we need to have a conversation about ‘us’. Second, you took something of mine to hurt me and think asking me to a dance is going to make it okay? And third, I can think of three fucking Barbie bitches who will be extremely pissed at this. I’ve already had a hard enough time with them.” I scowl.
“What’s there to talk about the four of us?” Colton looks up from his laptop. “You’re ours, we’re yours.” He shrugs.
“I second that.” Mason chuckles.
“Oh, well, since the almighty has spoken, I guess it shall be,” I scoff. “You know this is completely insane, not to mention unconventional. And do I not get a say?”
“Well, we’re kinda asking you now, Spitfire,” Daxon says into my ear.
I push off the counter and jump off the seat. “This is asking? You stick your dicks into me and I’m yours? That’s some caveman bullshit. You can’t just shove a dick in me and claim me.”
“Well, technically it was three …”
Colt slaps his arm. “Not helping, Mase.”
“Do you have any idea how hard everything is for me already? Then I go and get tied up with the Kings of Darkwood? I’ll have every girl on this fucking campus after me. Do you know the looks I already get since you all started just being nice to me? Since you kissed me in the hall?” I turn to Daxon, starting to feel the pressure in my chest tighten. My breaths start to become short. My hand flies to my chest as I try to steady my heartbeat. This is worse than the fucking locket. This will make my days left in this place, however many I have, pure hell.
“Red, calm down. You’re sending yourself into a panic attack.” Mason runs over to me. “Look at me.”
My eyes find his blue ones. I shake my head, and my vision blurs with unshed tears.
“Phoenix, breathe.” Mason runs a hand down my cheek, and my mind starts to spiral.
“I can’t. You can’t. We … everything will end. No one stays,” I spit out. I close my eyes and drop to the floor.
“What’s going on with her?” I hear Daxon say from somewhere.
“She’s having a panic attack. Just give her space. Let me help her through it,” Mason tells him.
They don’t get it. If I give myself a chance with them, I will get hurt. I’ll end up alone. Everyone ends up leaving me.
“Red, breathe in slowly through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth. I want you to count on each breath in and each breath out.” Mason stares at me.
Slowly, I do as he says as I stare into Mason’s eyes. Ever so slowly, I start to feel myself coming down from the attack.
“There you go.” Mason tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Red, sweetheart, remember what I told you? I won’t leave you. We won’t leave you.”