Page 108 of Love Me in the Dark

“Where’s your dad?”

She jumped to her feet and started to jog back to the road. Calling out over her shoulder, her mouth turned down. “You don’t have to keep following me. I’ll stay out of the water.”

It didn’t matter what she said, I would still follow her.

Keeping my distance, I followed her home.

I barely slept that night wonder what had her wanting to leave if she wasn’t going back to live with her dad. Maybe she had a boyfriend.

Not that it mattered I wasn’t in the market for one nor did I want one. Girls were trouble no matter how they came.

4

HARLEY

Iwas at my first day of a new school. My senior year. All because Slade, my annoying neighbor talked me into it. Well, maybe not so much, but he made me realize I was being stupid when I spelled out how I wanted to get out of here. How was I going to do that if I didn’t have at least a high school diploma? What I really needed to make it in the world would be a college degree, but I wasn’t holding out hope on getting a scholarship that would pay foreverythingbecause I knew there was no way in hell that my mom was going to pay for my college. She was too selfish. Why pay for my education when she could use that money to go on trips or buy a new wardrobe?

Whatever.

Starting at a new school was bad enough, but starting when the year had already started was the worst. No one wanted to talk to me. Everyone looked at me like I was a disgusting piece of shit on the bottom of their shoes.

“You finally came,” a familiar voice said from behind me.

I turned from facing my locker and found Slade standing there with a smile. Damn did he look different in the light of day. So far, I’d only seen him in the shadows of the night. While I hadfelt he had a good body, I was in no way prepared for the man who stood in front of me. He was tall, and that said something since I was tall for a girl or at least any that I’d encountered in my seventeen years of life. While I stood at five foot, eleven inches, Slade had a good six inches over me. That wasn’t the only impressive thing about him. My eyes tracked down his long, lean golden skinned body that looked like it had been chiseled out of stone. Each line of him was perfection. Hell, I could see every ridge of his abs through his t-shirt. It wasn’t even plastered to his body. He was just that well defined. While his body was heavenly it was his captivating eyes that had me staring at him long after I should have looked away. Those eyes of his were this strange shade of light brown that were almost a little yellow in color with a mix of mossy green in them. I’d never seen anything like it.

“Looks like it. Although I’m not sure why I thought that was a good idea. These people don’t seem to like newcomers.”

“Yeah, I can’t remember the last time someone new infiltrated our system.”

I scoffed.Infiltrated?Like I was the enemy.

“It’s not as bad as you think,” he smirked, making his eyes twinkle in the brightly lit hallway. “Just give them time.”

By the time they got used to me, I’d be on my way out of here. I could lay low, do my work and not make any friends. I’d live.

“What’s your next class?”

I shook my head as I pulled out my schedule. I had no idea. I was taking each hour as they came, and not worry about the next. I handed him my schedule not even caring what my next class was as long as it wasn’t art. I was the absolute worst artist unless you count what I made looked like something a kid in first grade made.

“Well, what do you know? We’ve got next hour together.” Putting his hand on my lower back, Slade started to push me down the hall. “I’ll walk you.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? Being seen with me might equate to high school suicide. You might be scorned if you’re seen with me.”

“Fuck them, if they’re going to judge, right?” Flicking the ends of my hair with his finger he started to walk. When I didn’t immediately follow, he gripped the strap of my backpack on my shoulder and hauled me with him.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re annoying?” I huffed from beside Slade making him release my strap.

He smirked over at me. “I’m sure my sister has mentioned it a time or two.”

“I feel sorry for her,” I mumbled as we walked down the hall. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I’d had a wardrobe malfunction, or the word loser tattooed on my forever with the way everyone stopped what they were doing to star at us as we passed by. “Do they always look at you like this?” I muttered out of the side of my mouth, trying to lighten the situation and epically failing.

“I don’t pay attention.”

Right! Slade was most definitely the best-looking guy at this school, and quite possibly the entire state or continent. There was no way he was that oblivious to his looks.

Maybe he’d fucked over some girl. Probably the captain of the cheerleading team and the entire school was mad at him. Or at least that was what I was thinking until we turned the corner and ran into an entirely new crowd. And they loved Slade.

“Dude,” a guy a few inches shorter with brown curly hair slapped Slade on the back. “Please tell me you’re going to the party tonight.” His muddy brown skipped over to me and then back to his friend. “Who’s the girl?” He asked none to quietly.