Page 7 of Sinful as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #1)

My head shook. It was a large pizza, but I couldn’t touch it. Lindsey would need something to eat when she got back from work, and if she could drag it out, maybe she’d have enough for leftovers tomorrow.

“Nah, I’m not hungry.” I nodded at them. “You guys eat.”

“Have a slice!” Caleb called out.

“I’m not hungry. Finish your dinner.” That was a lie, and that pizza smelled and looked real good and my own pantry at home was definitely more than a little empty, but I didn’t want to take anything away from them.

But Summer was suddenly in front of me, shoving a piece of garlic bread into my mouth, her smile all wide. “Thanks,” I said, voice muffled.

Summer and Caleb wanted to watch more cartoons after dinner, the clock getting closer and closer to nine. I sat between them, the small living room filled up with the sounds of their loud laughs and screams. That noise slowly faded, and then they were both slumping against me and falling asleep.

“Christ,” I muttered. If I moved, they’d wake up.

If they woke up, they might not go back to sleep.

My eyes landed on the clock. It’d be ten soon.

Very soon. And then Lindsey would be back and I could go home and eat some of that spaghetti – if Brodie left some for me.

So, I sat there with the TV on mute, watching some stupid cartoons while Summer and Caleb slept.

But ten o’clock turned into eleven o’clock and that turned into midnight, and I could have sworn time flew right on by to two in the morning. That was when I slowly heard the door opening.

With a soft gasp, Lindsey stepped inside, head shaking. “I’m so sorry!” she whispered. “We were having issues with the registers, and they needed me to stay back because someone fainted and had to leave early, and then someone spilled thirty bottles of hair vitamins.”

I shook my head at her. “It’s okay.”

“Here. Let me grab them.” Lindsey picked up Summer first, carrying her down the hallway before she did the same with Caleb.

Neither of them woke up, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to pull that one off.

Mother’s touch and all that. “I’m so sorry, Sawyer,” she said when she came back out, arms wrapped around me. “You poor thing. Did you eat?”

“Yeah, I had a few slices,” I said. “Thanks for dinner. There’s some left if you want it.”

“Oh, thank you. And the kids? Were they okay? I see Summer did your hair as well,” she said with a little smile, raking her fingers through my locks and loosening the braids.

“The kids were fine. Might get Summer to give me a haircut next time I need one.”

“You’re probably so tired. Let me pay you and then you can go on home.” She started tugging at the sleeve of my jacket, a little bit of suspicion in her eyes. “Wait… Why is that money on the counter?”

My eyes followed hers to the twenty dollar note that was still sitting there. “Thirty minutes or it’s free.”

She looked at me, brows furrowed. “Is that a thing? They still do that?”

“Apparently.”

“That never happens to me. But I still owe you money for tonight. How much is fair? I was gone so long…” Diving through her purse, she turned he r back to me, and I used that as a chance to sneak off.

“Lindsey, it’s fine,” I said. I knew how hard things were. That shift she just finished probably wouldn’t even be enough for groceries. Maybe she’d be able to pay some of the rent with that. “All I did was eat pizza and watch TV.”

She shook her head. “No, I have to pay you.”

But I was already pushing the front door open. “I gotta go.”

“Sawyer!”

“I’ll see you later!” I called out, shutting the door quietly before she could get to me.

Lindsey was sweet, and she deserved better, and I hoped she’d get wherever she wanted to go in life.

If I could fluke it, I could get somewhere too.

Some place different. I had never wanted some lavish life.

A heap of money and a bunch of cars and a fucking yacht or whatever shit rich people bought.

None of that. Just some goddamn security was all I had ever wanted.

Being as quiet as I could, I pushed open the front door to my own place.

It was dark, which meant Brodie was asleep, and if I was lucky, my dad hadn’t shown back up yet.

I was just about to kick my shoes off when I felt a heavy hand on me, yanking me to the side.

It was pitch black and my eyes were already strained from staying up and staring at that damn TV all night.

All I knew was that I couldn’t see shit.

Rough hands tugged me to the dark ground, making sure I hit my shoulder on what I assumed was the counter on the way down.

I didn’t need light to know who it was, but it would have fucking helped when it came to defending myself, because a second later, my already tender shoulder felt a swift kick so hard I was surprised I didn’t hear an ugly fucking popping sound.

“What the fuck did I tell you about making all that noise?” Dad grumbled above me.

** *

My head felt heavy on the desk. My eyes felt heavy too. I probably got maybe one hour of sleep and I was starting to wonder if it would have been easier to just stay up all night instead of trying to force myself out of bed.

I had tried to get some sleep, but no matter what angle I attempted, that throbbing pain in my shoulder managed to feel worse. Just before school I had put some ice on it, and that helped a little, but I knew I’d be feeling the ache for a good week or so.

All I wanted was some sleep. Maybe I’d skip next period and just sleep in my truck for a couple hours since doing it in English was gonna be impossible, because someone kept fucking tapping at my bruised shoulder, their finger practically jamming into my skin through the thin material of my flannel shirt.

Over and over and over again. Looking up, my eyes rolled when I saw Holly fucking Sutton standing in front of me with that look on her face that she always seemed to have when she saw me.

Lips pressed together into a little scowl and one eyebrow raised, she shook her head.

“What?” I mumbled up at her.

She had one hand on her hip, the other grasping at a piece of paper. “You shouldn’t sleep in class.”

I scoffed. “Fuck off.” I put my head back down, but a second later, her stupid little finger was tapping away at my shoulder again. “What? What do you want?” I looked up at her, eyes narrowing.

“We have a quiz.” Holding a piece of paper in front of her, she gave it a little shake, her pink nails all bright under the lights of the room.

“If you paid attention in class at all, you’d know that.

And if you did your homework, then you’ll have no issue passing said quiz.

I have a feeling that you didn’t do said homework. So, good luck. You’ll need it.”

Slamming the paper to my desk, I watched her spin around in her stupid fucking heels that looked impractical as all hell as she handed out the rest of the quizzes.

The day had barely started and she was already mouthing off at me.

I had actually tried to pay attention. Sort of.

But last night didn’t exactly give me a chance to do any of the shit I was meant to be focusing on, and that lovely fight with my old man had been the cherry on top.

And he ate my leftover spaghetti, so I was hungry on top of being tired and in pain.

“You guys know the drill,” Mrs. Edwards announced at the front of the room. “Eyes on your own paper. You have until the bell to finish. Put your hand up if something doesn’t make sense. Good luck!”

Eyebrows raised, I scanned the sheet of paper Holly had shoved in front of me.

Not a goddamn thing made sense, but at least the quiz had a multiple choice section, so if luck was on my side I could fluke it and get a few right.

I lazily went through the questions, which all sounded like they were purposefully made to confuse me, because I had no idea what the hell was going on.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Holly flick her long hair over her shoulder, and Christ, I could smell that goddamn lavender shampoo she always seemed to use.

It blended in with that sugary, sweet perfume that she wore.

I watched her for a second, her head down, the soft sound of her pen hitting the paper in my ears.

She was writing fast, and I had no doubt in my mind that Little Miss Perfect had done her homework.

That goddamn ticking sound of the clock was getting on my nerves, but at least time was going by fast, because when I looked up at the clock, I saw that I only had to deal with twenty more minutes of class.

Then I could get some sleep. I bullshitted my way through the questions that weren’t multiple choice.

Mrs. Edwards had always been a little nice to me, so maybe she’d appreciate my creativity.

But then there was a sudden, loud thumping coming from the hallway. Someone was running hard and fast, their screams all shrill. I was pretty sure a second person had joined in judging by all the yells.

Mrs. Edwards groaned, hands on the desk as she pushed herself up.

“I will trust all of you to keep your eyes on your own quizzes. All of you.” Huffing, she made her way to the door, sticking her head out.

“Hey! I see you! Don’t think I don’t see you!

” Turning back around, she pointed a finger at us.

“Do not cheat.” Then she sped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

I was about to just give up on the stupid quiz altogether when my eyes found Holly once again. Paper flipped over and placed at the corner of the desk, she was twirling some of her hair with one finger.

My boot kicked softly at one of the back legs of her chair. “Hey,” I whispered at her.

She did nothing. Said nothing. But I knew she had heard me, her slender shoulders getting all tensed up.

“Hey,” I tried again.

Still, she stayed quiet. But we had about fifteen minutes left of class and maybe five more minutes without Mrs. Edwards, and I was going to use that time to my advantage.

I kept kicking at her chair, again and again, annoying her the same way she had annoyed me when she looked at me with that little prissy look on her face at the start of class.

“I know you can hear me, Pom Poms,” I muttered, giving her chair another kick.

Finally, she turned her head that little bit, just enough so that I could see the side of her face. “Can I help you?” she whispered harshly.

“You’re finished, right?”

“Excuse me?”

“You finished your quiz?”

“Why do you care?”

Reaching over my desk, I quickly snatched her quiz away from her, enjoying the scandalized gasp that left her lips as she spun right around to face me.

If you weren’t cheating, you weren’t trying.

I eyed her quiz, her writing all neat and perfect, not a single word crossed out.

And that made her the perfect person to copy off of, because I also got to piss her off in the process.

“Give me my quiz back!” Shoving her hands forward, she kept trying to snatch the paper from me, but I kept a firm hand on top of the sheet, holding it secure against the desk.

“Just gimme a minute with it.”

“Sawyer!”

“Huh?”

“Give it back!”

“Give what back? ”

“God, maybe if you did your homework you wouldn’t have to resort to cheating .” She said the last word like it was the most scandalous thing a person could ever do.

Eyes stuck on her quiz, I just shrugged. “I didn’t have time to read the book.”

“There was no book. It was a short story and it was only forty pages long and I’m not surprised you didn’t read it because you were probably too busy setting a car on fire behind a 7-Eleven!”

Snorting, I met her eyes for a second. “Is that what you think I do in my spare time?”

“Maybe. I don’t care. Give it back!”

“Brodie said you let him copy off your quiz in French class.”

She scoffed. “Brodie’s nice. Brodie’s my friend.”

Eyes moving up to meet hers again, I gave her a little wince. “He told me he hates you.”

“Shut up. No, he didn’t.”

“He told me he thinks you’re a huge pain in the ass.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh. Give me my quiz back.”

“Told me he’s never met anyone so fuckin’ annoying. I said I’ve been dealing with that little brat for the last nine years, imagine how I feel.”

“Yeah, I’m sure this is a real conversation that took place. Can I have my quiz back please?” She was using her manners too, but not a single word came out sounding sweet or polite.

“Hey, Sawyer,” I heard Owen whisper to me from my side, leaning over in his chair towards me. “What’d she get for the last one?”

“Owen!” Holly snapped. “Don’t encourage him.”

Owen shrugged as I held up Holly’s quiz, letting him get a good look at her answers. “Help a guy out!” he said. “You always do good on quizzes.”

Finally giving up, Holly gave me a big roll of her eyes. She spun back around, head shaking. “Whatever. Cheat. I don’t care.”

“Thanks, man,” Owen said, giving me a slap to the shoulder – thankfully not my sore one – before he went back to his own quiz.

Mrs. Edwards had yet to show up and I figured whoever she had busted in the hallway had been dragged over to see the principal, so she was probably busy with that. Scribbling down the rest of Holly’s answers, I finally tossed the paper over her shoulder, giving her my test instead of hers.

“Thank you,” she said, voice drenched with sarcasm.

But then she scoffed dramatically when she realized what I had done, spinning back around with fire in those Bambi eyes.

I was pretty sure she never looked at anyone else like that.

Her hand slammed to my desk, grabbing her quiz back and throwing my own one at me.

“Disgusting handwriting,” she muttered at me before turning back around.

I chuckled lowly. She just made it too damn easy to get under her skin.