Page 125 of Twisted Ties

“So now you’ve decided, as you can’t remove it, you may as well embrace it?”

“Youcame on tomeyesterday. I didn’t initiate anything. You’re with my best friend. You’re bonded to him. I didn’t even know if you felt this connection.”

“How could I not?” I shout back at him. “How could I not? It’s there in my core, pulling me, dragging me towardsyou all the time. It wants you. It wants to make you mine. How could I not feel that, Stone?”

He closes the distance between us, cupping my face in his hand and crushing my mouth against his.

At first I fight, try to push him away, but his kiss only grows stronger, the bond in my core, that hook, swooning with the feel of his skin against mine. I melt into his kiss, resting my hands on his chest, and kiss him back.

When we pause to catch our breath, he rests his forehead against mine.

“I want it and I want you. That’s the truth of it.”

I look into his eyes. I want to believe him.

He takes a deep inhale.

“We have to go back out there and you have to look suitably chastised, Rhi.”

“I haven’t forgiven you and you can’t keep treating me this way,” I whisper. “You can’t pretend to go on dates with other women and–”

“I know, I know. Just …” He exhales and steps away from me, with a groan that suggests it pains him as much as it does me. “No one can know.”

39

Rhi

My heart hammersin my chest and as soon as the lesson ends, I head straight for the bathroom to catch my breath. It means I’m going to be late for my next class, but I need a moment to compose myself.

I walk straight to the sink and turn on the tap, splashing cold water over my face and staring into the mirror. My cheeks are flushed, my pupils blown wide, and is it my imagination or do my lips look swollen?

The door swings back as I’m inspecting my reflection and a loud obnoxious groan follows.

I don’t need to flick my gaze to the door. I know exactly who’s standing in the entrance. Summer.

“Urgh!” she says, strolling towards the sink furthest from mine and stopping to admire herself in the mirror. “Come to cry in the bathroom because the professor has had enoughof your cheek and lost his temper with you?” She reaches inside her blazer and pulls out a tube of lip gloss, unscrewing the lid and dipping the applicator into the waiting pink liquid. “You really are pathetic, Pig Girl. The whole bewildered damsel in distress act won’t cut it here. Men aren’t interested in weak girls like you; no matter how many times you cry. They want a strong, powerful partner. Someone who will stand by them. Someone who will fight with them. Honestly, isn’t it about time you admitted defeat and quit? You don’t belong here.”

I can’t help gaping at her. When have I ever cried in front of her? In front of any of them? All the shit they’ve put me through and I’ve never curled up and broken down. In fact, I haven’t shed one single tear.

“You’re so full of bullshit, Summer,” I mutter, yanking a handful of paper towels out of the dispenser and patting my face dry.

Summer smiles as she paints her lips pink, tilting her head to the left and then the right to ensure she’s happy with her handiwork.

“I know that’s your plan, Pig Girl. You’re not strong enough or special enough to look after yourself. You’re never actually going to make it to graduation, or to the protection forces. So you’re hoping to grab yourself a man.” She laughs. “As if any dude in this school would be interested in a disgusting little pig like you.”

I lean against the wall and toss the paper towels into the basket. I should walk out. I should ignore Summer and her taunts. But this is some seriously deluded stuff, even for Summer.

“Right,” I say. “And who have I got my sights set on, then?”

Summer uses her little finger to neaten the edges of herlip gloss, then screws the lid back on the tube.

“Oh, I’m not blind, Pig Girl. I know exactly who you have those beady little eyes of yours trained on. It’s so fucking laughable. Can you imagine? Him with you.” She chuckles, tossing her hair as she does. “I think he’d rather cut off his own precious Kennedy dick than swing it anywhere near you.”

“Tristan?” Now it’s my turn to laugh. “You think I’m interested in Tristan?”

“Not just Tristan. Spencer too. It’s okay,” she says with a fake sympathetic smile. “Most of you virgin girls have a crush on those two. Dreaming that one day they may actually notice you exist. Spoiler alert: they won’t.” She tucks her lip gloss away inside her blazer and prowls towards me. “So leave them alone, okay? I’ve seen you stalking them. Hanging about for scraps of their attention. It’s really freaking creepy.”

“I don’t think I’m the one doing the stalking,” I say. “I think it’s the other way around. They’re the ones who can’t leave me alone.”