Page 39 of Tough Love
I trip on the fucking kilt—making a mental note to cut it to shreds the instant I get home—and go down like a sack of potatoes. Albeit very small, jaggedly bony ones.
“What do you want, Chambers?” I snap, pushing up on my elbows to sit.
“How much cash you got on you?”
Fuck off.“None.”
“Liar.” He reaches down and snatches my bag, tugging it harshly to get it off my shoulder.
I tumble, tangled in the strap, onto my side.Ugh.
The contents of my bag are emptied onto the sidewalk. Stuff rolls everywhere, including right into the feet of an elderly lady, who politely steps over it and goes about her business.
Thanks for nothing.
“Where is it?”
“I told you,” I snap. “I don’t have any.”
“So how the fuck am I supposed to get smokes?” He tosses the empty bag at my feet.
“How’s that my problem?” I start stuffing the contents back in the sodden satchel. “Besides, isn’t smoking especially bad when you play sports?”
I reach for my pencil tin, only to have his hard-soled shoe stamp down on top of my hand.
“Ow! Get off.”
Asshole twists the toe into my knuckles. I’m fairly certain one of them disintegrates as I let out a pathetic whimper.
“You’re bringing me double tomorrow,” he seethes over top of me.
I daren’t look up, sure he’ll do something gross like spit in my face if I do … like he has before.
“She’ll bring double what?” a deep, irritated voice growls behind me.
The boot disappears, and Jarrod’s tone changes dramatically.
“Nothing, sir.” He backtracks, and I look up as he jogs across the road to where his buddies all stand wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
“Here,” the same voice offers as a pair of booted feet appear in my periphery.
I look over at the guy as he squats down to help me pick up my things, and immediately recognise him as Kath’s new boyfriend. I’d only seen him out my bedroom window when he’d come over to pick her up, heard his muffled voice when he said a quick hello to my parents, but never actually been face-to-face with him.
He’s … terrifyingly handsome in an unconventional way.
“Um, thank you,” I murmur, snatching up the tampon packet before he sees it.
“He hassle you a lot?”
“Yeah, but I’m used to it.”
He sighs, and I lose myself in his dark shark eyes as he jams my slightly wet textbooks into my bag.
“What’s his name?”
“Why?” Is he going to give the guy a house call? I don’t know much about Kath’s boyfriend, but the shitkickers he has on his feet, the studded belt, and the shaved head kind of allude to everything I need to know.
“Might give the school a call.”