Page 59 of Sticks and Stones (Shadow Valley U)
Stone shrugs but says nothing. He doesn’t deny it, and he doesn’t offer an explanation.
Evan moves his attention to me. “And that’s why you let him bully you? Because you think you deserve it?”
“I do deserve it,” I reply. “And if you want me to mov—”
“Did.” Stone’s hand wraps around my upper arm.
I inhale at his touch. It’s sincere, and I have no idea what to do or how to act. Stone isn’t a nice guy, especially to me.
“Youdiddeserve my coldness, but I didn’t know how bad it was. I didn’t think things were so black and white or life and death. Now, though…”
Evan puts his hands on his hips and blows out an exasperated breath. He stares a hole at Stone’s grip on my upper arm. “I never thought I’d see the day that you, Stone Foster, would put someone else before yourself.”
“He’s gone soft!” Archer yells from the kitchen, staying hidden behind the wall.
Stone scoffs and drops his hand from my arm.
Evan rolls his lips with hidden laughter, but I don’t find anything amusing.
“You’re not angry? I got your best friend locked away behind bars, hauled out of school in handcuffs.”
“I’m not angry. No.”
I am thankful, don’t get me wrong, but there is a sickening part of me that wants Evan to be angry, because whether Stone and Evan agree, Idodeserve it. I brought doom to Stone two years ago, and it was the entire reason he posted a stupid picture of me and let my father know of my whereabouts, and now, doom is coming for us all. Someone was in our house, in my stupid little nook of a bedroom.
“I put the tension in your friendship and caused so many fights between you two.” I waft my hand out into the air, aware that I’m spiraling. “My past is coming to bite me in the ass, and you are all involved because I live here. Actually, you know what, I’m gonna move ou—”
Stone comes around and puts his hand over my mouth, silencing me. I try to elbow him, but he’s too quick and dodges the blow.
“Be. Quiet.”
I bite his palm. He hisses between his teeth, but his laughter fills my ear.
“I haven’t gone soft despite what everyone in this house is currently thinking. I’ll bite you back, Sticks.”
He eventually drops my hand, and everyone is watching us go head to head. His glare is cold and hot at the same time, sending little shivers all over my body at the thought of his teeth skimming my skin.
There’s a snicker of laughter from down the hall, and I cross my arms, leveling my housemates with a withering stare that they all laugh at. “I’m moving out.”
“Over my dead fucking body.” Stone’s hands dip into his pockets, and he walks over to Evan, leaning on the same wall, waiting for my reaction.
“Over all our dead bodies,” Grant adds.
“Ugh!” I yell and stomp down the hall to my room.
I hate myself for the feeling of relief, because I know I’m being selfish. My housemates are beefy and have too much testosterone, making them more lethal than most—especiallyon the ice—but they’re nothing compared to guns. And that’s exactly the type of weapon my father and his sick friends bring to every fight. There is no law they won’t break to get what they want and, furthermore, to taste revenge on their tongues.
I fling open the door to the closet—my room—and stand in disbelief. There’s bubbling laughter from the kitchen, and I bare my teeth. I spin, and Evan and Stone are both looking to the ceiling like theMonaLisais painted up there or something. Evan’s lips are pulled into his mouth, and Stone’s tongue is pressed to the inside of his cheek as he pretends nothing is unusual.
“Where the hell is my stuff?” I ask, staring directly at Stone because I know he’s the only one who would do this.
He slowly lowers his head and serves me with one raised eyebrow. “Hm?”
“Stone,” I bark. “What did I say about going into my room?”
“You mean the closet?” He shrugs. “The door is broken. You’ll have to relocate until we fix it.”
“Relocate?”