Elite (Eagle Elite) (8 page)

“There were rumors you didn’t get lunch.”

My eyebrow arched. “Rumors, huh? Well, alert the authorities. Oh wait, I forgot, you’re what? The judge, jury, and—”

“—Stop.” He said it so low I almost didn’t hear the words. Nixon walked toward me. I had nowhere to go but backward down the hall, and really that just seemed like a waste of time, so I tried to sidestep him.

His muscular arm popped out of nowhere, nearly bruising my windpipe in the process. “I’m speaking to you.”

“And I’m leaving.”

“Just…” He scratched his head and then did something totally out of character.

Nixon smiled.

My heart skipped a beat, or maybe seven. I lost track when I stopped breathing like a normal human being.

Without me even realizing it, he had pulled me to the side of the hall and was pinning me against the tiny alcove in the wall.
Great, nobody to witness my death.

“Eat,” he urged.

My mouth snapped open to say something snotty, but the minute it did, he forced a granola bar into it.

My stomach growled with joy and my embarrassment skyrocketed as he looked down and smirked. “See? I knew you were hungry.”

I took a bite and pulled the granola bar out of my mouth. “Of course I was hungry, you ass! I was in the Red Cafeteria! I half-expected to be eaten myself in that place, and they don’t serve meat. NO MEAT, Nixon! Some cow has to live another day because the people in there eat tofu! Do you even know what that stuff is made out of?”

His eyes widened. He opened his mouth but I poked him in the chest. He flushed and then jolted away.

“And let me tell you something else. I did not sleep with Tim! Well, I may have slept, but I definitely didn’t touch his— And, and… I—”

His eyebrows rose as I lost my train of thought. He licked his lips and leaned forward. “Oh do continue. I love getting reprimanded. You gonna spank me later too?”

I felt my nostrils flare, but of course my stomach hadn’t forgotten it was starving, which of course made Nixon laugh harder. “Good Lord, woman! Just eat the damn granola bar and say thank you!”

Thank you? Did he want me to thank him for what just transpired over the past twenty-four hours?

And suddenly I remembered. I hadn’t seen him last night. That was all Phoenix and a bit of Chase. Bastard.

“Where were you last night?”

Nixon’s smile froze on his face. “I gotta run.”

“Wait.” I grabbed his arm. His muscles flexed beneath my fingers.

I noticed as light tremble in his arm as he jerked away. “Please.” His eyes closed briefly. “Don’t touch me.”

And then he was gone.

Chapter
Ten

I wish I could say my days got easier. That after the granola bar incident everything was peachy. For the rest of the week the Red Cafeteria still served nothing but tofu and vegetarian options. By Friday the following week, I made a mental note to go grocery shopping for snacks that weekend the minute classes were over.

Luckily, the notes had stopped.

Well, actually it wasn’t necessarily lucky, because that meant I had to eat whatever was in front of me. I decided that tofu burgers weren’t so bad if you bathed them in ketchup, which I did every day. I even closed my eyes in hopes that God would sense my plight and turn my tofu into a giant cow.

I was just finishing my burger on Friday when someone approached my table. Yes, I was still sitting alone.

“Can I help you?” I asked sweetly.

The girl leaned forward until her boobs almost spilled out of her white button up shirt. “Yes. I was told to give you this.” She thrust a note into my face and waited for me to take it.

My fingers gripped the small white paper. Carefully I opened the note. It said,
Meet me outside
.

Outside? As in outside by all the grass and trees or outside the cafeteria?

The bell rang, signaling I had to leave anyway. Tossing the note onto the tray I picked up my bag and rushed out of the room.

Kids were lining the halls. Weird.

I kept my head down and gripped my backpack as I kept walking.

“Slut, Slut, Slut,” they chanted as I made my way through the hall. Great. Trying to ignore your peers is about as easy as trying to ignore your own face in the mirror. You don’t want the words to affect you, but it’s impossible. Weight descended upon my chest making it hard to breathe.

And then someone threw something at my head.

I staggered and reached up to touch the liquid running down my face.

Egg.

Another one hit my messenger bag, which upset me more than when it hit my hair. That was the most expensive thing I owned, next to the boots Chase had gotten me. I didn’t count grandma’s vintage shoes, because those were passed down.

I kept my gaze focused on the end of the hallway and kept walking.

Eggs flew by my head. I had to close my eyes a few times in order to wipe the slime away from my line of vision. Once I reached the end of the hall, I turned to the left, and ran right into three strong boys. Each of them had a bucket.

“Better get you clean. Elite doesn’t like dirty whores.” They lifted their buckets and dropped ice cold water all over my body.

Ruined. Everything was ruined. My one and only uniform was ruined. My messenger bag, possibly my cell phone, and all the textbooks I was carrying with me that I knew I would have to replace.

I choked on a sob and pushed through them. Passing my classroom, I began walking faster and faster, until finally, I broke into a run. I turned back to make sure they weren’t chasing me.

They were.

And everyone was laughing.

The minute I turned forward, I tripped and fell, scraping my knee like a little first grader.

People circled me, still chanting
whore
and
slut
as if I had done anything to deserve it.

“You don’t belong here, Farm Girl!” one guy shouted.

“Spend so much time on your back you’re gonna get sores!” a girl spat and then dropped a condom on top of me.

It was at that point that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to close my eyes and wait for everyone to leave, or just cry and embarrass myself. Hell, I was already beyond embarrassment. I wasn’t
that
girl. I was a virgin for crying out loud! I’d kissed one boy in my entire life! Ruthless, they were ruthless. More condoms followed until I was literally covered in them, and then one of the girls from the Red Cafeteria walked up to me and pulled my hair toward her, nearly dragging my body along with her.

“You are nothing. Do you understand?” she said in even cold tones. “You don’t belong here. Say it.”

I refused to say it.

She pulled harder. I shrieked and tried to fight her. Damn, she was strong. “Say it!”

“I—”

Tears burned my vision again. How did this happen to me?

I swallowed bravely and stared her down, even though I knew it was stupid and pointless. “I belong here.”

People laughed behind her. Some gasped, and yes, I did see some people averting their eyes. So not everyone was heartless, but it didn’t matter. I had no protection, nothing.

“Leave her alone,” a low voice said from behind the crowd.

I didn’t realize I was trembling until I tried to rub my eyes to see better.

“And who do you think—” The girls words died off. She jerked away from me as if I was diseased and then she was scrambling for words. “I did it for you, Nixon, for you! She can’t dismiss you like that. She can’t—”

“—Stop speaking.” Nixon pushed her into a waiting Chase’s arms. “Take care of this, will you?”

Chase smirked and grabbed the girl and somehow the rest of the crowd.

“Are you hurt?” Nixon leaned down and touched my face. I slapped his hand away and then started bawling like a little kid.

He cursed and tried to pick me up.

I shied away.

“Shit.” He pulled out a hanky from his back pocket. Did guys still carry hankies? “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t…” He bit his lip until it turned white, then he held out his hand.

My brain was on overdrive. I didn’t want the devil’s protection, but then again, maybe I did. Because there was no way I could last another day of this. I couldn’t take it. What normal girl could? I thought he was kidding. I thought wrong.

Reluctantly, I put my hand in his, but the minute I did, he used all his strength and pulled me into his arms and he carried me down the hall.

Wasn’t this touching? Why was it different when it was him doing the touching and not me? I didn’t have time to think of such things as people slowly trickled out of the classrooms. I saw two professors then. They nodded at Nixon and took a sip of coffee as if this was a normal thing to face every day.

I closed my eyes and leaned my wet head against his chest.

He smelled so good.

I smiled and raised my free hand and rested it against his muscled chest. He tensed, sucking air into his mouth as if I had just caused him great pain. And then he relaxed as we walked into another building.

It was smaller than the three large classroom buildings and was nestled in between the science hall and the gym.

He tapped his card against the first steel door we came to. The door slid — yes, slid open Star Trek style.

Nixon walked in but didn’t put me down. I struggled in his arms, but damn, that boy was strong. My eyes caught a glimpse of the room. A pool table stood in the corner. A flat screen TV took up the entire wall, several leather couches, and a bar. Wow, it was like the President’s suite or something.

I glanced back at his face. It was impossible to read. He bit his lip, causing the lip ring on the side to disappear and then I saw it. I almost blurted it out loud. He could seriously be Channing Tatum’s twin. That is, if Channing Tatum had dark curly hair and a lip ring, but still. It was almost uncanny. I told myself to stop staring, but I couldn’t help it.

His gaze fell to mine, then lowered to my lips. He spoke in low tones. “You need to clean up.”

“Because I’m a whore?” I choked back the tears.

He laughed, the bastard. “No, I think we both know you’re not a whore. You need to clean up because you smell like egg and sugar water.”

Was that why I felt itchy? Ugh, I hated college kids.

“Get in.” He plopped me in the middle of the floor and began pulling my clothes off so fast I couldn’t stop him.

“What the hell, Nixon! You can’t just strip me—”

“—I can, and I will, now step out of your skirt like a good girl.”

Too tired to argue, I stepped out. The sound of water running filled my ears. When had he done that? My arms lifted as my tank top from underneath my button up shirt came off, leaving me in my bra, underwear, and knee highs.

Nixon’s face froze.

Embarrassed I tried to cover myself up. It was all too much. Being called a whore, having eggs thrown at me. No meat!

I crumpled into his chest and sobbed. “I miss cows!”

Nixon burst out laughing. Good Lord, but that boy’s laugh was musical. I wanted to bottle it up and keep it all for myself. “Sweetheart, I’m sure they miss you too. Now do you think you can manage the rest?”

“The rest?” I repeated, pulling slightly away from his chest, the same muscled chest I had just snotted all over.

He raised his hands and cupped my face. His touch felt so good. I closed my eyes. “Open your eyes, Trace.”

I opened them. And they were staring directly at his perfect lips.

“Do you need me to help you take off the rest of your clothes, or can you make it from here to the tub without killing yourself?”

My legs did feel shaky, but it was embarrassing enough standing there in nothing but my underwear. “No, um, I can do it.”

He breathed into my neck, was he smelling me? Didn’t I smell like egg still? “You sure? I wouldn’t want anything to happen to—”

I slugged him. Laughing, he stepped back. “Towels are in the cupboard under the sink. We have everything you need next to the tub. Just… don’t drown, okay?”

“Why would I drown?”

He sighed heavily. “Just…” He slammed his fist against the counter. Holy crap, what did I do? “Just, don’t make me worry, okay? I hate worrying.”

Didn’t everyone? “Fine.” I nodded. “I’ll try really hard to keep myself from mermaiding it, deal?”

Without looking at me, he nodded his head and walked out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Geez, that boy had more mood swings than grandma when she went through menopause.

I quickly stripped off the rest of my clothes and leaned over to feel the water. It scalded my hands. Perfect.

It was tricky lowering myself into that Jacuzzi tub. Finally I was immersed except for my knee. The scrape was still bleeding, and I knew it would hurt like hell the minute it went underwater.

I just didn’t know how bad.

“Ow, ow, ow! Crap!” I blew on my knee and waved my hands in the air.

The door to the bathroom burst open. “What happened?”

I looked at Nixon. A shirtless Nixon. Was he planning to join me too?

Then his eyes locked with mine and lower. I didn’t cover up this time. I think I was in shock or something. Warmth spread through my body, and it had nothing to do with the bath water as his eyes darkened.

He took a step toward me and then another.

“Nixon! Are you in here? Is she okay?” It was Chase.

With a curse he backed out of the bathroom and slammed the door. My heart beat wildly in my chest. What just happened?

Confused and exhausted, I decided to be quick about the bath. I ducked my head under the water. Peace and quiet. It was so nice. My stomach grumbled underwater. Of course it did. I was losing weight on this whole vegan kick, mainly because I was eating Cheerios and granola bars like they were going out of style.

After fifteen minutes, my hair was washed and I was squeaky clean. But I didn’t have any clothes to change into. I paced the bathroom for a few minutes and tried to even my breathing. I didn’t want to barge out of the bathroom in all my naked glory asking for clothes. What if other people were in there?

“You can do this, Trace, just ask for some clothes.” I gave myself a pep talk, nodded my head once, and reached for the door. The minute my fingers touched the knob it jerked open and I fell directly into Nixon’s shirtless, muscled, and tattooed arms.