Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 27

My hand moved across the paper without conscious thought, the familiar weight of the pastel grounding me.

I wasn’t the best artist. I’d likely never get accepted into a prestigious art program or have drawings in galleries, but I loved it.

Something about putting pastel to paper set my soul free. I couldn’t imagine not having an outlet like that.

Anson shrugged. “It’s good enough for me.”

“Okay.” I turned back to my drawing.

“So if you don’t want to tutor me, how about I take you for a burger after school?”

“I’m not sure your girlfriend would be too happy about that.”

“Girlfriend?”

I picked up another shade of green and started in on the pine’s bows. “The snarling Sadie.”

Anson let out a choked laugh. “Sadie isn’t my girlfriend.”

“So you let any girl who wanders by sit in your lap?”

“Only the pretty ones.”

I made a gagging noise.

“Hey now, don’t judge.”

I looked up at Anson. That niggling sensation I had about him deepened. A sneaking suspicion that there was more to him than he let on, things that he hid below a carefully practiced façade. “Tell me one real thing about yourself, and I’ll go get a burger with you sometime.”

Anson’s eyes blazed, anger simmering there. That was real, the first authentic thing he’d shown me, even if it hadn’t been by choice. “I found out three years ago that my mom cheated on my dad. He’s not even my real dad. The guy who’s part of my DNA makeup is long gone. None of my friends know. That real enough for you?”

I swallowed, my throat seeming to stick on the action. “I’m sorry-”

“I don’t want your pity.”

“It’s not pity. It’s understanding. I’m adopted. Didn’t find out until I was eleven. Threw me for a loop. And now…” My words trailed off as my vision blurred, memories of my mom from the night before filling my mind.

“Now, what?” Anson asked quietly.

“Now, I’m pretty sure my parents wish they never would’ve taken me home.”

16:59

Screw My Childhood Sweetheart–His Alpha Brother Marked Me First!

23

Chapter 27

Kids laughed and shouted as they moved through the halls, heading for the front doors. I went with the tide, happy to be anonymous amidst the chaos.

Someone shoulder–checked me as they passed. “Watch where you’re going, new girl,” Sadie hissed.

“Drunk in the middle of the day? Seems like you’re the one who can’t walk a straight line.”

Her eyes narrowed on me. “Stay away from what’s mine.”

“And that would be?” I asked in a bored tone.

“Anson.”

“He was pretty clear that you two aren’t an item.”

Sadie’s face flushed beneath her tanned skin. “We have a complicated history.”

“Have fun with that.” Complicated history was surely code for wanting more than she was getting. I could almost feel bad for her, almost. It sucked to want someone who didn’t want you back, at least, not in the way that you needed them to. But it didn’t give her an excuse to be a raving bitch either.

“Keep. Your. Distance,” she growled.

An arm linked through mine, and Cassidy smiled up at Sadie. “Making Senna feel welcome, I see.”

“Keep her with your little band of freaks and away from Anson.”

Cass tapped her bottom lip as she tilted her head. “Freaks, huh? That’s not what it sounded like you thought when you were trying to get Knox alone in the locker room after gym class.”

The red on Sadie’s face deepened to the point that it looked as though she might have a stroke. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Cass snorted. “Sure.Run along now.”

Sadie muttered a few choice words under her breath and headed for the doors.

I slipped my arm from Cassidy’s and began to clap. “I bow down.”

She chuckled. “She’s the worst.”

“I’m beginning to,see that. She’s like a dog with a bone.”

“She’s always been one of the prettiest girls in school, and she thinks that should give her first pick of all the guys.”

I rolled my eyes. “Never mind what any of them want.”

“Exactly.”

I made my way towards my locker, spinning the dial. “I don’t feel too badly for Anson. He brings it on by keeping her around.”

9354%

Chapter 27

Cass leaned against the lockers next to me. “I really don’t get that. I know he doesn’t actually like her, but he keeps going back for seconds.”

Her words had me drifting back to art class, and the pain I knew lived below Anson’s carefully crafted mask. “I think it’s easier for him to be with someone who doesn’t actually know him.”

Cassidy’s eyes flared for a moment. “You psychic or something?”

I grinned. “Just call me Madame Senna.”

She laughed and then was swept off her feet and tossed over Jack’s shoulder.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Little Bit. You hiding from us?”

Cass pinched his side. “Put me down, Jack.”

He did as instructed, slowly lowering her to the floor. As they came face–to–face, he closed the distance, taking her mouth in a long, deep kiss. Cass practically melted into him as Jack’s hands slid down her back to her hips. “Missed you today.”

“You saw me at lunch.”

“Too long.”

There was truth in those words, as if Jack could hardly bear to be parted from Cass for a few hours. Something about the tone, the intimacy of the moment, had me looking away, that tugging sensation back in my chest.

I wanted that. The bone–deep knowledge that the person I loved would always be there, no matter what. I certainly hadn’t found it with Jason, and part of me wondered if I ever would. Every person in my life who was supposed to love me seemed to find that task impossible.

“Hey.”

I hadn’t even heard Knox approach and did my best not to jolt.

♡ (0)

(0)