“And this was what?  You messing with me?  Revenge?  Why would you do this?”  My voice broke on the last word.

“You and I can never work,” he said simply.

My eyes were on my shaking hands.  “This is really what you want?” I asked, and as I heard the words come out, heard how pathetic they were, I wanted to snatch them back.

“It was silly to think we could be together again.  I’m sorry I put you through that, but it is impossible.”

And with that, he hung up.

A few days later, I pulled myself together enough to send him a small care package.

My return gift to Dante was not as fun as a pair of Louboutins, but it was far more valuable, and the note that went with it felt satisfying as hell when I wrote it.

Dante,

I know you love meaningless gestures.  How’s this one for you?  

Enjoy.  Thanks for everything.  

S, aka the hate of your life

P.S.  There is not one more fucking thing we need to talk about.  Ever.  

P.P.S.  Lose my number.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SIX

PAST

A twist came my way senior year, one I couldn’t have foreseen but that I’d be feeling the reverberations of for a very long time.

Tiffany’s wealthy family purchased a great amount of acreage right next to Gram and Adelaide’s estates and they built a huge house and moved in over the summer.  Next thing I knew, Tiffany was going to high school with us.

I hated it.

And what was worse, Dante had become friends with her.  He said hi to her now when we ran into her, smiled at her, he even chatted and joked with her.  When I’d called him out on it, he’d said, “She’s not that bad, tiger.  We’ve snubbed her for years for no good reason aside from spiting my mother.  Don’t you think it’s time we grew up?  She can’t help that my mom’s a psycho any more than I can.  Give her a chance.  She’s actually pretty cool.”

I didn’t take that well.  I gave him the silent treatment for two days, would barely look at him, but then it occurred to me that if I withdrew from him, he might turn to her.

I approached him at his locker.  He was surrounded by people, as he always seemed to be lately, but I ignored them all.

Tiffany was lingering near him, talking to some girls.  I knew she’d do that.  She’d become a part of his circle of friends, I was certain of it.

The thought had been my last straw and why I had decided to approach him right then.

He smiled warmly when he saw me.  He thought I was over my snit, and he was happy about it.

I didn’t smile back but moved right into him, smashing my soft chest against his hard one.

He put his arms around me, and I lifted my face up to him.  He was not into public displays of affection, but he gave me a brief peck on the mouth.

I wasn’t having it, so I reached up and pulled his head back down to mine.  I rubbed my body against his and started kissing him.

With a quiet groan, he started kissing me back, his hands going to my hips.

After a few beats he pulled back with a curse, “Jesus, what’s gotten into you?  Not here.”

He wouldn’t let me move my hips, but I was brushing my breasts lightly into his chest, back and forth, over and over.

“Not fucking here,” he gritted out.  “Guys!” he barked at the jocks he called his friends these days.  “Give us a minute, will you?”

They left and the girls that were with them followed, Tiffany sending one long, steady stare my way before she joined them.

I met the stare, pressing my body harder against Dante.  Mine, I told her silently.  My man, my territory.

“What was that?” His voice was quiet and incredulous.

I glared up at him.  “What?  Are you embarrassed of me?  I’m pretty sure everyone at this school knows we’re together.”

That pissed him off royally, I could tell.  His hands tightened on my hips and his eyes shot daggers at me.  “You know better.  Don’t say shit like that.  And yeah, of course everyone knows we’re together, but look at you right now.  The fuck me look on your face, grinding on me in broad daylight in front of a crowd?  I don’t want other guys seeing you like this.  I don’t want them to have this picture of you in their head when they’re fantasizing about you because I know that every fucking one of them does.  The assholes can use their imagination; they don’t need a picture like this.”

I was sure he was right about at least one of them.  The way Nate looked at me, even just before the guys had cleared out, the gaze he’d cast my way, one of sheer longing, I was well aware I was the star of his fantasies.

“I think Nate is in love with me.”  I had a habit of goading his jealousy, because I couldn’t get enough of it.

“I think so too.  Try to go easy on him, will ya?”

“Aren’t you jealous?” I was pouting.  That was hardly the reaction I’d been expecting.

“No.  I trust you, and I don’t honestly think he can help it.  I know I can’t.”

I pulled his head down to me and started kissing him again.

After a few drugging moments, he pulled back again.

“I need you,” I said into his ear.

“Jesus, Scarlett, we have class in like five minutes.”

“You can’t skip one class to give your girlfriend what she needs?” I breathed.

For that, he crowded me into the locker.  “Oh, I’ll give my girlfriend what she needs all right, but I highly doubt we’ll only miss one class, and just for the record, I’m a little disappointed in her.”

“Why?”

“She hasn’t spoken to me for two days because she’s jealous when she, of all people, has no right to be jealous.”

I pulled back to look at him.  “I don’t?”

“You don’t.  No right at all.  Other girls, other people, aren’t even on my radar.  I don’t notice them.  I don’t see them.  I don’t care about anybody but you and you know it.”

With a coquettish smile, I took his hand and led him out of the building.

We walked through the parking lot and then into the woods.  The elementary, middle school, and high school were all just minutes from each other, and all of them backed against the same large stretch of forest.  It was a longer walk through the woods to get home than it used to be when we were younger, but still only about twenty leisurely minutes.

“Where should we go?” he asked me.  “Dammit, I should’ve driven today.”  His brain had gone into full-on rut mode.

“The forest,” I decided.  Usually we went to my grandma’s house.  I hated that place, but it was always abandoned until the evening so it was too convenient not to use.

He grunted, not sounding pleased with the idea, but when I started pulling him, he didn’t resist.

We didn’t make it far, maybe five minutes in before we were all over each other.

“We need to walk the rest of the way,” he told me between drugging kisses.  “I don’t have any condoms on me.”

“You don’t?  Why the hell not?”

“Because normally I don’t need them at school, and I especially didn’t think I’d need them today with the way you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder.”

“Whatever.  It’s fine.  You can just pull out.”

He groaned and started kissing me again, but quickly pulled away.  “We’ve discussed it, and you know that doesn’t work.  You need to get on the pill and until then, condoms.”

I started rubbing him with my hand through his jeans.  “Just once won’t hurt.  I want to feel you bare.”