Chapter Three

A russet brown hand slams my locker closed, almost catching my fingers in the process. The hall around me stills and people move away but stay to watch the exchange.

I can smell him, smoky, powerful, masculine. It makes me want to inhale deeply.

His breathing is steady, his chest almost brushing against my back. I feel shadowed, completely covered by his athletic body. His forearm is as powerful as the bicep he kissed yesterday. His nails are trimmed neat and his hands are clean.

There’s something to be said about a man-slash-boy with good hand hygiene. My dad always said that if somebody displays good hand hygiene, they likely have good other hygiene too.

“You’re new,” Nokosi growls, his tone rough and deep. This is the first time I’ve heard him speak. His voice is… wow.

“And?” I respond, my tone strong as I keep my eyes on my matte black locker.

“And that doesn’t just give you a free pass to wander wherever the fuck you like, belegana.”

I close my eyes for a moment when he wraps my thick braid around his hand and yanks my head back. It pulls on my scalp and makes my already sore neck ache. My heart is hammering in my chest so rapidly I’m surprised it hasn’t chiseled a hole through my ribs.

“Fair warning,” he whispers in my ear, his lips almost touching the shell. It sends prickles of fear and arousal down my spine. My ears are one of my most erogenous zones. “If you tread where you’re not welcome again, you’ll get more than just a hand in your hair.”

I don’t say anything, but oh I want to. I want to cuss and spit and press my knife against his throat so hard that he bleeds. But instead keep my lips a thin line and stare at a mark on my locker door. I would never have noticed it had I not been forced to look for it. That’s how clean and well-kempt these lockers are.

“Am I understood?”

“Perhaps you can draw me a map?” I bite back and my bruised front hits the lockers. I bite on my tongue to stop me from crying out. That really fucking hurts. “Let me go.”

“Am I understood?”

“Yes,” I breathe, needing him to just let go of my hair so I can regain control of the situation.

“Remember this moment and imagine how much worse it can be,” he hisses, pulling even harder on my hair before finally releasing me and stalking away with his equally tall and muscular tanned and dark friends at his sides. One of them slaps my ass as he passes.

Dick.

That’s sexual harassment, he’s lucky I’m not a snitch. Though something tells me in a school like this, shit like that gets swept under a very heavy rug.

I stare at Nokosi’s back as he walks away, a stride in his step like he owns this fucking place and the fact that there are two teachers walking by who definitely saw the exchange and did nothing, just further proves that he’s King of this castle.

But why?

Loki was right, he really is the most arrogant prick here. Somebody needs to bring him down a peg or two. I’m not sure that I care enough anymore to try.

This place will not cut me a break.

Lilith: I hate it here.

Willow: So you’ve said.

Lilith: It’s the worst place we’ve been so far.

Willow: And the most prestigious, so it should be the best.

Lilith: Right?! Wish you were here.

Willow: Glad I’m not.

I laugh and stuff my phone into my pocket. My sister can be okay sometimes. We used to be a lot closer.

“Lilith?”

I look at Loki who is sitting to my right again in this class. “Mm?”

“Are you okay?”

I’m surprised by his concern. “Fine, why?”

“I saw what happened with Nok. I just thought…” He shrugs his shoulders. “I’ve been on the receiving end of his shit before, it’s not nice.”

“Oh, that.” I smile genuinely, to reassure him and because it just seems the right thing to do with my face at this point. “I’d already forgotten about it.”

“Oh… well, good.” His brows draw together from the confusion. “What did you do to get his attention?”

I contemplate not telling him but then that’d just be petty. “Drove my pit bike through his lands… apparently.”

He rolls his eyes. “Oh yeah, Nok’s tribe are like worse than the Canadian border. Be careful. They rule the roost around here.”

“I’m starting to gather that.”

He shifts in his seat and opens the textbook on his desk. “Why did you want to know who the most arrogant guy in the school is?”

I tap my nose and look at my own books. Then I look up at the board and do the work I’m supposed to be doing. It gets rid of the humming noise in my head for long enough. Thankfully.

I get bored after all of ten minutes and go back to texting my sister. She doesn’t respond.

Cunt-bitch that she is.

This is so fucking dull.

“Does your hair color fade quickly?” questions Mackenzie, who is sitting to my left. She’s the same girl who was sitting in the corner alone surrounded by paper the other day.

Lifting a shoulder, I glance at her, meeting her silver eyes for a second and reply, “Not if I use color protection shampoos and conditioner.”

“Brilliant!” She holds out a lock of her auburn hair. “Reckon it would take?”

I snort. “Umm, definitely not. You’d need to either gradually go to a platinum shade like I did and then apply a pink, or nuke it with bleach, apply a pink and have pink hair for two weeks before it all snaps off.

She looks disheartened. “What’s your natural shade?”

Why do these people ask dumb fucking questions? “Pink.”

“No, seriously.”

I deadpan, “Pink.”

It’s obviously not pink, but it’s also none of her business. I lift my braid into the light and admire the pastel pink sheen. I honestly thought they’d make me change my hair to fit their image at this school, but they haven’t said a thing about it. So long as I roll up in their plaid skirt and navy blazer, they seem content with anything else as it is.

“A woman of mystery, I like it,” she mutters to herself and I find myself smiling for real this time. She’s funny, in a natural way, not the attention-seeking kind of way. Then, just when I think she’s done talking to me she adds, “I’m Mack, by the way, short for Mackenzie.”

I look at her outstretched hand and clasp mine together, letting her know I don’t want to touch her. “I’m Lilith.”

She retracts her hand, still smiling at me. “Lilith Deville, right? Very biblical and kinda creepy, no offence.”

“None taken.”

“Good, I got worried you’d snap my prized pencil,” she holds up a metallic rose gold pencil with her name inscribed in the side in black lettering. “Isn’t she a beauty?”

“If you don’t poke me with it I’m sure it will survive the semester.”

“Awesome,” she whispers as the teacher walks back into class, having stepped out five minutes ago for something. I don’t know what thing. “So that’s why you snapped Loki’s pencil?”

“Does it really matter? It’s just a pencil.”

“It was rude,” Loki hisses.

I spin and glare at him. “Rude is poking somebody you don’t know with a pencil.”

“Wasn’t like it was the pointy end,” he grumbles to himself.

“Settle down, class.” The teacher’s voice sounds as mundane as I’m feeling. “Ah, we have fresh meat. Welcome to Lakeside Preparatory, Miss…”

“Lilith Deville,” I reply for the millionth time since yesterday.

“Ah yes, I have you here…” She presses something on her tablet, and I wonder why all of the teachers but Mr. Bromley have high-tech gadgets to take the roll call. “So where do you hail from?”

“Everywhere. Mom’s an environmentalist so we travel,” I answer robotically, also for the millionth time since yesterday.

“Wow, that’s interesting. What kind of things does she do?”

I sigh and shrug my shoulders. “Environmental stuff.”

The class snickers as the teacher frowns but she doesn’t comment on my reluctance to respond with genuine answers to her prying. “Okay, well, I’m Ms. Bacon, it’s nice to have you in my class.”

“Thanks.” I look away, out of the window, hoping to daydream my way through the rest of the day. I blink twice when I catch sight of somebody by a big tree across a staggered stepped walkway that leads to the main entrance.

It’s Nokosi in his uniform, and some girl in a white top, standing in the rain beneath the budding leaves of the tree. He has her caged in, his hands on the bark either side of her head, she’s smiling at him. He smiles back, leans in, and kisses her lips, then deepens it, making her cheeks hollow and her body relax. Her hands grip his blazer-clad waist until he pulls her leg over his hip. The dark skin of her bare navel makes his bare arms look almost red in comparison. Hers bronze, his umber. Both so attractive. But I can guarantee she’s not his girlfriend. Nokosi doesn’t have girlfriends, I can tell that about him already.

I can’t tear my eyes away, the way he commands her body with just his tongue in her mouth. I’ve never been kissed like that. Sure, I’ve been kissed but he’s not just kissing her, he’s possessing her.

She’s bending her body to meet his like she’s desperate for more of a taste. How much more of a taste can she get with her tongue in his mouth already?

I’ve never seen anybody kiss like this, let alone be kissed like that myself.

I touch my lips, imagining a tingle there that will probably never be there.

Principal Cooper appears out of nowhere waving a finger at them, pointing towards the parking lot while his lips form words I can’t hear. Nokosi peels himself away from the girl and pushes his wet hair from his eyes before sauntering back into the school. The girl walks away from the school entirely. Her lack of uniform just shows that she doesn’t go here. I’m pretty sure she’s native, maybe half and half because her skin is darker, and her hair is poker straight but is starting to frizz where the rain has been wetting it

Fuck.

I need to get me some of that. That was hot.

My sister wouldn’t approve.

I look around me at all the boys in this class, considering my options. None of them will do. Not now. Though I’ll be damned if I ever sleep with a guy like Nokosi. Not a chance in hell.

Still, that kiss.