Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1) by Selene Charles Page B

He’d driven her home.
    And as her anger mounted, so did her stupid. Before she had time to realize what she was doing, it was already done. She’d torn a sheet of paper out of her binder and crumpled it into a ball, then thrown it at his chest as hard as she could.
    He glared down at the white ball in his lap like it offended him.
    That seemed to get his attention. Turning, she felt his glare like scalding water.
    “What?” he growled.
    Annoyed with herself, hurt by her father, she said the first thing that popped into her head. “I really hate you.”
    He smirked. “I think we already established that, princess.”
    “And why do you wear so much cologne?” she said with a snarl. “It’s really distracting.”
    He leaned forward, tugging the earbuds out of his ear. “What did you just say?”
    She had to be going crazy, because she could swear that his voice just growled. Like animal growled, reverberating with the echo of something deep and throaty. She shivered, both hot and cold, heart banging hard against her ribs.
    “Cain and Flint, why am I not surprised?” Mr. Wickham gave her a scathing look. “Anything you’d like to share with the class?”
    “Yeah, Flint says she needs to go to the bathroom; she just started her period.”
    The guys in class erupted in laughter, the girls look embarrassed for her, and Flint just wanted to run away or punch him. She clenched her fist, anger beating so hard in the back of her throat she could taste it.
    “I didn’t—”
    “Ms. DeLuca, go to the office. Cain, stay after class.”
    “What!” She jumped to her feet. “How come I have to go to the office?”
    Mr. Wickham planted his hands on his hips. “Because this is your third offense, and only Cain’s first. Now gather your things and go.”
    Ears flaming candy-apple red, she shoved her books into her bag and yanked it over her shoulder. Cain simply grinned at her, but she refused to rise to the bait. Lifting her nose high in the air, she walked out of class, attempting to ignore the jeers of the class behind her.
    She hated him.
    She really, really did.
    ~*~
    “O h my God, Flint!” Janet and Rhiannon squealed in unison. “We heard about today.”
    “Cain is such a jerk,” Janet growled.
    Abel nodded. “Told you.” He shoveled a fistful of fries in his mouth.
    “So what happened?” Rhi peered at Flint with worried blue eyes.
    “Got detention for thirty minutes,” Flint grumbled, drawing with her french fry in the pile of ketchup on her plate before finally tossing the soggy thing down with a loud sigh.
    “Forgot to tell you earlier.” Abel glanced at her. “You look really nice today.”
    Janet laughed. “Abel!”
    “What?” He frowned. “Flint’s having a bad day, only trying to be nice.”
    Flint smiled. Wrong brother, but... “Thanks, Abel.”
    Feeling like a total jackass and needing some space, she got up. “I’m gonna sit out on the bleachers until lunch is over. Have a trig test next period and I want to get some studying in.”
    Abel looked like he wanted to pout. “You want company?”
    “No, thanks.” She picked up her tray, walked over to the trash can, and dumped it. She felt Cain’s stare on her. Even from all the way across the room, she felt it like a brand. Hot and sticky. But she wouldn’t look.
    Flint walked out the back door and took a deep breath of the flower-laden air. Every step away from him felt better.
    Why had he done that to her? She’d thought in the car maybe he’d finally gotten over whatever weirdness he’d felt, but no... today had been worse than ever.
    Not to mention the fact that she’d acted like an idiot with her father this morning. If he wanted to start dating, he had every right. Maybe it was time she followed her own advice and let go of the past. Mom would never have wanted this.
    A hot ball of tears had gathered in her throat by the time she finally reached the bleachers and sat.
    Pulling her trig book out, she opened it to chapter two