New Orleans I 18+

14. Asked and Answered

Throwing his hands up in surrender, he backed away immediately. "She attacked me." He defended.

Looking down at me, Reece snapped his head back up to pin Jose. "You must have barely escaped with your life." Reece scoffed dryly, anger still very evident in his harsh tone. Jose gulped shooting me a pleading look.

"I'm hungry!" I blurted, unimpressed with my lack of imagination.

Collecting my backpack off the floor, Reece stood in front of me. "Take her back." He ordered, nodding to Bianca. "I'll deal with this later." He continued, looking between Jose and I. Clawing at Bianca's arm Jose took off as though his ass were on fire, dragging Bianca- stumbling over her wedges- behind him. "What the fuck was that?" He demanded an answer.

I shrugged innocently, "what was what?" Clenching his jaw, he gave me a warning look. "Hungry." I reminded him before taking off towards the cafeteria. I guess somewhere I'd known all along, only now I had to make him admit it. Entering the cafeteria, I spotted a familiar face. "Hey Liam!" I called. Liam cautiously waved at me, suspicious of my sudden decision to acknowledge his existence.

Approaching him, I slung an arm around his shoulder. "Hey...Annie?" He greeted, unsure of what was happening. Visibly tensing, he gulped at Reece's menacing form hovering over us. Apart from a subtle clench of the jaw, Reece managed to maintain his cool.

"Wanna catch a movie tonight?" I asked, watching for Reece's reaction.

Furrowing his brows in confusion, he responded. "You haven't spoken to me since fourth grade, Annie." He clarified.

"Uh...yeah, so that's a maybe?" I quickly mumbled.

"No." Reece answered gruffly, clasping my wrist, and tugging me to his side. Liam swallowed before covertly sinking away. Taking a tray, I began to pile food onto a plate.

Sitting down at a table I opened up several packets of ketchup before squeezing it all over my plate of fries. I began to eat each chip individually. After about ten minutes, his patience started slipping. Drumming his fingers over the table, he flexed his muscles. "Eat faster." He ordered.

"I can't." I replied, toying with the plastic cover on my chocolate pudding. Snatching the tub from me he ripped the plastic off, slamming the tub down in front of me.

"Try." He growled. Biting back a laugh I took a spoon and ate the pudding like it was the best thing since jello-shots. After another ten minutes I began on the plate of pasta, stabbing each individual sauce covered spiral. Running a hand down his face he began to glare at me.

"It's rude to stare, Reece." Clenching his jaw, he griped my jaw between his fingers and pulled me towards himself. The cafeteria erupted with gasps, and I curled my fingers over the sides of the table, swallowing I dragged my focus from his parted lips to his smouldering emerald orbs.

"Stop testing my patience, Annabelle." I almost moaned at the sensation of his breath fanning my face.

"Make me, baby..." Stunned by my response, his grip faltered. I took the opportunity to peck his lips. Sucking in a sharp breath, he lowered to his seat. Shoving a hand through his hair he looked to his clenched fist sitting over the table. "That's what I thought." Falling back into my seat I began to peel a banana. "I just love bananas..." I hummed. He gave me another deathly glare. Taking the tip into my mouth, I winked. Swallowing hard he looked away- his restraint slipping away, almost the same way it had the night we'd met. "You know I don't-"

"Have a fucking gauge reflex. Christ, I know Annabelle, now shut up and eat." He grated the words out closing his eyes and rubbing the base of his neck. Smirking I ate the banana at a slow pace, I realised what I was doing could basically pass as a porno commercial at this point. Shooting several covert glances in my direction he struggled to stay focused. Lifting my elbows onto the table I stabbed a straw into my poppa.

My fork fell to the floor noisily, smiling innocently I slid to the floor. "Fuck..." I muttered; my eyes widened at the large bulge in his jeans. Ducking out from under the table I smirked at him. Cursing under his breath, he adjusted himself painfully. Deciding to put him out of his misery, I hurried things along. "Okay...um, I think I've pretty much missed my second lecture for today-"

"You think..." He interjected, pushing away from the table, and stalking towards the exit. Struggling to match his pace, I bit back a laugh. As we crossed the parking lot, I spotted Max getting out of his car. The last time Max and Reece had come face to face, one almost ended up in hospital. Hurrying to Reece's ride I sank into the seat. Eying me as though I were a lunatic, he put the vehicle in gear and began to reverse.

My instincts screamed that Max was bad news; they also screamed for me to tell Reece- only I couldn't bring myself to doing so. I'd never seen Reece take a punch before; nobody had ever outmanoeuvred him in a fist fight...until Max. I couldn't stomach the thought of him getting lucky again.

My final year was almost at its conclusion, hopefully with that would come Max's departure.

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