The Vincent Boys 01 - The Vincent Boys

had come to say.
    “How does it feel to be pond scum, hmm?”
    I had to bite my tongue to keep from replying that I wouldn’t know as I wasn’t her. In a fight she would bash my face in. Besides, I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing her words affect me.
    “Don’t ignore me,” she sneered, taking a step toward me. I stilled myself. The pure hatred flashing in her eyes was a warning to tread carefully.
    “I just want to get to my locker and then I’ll go. I’m not trying to cause trouble.”
    Nicole cackled like some deranged witch. “You already caused trouble, bitch.” She reached up and yanked on a strand of my hair, causing tears to sting my eyes from the sudden pain. “You think you’re so pretty and perfect that you can just take whatever you want. Well, I got news for you, chick—you can’t take what’s mine.”
    Nicole closed the space between us and in one swift move sent me flying backwards onto my butt with a shove to my chest. Great. I was going to get into a fight in the school hallway and I hadn’t even done anything. Just what I needed. My parents would be furious if I got suspended. Standing up seemed pointless. I kept my head down and waited on something else to happen. It didn’t take long. My book bag was yanked off my shoulders and books came pouring down on my head. I cringed and let out a strangled cry as my head was battered by the heavy text books I’d been forced to carry around all day.
    “That’s enough. Move.” Sawyer’s voice silenced the laughter and chatter filling the hallway. “Leave her alone, Nicole. Your beef is with Beau. Not Ashton. I don’t want to see you touch her again. That goes for all of you. Back off. No one here knows what happened and it’s no one’s business. Stop acting like a bunch of jerks and leave her alone.”
    Feet shuffled all around me and laughter had turned into hushed whispers as the crowd did exactly as Sawyer had ordered. The reigning prince had spoken. It’d taken him a week but he’d finally ended this. His hand appeared in front of my face and I stared at it a moment before ignoring it and standing up on my own. I didn’t make eye contact with him nor did I thank him. His interference was way past due so my gratitude was expired. I began picking up my scattered books.
    “Are you going to at least acknowledge me?” Sawyer asked as he picked up my book bag. I shrugged and barely glanced up at him before shoving my books into the bag he held open.
    “You brought this on yourself, you know.”
    That was the last straw. I’d been a punching bag for five days too long. I snatched my book bag out of his hands and glared up into those blue eyes I’d once thought were so beautiful. Now they seemed pale and boring.
    “No one deserves what I’ve been put through. I might have deserved your anger but I didn’t deserve the entire school’s anger. I did nothing to them. So forgive me if I don’t see where I brought a week’s worth of relentless bullying on myself.”
    I spun around and started heading for the door. I was done for the day.
    “Ashton, wait.” Sawyer jogged up behind me and reached for my arm. “Please wait. Listen.”
    “What?” I snapped, not wanting my escape botched.
    “I have something I need to say. Just listen, please.”
    I nodded but kept my gaze focused on the doors I so desperately wanted to flee out of.
    “I’ve been wrong. Letting them do those things to you all week and saying nothing was horrible. I’m sorry. I really am. In my defense I’m hurting, Ash. I didn’t just lose you, I lost my best friend too. My cousin . . . my brother. Everything came tumbling down at once and I couldn’t deal. I told myself you deserved it that you could fight your own battles. I guess I kept waiting to see the little fireball emerge I remembered from when we were kids. If I could see her then I’d understand more why you turned to Beau. But you kept reacting the way my Ash would react. You never fought back or retaliated. You just took it. And God, that hurt so bad. They were hurting you. The girl I’ve loved all my life. I wanted to jump in and protect you but the image of Beau touching your lips and you gazing at him like you wanted to eat him up flashed in my head and I became furious all over again.”
    He let out a sigh and his grip on my arm fell away.
    “I love you. I know the real you, too. You think I don’t but how easily you forget I was the one who bailed you out of