“Hi, I’m Ellie McCallum, Flynn’s girlfriend,” I said.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Ellie. It’s nice to finally meet you,” she added. While she appeared to be a nice lady, I wish she would leave already. I was pretty certain Flynn had left a hickey on the side of my neck that needed to be covered up.

“Here you go,” Flynn said, shoving a paper in Imogen’s hands. She took it and looked it over, nodding.

“This looks good. Thanks, Flynn. I’ll see you this afternoon at the staff meeting,” she said.

“Yes, I’ll see you then. You can leave now?” he said and I had to hide my grin. Imogen didn’t seem bothered by his rudeness. She was obviously used to it by now and understood how to respond without responding. She just earned some major cool points in my book.

“Okay. Bye, Ellie. It was nice to meet you,” she said before Flynn all but pushed her out of his office.

“I should have locked the door,” Flynn said, and I laughed.

“It’s probably not too cool to get it on in your office at work,” I told him.

Flynn walked back over to where I was sitting and pulled me to my feet. “I don’t want to get it on. I want to have sex with you. Right now. In my office,” Flynn corrected.

“That’s what getting it on means, Flynn,” I said.

“Oh. But what would we be getting on? The desk?” Flynn was frowning.

“Never mind. But we can’t have sex. Don’t you have class in a few minutes?” I asked, pointing to the clock.

Flynn sighed and looked very put out. “In twelve minutes. That’s not enough time is it?”

I tried really hard not to laugh. My lips twitched uncontrollably. “I sure hope not,” I answered.

“This sucks,” Flynn complained, and this time I did laugh.

“Yeah it sucks. But I’ll just see you at home,” I said, kissing him again, though pulling away before he could latch on.

“At home. I like that. I like knowing you’re there at the end of the day,” Flynn said, smiling.

I wasn’t thinking about working at JAC’s or running into the Berettis. I wasn’t thinking about how much I hated living in Wellston and I wasn’t thinking about the thousands of memories that assaulted me every time I drove down the painfully familiar streets.

All I was thinking about was the man in front of me and how much he had come to mean to me.

“I love you,” I said, hoping that just this once he would say it back.

I tried not to be too disappointed when he didn’t.

Chapter Thirteen

-Ellie-

“I saw you talking to the freak this morning. What in the fuck were you two talking about?” Dania asked, sitting down beside me at our usual lunch table.

I gave her a sideways glance, my face not giving anything away. I had been very firm with Flynn, telling him to never talk to me at school unless I approached him first. I knew the shit I’d have to deal with from my friends and even though Flynn had come to mean more to me than just about anyone, I didn’t want to deal with the inevitable blowback should our friendship become common knowledge.

Did that make me an asshole?

Yeah, it did.

Did that make me a total coward?

Absolutely.

I was so tough, so untouchable most of the time. But for some irrational reason, Dania and my so-called friends’ opinions of me mattered. I certainly didn’t want to be seen as vulnerable. I didn’t want them to think I had gone soft. I had to be tough. I had to be hard. Otherwise I feared that the persona I had built would crumble around me. And then I’d be left with nothing.

But I hated the way Dania and Stu treated Flynn. It made me sick each time they bullied him. I even joined in though seeing his anger and despair broke a heart I didn’t know I had.

Why couldn’t I just tell them to stop?

Why couldn’t I stand up to them for once?

Because Ellie McCallum was a weak fool.

“It was nothing. Some stupid shit about English class,” I remarked dismissively, hoping Dania would drop it. But she didn’t. She had this strange obsession with Flynn Hendrick. She taunted and teased him to a level that didn’t really make sense. She had targeted him for a reason that I didn’t understand.

“Did you see what he was fucking wearing? What’s with the khakis? And the button down shirts? It’s like eighty degrees outside! He’s such a weirdo,” Dania smirked, stuffing fries into her mouth.

We were by ourselves for once. Stu had lunch detention. Reggie was out sick, and Shane had cut school after Algebra this morning. It was rare that we weren’t surrounded by our miscreant crew. It was nice though. I loved Dania, even if she was a total bitch. But I didn’t care for any of the others. They were part of my circle for the only reason that they were as fucked up as I was.

“Look, there he is! I wonder what he has in his lunch today. I’ll be right back.” Dania got up and I knew she was going to go take Flynn’s lunch. It had become a sadistic ritual every single day.

I knew what would happen.

Flynn would yell. He would cry. Dania would cackle and steal his food as though it didn’t matter that she was relentlessly hurting someone who couldn’t defend himself.

I reached out and grabbed a hold of Dania’s arm. “Hold on a sec. What’s your hard-on for Flynn? Why do you have to give him such shit all the time?” I asked, not able to help the bite in my voice.