Take Me On. Katie McGarry

I state clearly. Because neither Matt nor her family is buying any of the bullshit I’m spewing and they won’t...unless we offer incentive. “In private. But it’s okay, Haley.” I overemphasize her name in the hopes of gaining her attention. “Now that I’ve transferred here, we can tell people our secret.”

      She transforms into night of the living dead and blinks repeatedly. I position my hand under her elbow in preparation for if she faints. Note to self: she shocks out easily.

      Mouths gape. Some guys harden into stone. Then it smacks me, is one of these guys her boyfriend? Jessica mentioned a failed relationship with Matt, but Haley could be seeing someone else. Shit. Fucking shit. Fucking shit in a Crock-Pot.

      “You’re dating Haley?” The pure menace in Matt’s tone indicates I hammered the nail into the two-by-four. “My girl? You’re dating Haley?”

      Haley snaps back to life. “I’m your ex-girlfriend.”

      Thank God for small favors and the damn Easter bunny because that was one gift I needed. There’s no one else in Haley’s life and Jessica had it right: he is crazy obsessed.

      Matt’s obviously the alpha in this mangy bunch of wolves, so I address him, “Is it a sin around here to protect your girl?”

      He hasn’t peeled his eyes away from Haley since I announced our sudden relationship. Finally, he answers, “No.”

      “Is it true?” Jax pinches his nose as if he’s smelling shit. “You’ve been dating this guy in secret?”

      “I...” Nothing else falls from Haley’s lips.

      “All the lies you’ve told since Friday... What I put up with at home because I covered for you... Over a guy again? Jesus, Haley.” He pauses, then sucks in a breath. “I’m done with you.”

      “Jax!” Haley calls out, but he struts away. The other guy from her family wears the same expression my mom does when she talks about the daughter that died right after my birth. In silence, he follows after Jax.

      Her posture droops. The look on her face...it’s like someone cut out her beating heart. I’ve got to get her out of here.

      “Check it out, man.” I direct myself to Conner. “It was a misunderstanding. I saw you standing over Haley, I got protective and things went down. No harm, no foul.”

      I wrap an arm around her shoulders and Haley tenses beneath me. I extend my other hand to Conner, knowing full well there is plenty of harm done and foul is a mild adjective to use to describe the animosity between us.

      “Fuck you,” says Conner. I withdraw my hand and shrug. Hey, I tried.

      “Then I’ll leave you to lunch.” I attempt to guide Haley away but it’s difficult to do when she’s grown roots and planted her feet into the ground.

      “Sounds like it was an unfair fight,” says Matt. “My brother being chivalrous and helping out Haley after she fell and then you jumping him from behind. It’s easy to take down a guy when he doesn’t know you’re coming. An apology isn’t enough.”

      “It’s enough,” Haley pleads. “Please, Matt, let it go.”

      Matt mimics the crazy grin his insane brother had right before he knocked me out. “Do you know the lies your girlfriend tried telling me before you showed? Listening to Haley beg for you makes me wonder if you can actually take a hit.”

      I rub my chin, release Haley and step into Matt. Chairs crack and squeak against the floor as his boys bolt to their feet. Matt stops them with one raised finger. “Got something to say?”

      “Yeah. Thought you should know I got expelled from my last school for fighting. I got no problems taking hits.”

      “Then prove it.”

      “Take the swing, asshole.” I’m not going to be accused of jumping a man from behind.

      The air hums with pissed-off energy. Matt shoves his chest out, arms poised to come up, then a guy says, “Principal.”

      Matt backs off and I follow his lead. Some old man in a gray suit watches us as he heads for the food line.

      “New boy,” says Matt. “We don’t fight in school, but the moment the bell rings, your ass is mine.”

      Haley angles to become a human shield in front of me. “No.”

      “Haley.” My blood boils that she’s begging this bastard for anything. Does she honestly think I’m that weak? “I got this.”

      “Listen to her, Matt,” Conner butts in.

      “What?” Matt asks.

      “One of us should fight him in the cage. You know, make it public humiliation. Best man wins and all that shit.”

      Haley tunnels her fingers into her hair and clutches it as if to yank it out. “He’s not a fighter. It won’t be fair.”

      “I can fight,” I snap, but not one of them acknowledges me.

      “If he can’t take the hits, then he shouldn’t have messed with one of us,” says Matt.

      “Matthew.” The pure desperation in her tone causes everyone to freeze. “I swear to you he didn’t know.”

      The looks, the stares. All of them doubting me because Haley’s basically signed in blood that I’m incapable of holding my own. I’ve got four months in this school and I’ll be damned if she’ll be protecting me the entire time. “Name the day and time.”