Page 15 of Armor
No, all I asked was what was going to happen to the brother I just found out I had.
His name was Connor.
***
For eleven months... I loved my life.
I had my family, which now included Connor.
I had the club.
And I had Alexander.
If I were being honest, he was the best part of my life.
Some days, it felt as though my day didn’t truly start until I laid eyes on him.
And from the looks he gave me when he saw me, how his body seemed to relax, how his shoulders loosened, he felt the same way.
Man, but that gave me a head rush, goosebumps, and made butterflies in my belly take flight.
And today of all days, I couldn’t wait for school to be over so I could see him.
But first, I had three more classes to go.
And in this class, World History (a class I loved), I hated my assigned seat.
I hated it because it put me right beside Tanner Albright.
I couldn’t stand him.
He was the pitcher for our baseball team and thought he walked on water. Newsflash: he didn’t.
And he definitely didn’t after he popped a freshman’s cherry over the summer and then proceeded to brag about it to the whole school once classes started.
The poor girl was so embarrassed that she talked to her family and changed schools.
I would have told her to “buck the fuck up”— one of Uncle Xavier’s sayings—stare him down like he didn’t matter, and let the comments roll off her back.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t that close with her, and I never got the chance.
And unfortunately, Tanner was already in his seat.
Wonderful.
I just set my things down, laid my textbook on my desk, and slid into my seat when he started.
“Looking good, girl. Meet me at the pizza parlor tonight? We’ll split one.”
I sighed, “No.”
He winced in mock hurt, “Don’t you know how lucky you are that I’m giving you my attention?”
I snorted, “Lucky would be if you never spoke to me again.”
His shoulders tensed. Yep, damage a man’s ego, and he comes out swinging.
“Girl, why you gotta be like that? You’d think with who you are, you’d be bending over and leaving your ass in the air for anything that moves,” he sneered.
