Page 115 of Disobedient Pawn

“Keep up the good work, Ms. Davies. I wish I could clone you.” She adjusted her glasses before walking away.

“You are quite the suck-up,” Axel said mockingly, spinning around in his chair.

I got way too much amusement from Ren ignoring him, especially after that kiss at Sacred Heart. Myles wasn’t the only one ready to kill Axel that night.

Axel knocked on the table, and I sat back to watch the show. One of Ren’s eyebrows rose as she glared at Axel’s hand.

“Is there something you’d like Axel, other than to insult me, that is?”

Ren slowly lifted her head, her eyes clearly saying fuck off. I’d seen that look a time or two myself already. The issue with staring at her or spending any time around her was that I could clearly remember every word of her journal. There was some seriously sad shit in there, and how her mother died made me more certain about my theory. Maybe she couldn’t remember what happened in her family or was too young. Either way, I was more determined than ever to figure out who she really was because a Davies, she was not. Despite what I said to her, I felt… something, protective maybe, after reading it. She may not have suffered the same abuse I did, but the darkness pulled at the same corners of our heart.

“When are we going on a date,” Axel asked, and my attention snapped back to the conversation.

“I already told you that we’re not.”

“I know private spots we can go if you want to skip to the end of the date,” Axel said.

Okay, this was getting sad, even for Axel. I’d watched him try to worm his way into a date three times since the party at Sacred Heart, where she was clearly just using him to make a point. The only one who didn’t seem to understand that was Axel. But I was up for watching another round of him making an idiot of himself.

“Axel, give it up. I’m never going on a date with you. It was one kiss, nothing more. Besides, you just called me a suck-up. What makes you think I’d want to date someone that insulted me?”

“Come on, that was just a joke. What do you have against me? I can be a lot of fun.” He leaned on the desk, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Dude, just fuck off already. She said no, she has the last however many times you asked. Take a hint,” I said and sighed, bored of this conversation. The guy had no game and it seriously fucking hurt my eyes to watch this pathetic, bullshit.

“How about you mind your own fucking business,” Axel growled, his chair scrapping as he stood up.

“Oh, don’t give me a reason to fuck you up,” I drawled, slowly pushing to my feet.

“Gentlemen, is there a problem in the back,” Mrs. Grey asked.

“Axel, I’m dating Myles. So no, I’m not going out with you. Okay, there, it’s out there.”

“What?” Axel and I said at the same time. “Since when?”

“What does it matter? The answer is still the same. No, I won’t be going on a date with you.”

Ren closed her books and stuffed them in her bag. There was a strange heaviness in my stomach, and even though I didn’t want her, I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of her around all the time hanging off of Myles.

“Then why did you kiss me?” Axel’s indignant voice rang out, drawing more curious eyes.

“Are you really that stupid man?” Crossing my arms, I glared at the blockhead. “She used you to piss off Myles, which was obviously effective.” I had to give it to Ren, it was an impressive powerplay.

“Is that true? Did you use me?” Axel growled.

Ren straightened her back and tossed her backpack over her shoulder.

“What if I did Axel? You’ve never kissed a girl just because you wanted to get under her skirt but had no interest in her as a person? You’ve never said everything you think someone wants to hear to get a date, only to use them and throw them away. Never asked a girl out and then didn’t show up just to make a fool out of them?”

“That’s different.”

“Your dick, or lack of it, doesn’t give you the right to treat people like shit. As for you and me, you were drunk. I gave you one kiss, no promises, and certainly haven’t led you on since. So for the last time, no. Leave me alone or I’ll go to the dean.”

Damn, she could give it. Axel’s face went a violent shade of red. He opened his mouth to say something else stupid.

“Fuck you,” Axel huffed, like he thought that was the greatest insult in the world.

Even if no one else did, I caught the shift in his eyes and tone. His muscles tightened, and his fingers twitched. I may not be sure about her becoming Myles’s girl, but if she was part of my circle, she was under my protection. I didn’t offer the same protection to Vicky, but that was something I didn’t plan on looking at too closely.