Chapter 10: 10__Malicious intent

Julius Stone raised a brow at the guilty looking children. He’d never seen them talk so closely before. It made him want to find out what had prompted this secret conversation they were having in the shadows.

“What kiss are we talking about?” he asked them.

Braden looked like he would pass out, staring at his grandfather in trembling anxiousness. “The-the... i-it’s...”

Erin jerked his hand off her shoulder, hurrying forward as her brain worked fast. “Good evening, Chairman! It’s nothing at all, it’s just a rumor at school!”

The Chairman studied her innocent wide eyes and hummed. “Hmm. Is that right? And what does this rumor have to do with you two?”

“Nothing at all, Sir,” she answered quickly with a shake of her head. “It’s to do with Braden’s friend but we need to keep it quiet else it could get him in trouble with his parents. Braden was...” She glanced at him, seeing the ashen color of his face. “He was just warning me to not let my friends tell anyone.”

Her gut twisted bitterly at the knowledge that she was lying to him. It really made her want to curl into a ball of guilt and shame.

The Chairman nodded. “I see. Well, you two stay out of all such trivial matters. Understood?”

Erin nodded. “Yes, Chairman.”

When Braden remained frozen besides her, she nudged his elbow with hers, startling him back to his senses. “Uh! Yes, grandpa!”

“Good. Classes over?” They both nodded. “Excellent, goodnight now. Let me have a word with your tutor.”

With a nod, the Chairman went off to the lecture room. They stood frozen, side by side, until they finally heard the lecture room door close.

Releasing a huge huff of air, Erin sagged against the wall. “Oh, thank God!”

Braden didn’t waste time. He immediately turned on her with a dark snarl. “You see?! That could’ve been bad, what if grandpa heard?!”

She scowled at him. “Shut up, it’s all your fault anyway!”

“How is it my fault that you can’t keep your mouth shut?!”

“If you had left me alone during my punishment, the k... it would never have happened.”

He scoffed, his face twisting with disgust. “Oh yeah? Well, maybe if you hadn’t been trying to play hero for your idiot of a friend, you wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place!”

She shoved off the wall, straightening and glaring darkly at him. “I wouldn’t have gotten punished if you hadn’t said I hit Jace on purpose!”

At that, Braden smiled scornfully. “Oh? I was just helping you play hero. Was it nice, saving your friend’s ass? Or should I say... your boyfriend?”

Erin narrowed her eyes at him, barely holding back the curse on the tip of her tongue. “Are you... daft?!”

“Daft enough to tell grandpa you’ve got a boyfriend? When both of us aren’t permitted to date during senior high?”

A trembling breath of frustration left her mouth and she squeezed her eyes shut for a second. “You know what?” She looked at him. “I don’t have time for you.”

She shoved him aside before Braden could get another word in and he watched her limp away, his gaze fiery from all the things he still wanted to say to her. How dare she walk away when he was still talking?

The thought of walking after her and grabbing her arm crossed his mind and Braden subdued it. Calming himself, he released a breath and stroked a hand over his perfectly combed hair.

He was Braden Stone, he refused to chase after trash.

The clock at his bedside said 03:12. Braden stared grumpily at the ceiling, crossing his arms over the covers.

He wanted to sleep! Who would’ve known coming into contact with Erin Moore would do this? Was it perhaps something she’d passed onto him when they’d made brief physical contact? Some illness of Insomnia perhaps?

It was horrifying. Not only could he not sleep. When he truly tried to and closed his eyes, he was startled back awake by images of what happened at school.

His mind was filled with the vision of her mouth as she fell on top of him. It was nauseating, to say the least, it made his skin crawl!

Why had she done that? Wasn’t it enough that she was encroaching on his inheritance and his life in general? Now she couldn’t even allow him the dignity of his physical space?

He paused. The thought suddenly occurred to him that if her mouth had been on anyone else’s... like Jackson Pierce, for example... she could’ve passed on germs from him too!

Braden shot upright, shoving the covers off as he glared into the darkness. This was the height of it!

She couldn’t really have, could she? He tensed as he thought about it.

Could she really have kissed Jackson Pierce?

A bizarre burning sensation seemed to fill his chest and pissed him off even more.

With sharp, jerky movements, he snatched his covers back over himself and lay back in bed. In the morning, he’d wash his lips even more than he had last night!

It wasn’t his business if she wanted to kiss Jackson Pierce, but he refused to get any germs from them. They could kiss each other, for all Braden cared, they suited each other anyway, the beggars that they were.

As long as they kept it far from him!

They did keep it far away from him. In fact, for the next few weeks, Erin made such great effort to keep it far away from him, that Braden became stiff with offense.

In every lecture hall, in the cafeteria, in the sports auditoriums. Even in the halls!

He had been extremely aware of how she steered Jackson away from him. If Braden was sitting close to Jackson’s usual seat in a lecture hall, he saw Erin steer him to a whole new seat.

She kept both her friends and herself far away from him as though he was the one with an illness!

Even now. He scoffed mockingly, staring at them from across the library. When they’d walked in, Erin had taken one look in their direction, met gazes with Braden and had immediately tugged her friends in the opposite direction!

Any other time, he would think she was finally learning her place and attempting to not breathe the same air as him. This, however, was different.

Braden knew. He glared at her. She was only doing all this for Jackson Pierce. She was desperate for him to achieve his dreams of becoming a football star. Keeping his record clean was a necessity for the path he wanted to take, so Erin didn’t want anything to mess up her little boyfriend’s life.

A malicious smirk curved up the corner of Braden’s lip. Grandpa said he wasn’t to harm Erin. He didn’t say anything about her friends, however.

Reaching an arm across his table, Braden slammed Noah’s laptop closed.

“Yo, what the hell?” asked the other boy, as puzzled as Jace and Chris who looked up from their phones.

Braden withdrew his hand with a sigh. “I’m bored. Do something.”

“I’ve been waiting for this,” said Jace with a gremlin-like smile. “Erin whore’s been having it real easy these past few weeks. We’ve lost our touch, boys.”

Chris rolled his eyes and returned his attention to his phone.

“Not her,” Braden said boredly. He glanced across the library just in time to see Jackson pat a large hand on Erin’s head. His lip curled in derision. “Her little boyfriend, Jackson Pierce.”

All three of the boys looked at him.

“Jackson Pierce and Erin Moore are dating?!” Noah asked.

“Is Pierce nuts?” asked Jace. “He’s sleeping with Erin Moore?”

Braden took his attention away from Erin’s table and looked at Chris. “Does Mr. Michaels still have connections in the state team?”

Chris was silent for a moment. “Depends.”

Braden easily understood. “Football.”

Studying his friend’s face, Chris immediately understood where it was going. “He does.”

“Good.” Braden stood. “Arrange an appointment for me to see him.”

Jace made a face. “What for? Dude, I thought we were laying it down on Erin? You wanna play football all of a sudden?”

His mouth curving again, Braden felt secret glee for his genius plans. “Not me. Jackson Pierce.”

“You want to get Jackson Pierce into State?” asked Noah, confusion clear in his whiskey-brown eyes.

“Is it opposite day?” Jace wondered.

Braden cursed softly. They had no vision at all, these idiots.

“He wants to create an opportunity for Pierce,” Chris said suddenly, his sharp jaw looking even sharper when he ran his tongue over the inside of his cheek.

“What does that mean?” demanded Jace irately.

“It means,” continued Chris, never breaking eye contact with Braden as though they conversed telepathically. “He’s going to ruin Jackson Pierce. And then give him an opportunity that will leave the guy at his mercy. In the palm of his hand. ”

A pleased smile curved Braden’s mouth and he nodded at Chris. He would be keeping this one around for a long time.

“Bro!” exclaimed Jace excitedly. “That sounds wicked!”

“And how are you going to do that?” Noah questioned.

Braden put his hands in his pockets and glanced across at Jackson once more, watching his big body shake with laughter at something Phoebe said. “Easy. Step one, we ruin him until no team will take him. And then I offer him the spot on the State team, a dream come true. But only on my conditions.” He smiled. “I’ll leave the ruining his record to you guys.”

Jace grinned, his eyes glittering with the chance to take revenge. “You don’t have to tell me twice! I’m about to have so much fun.”

Braden nodded. "Monday morning."

Jace walked into the empty boys’ locker room and headed straight to the back.

Soon he found where Braden was seated, Chris and Noah standing by his side. “Had a good weekend, boys?”

Braden looked up as soon as Jace appeared. He raised a brow. “You got it?”

“Ah, come on,” drawled Jace, reaching into his bag with a smile. “Do I ever disappoint?”

He opened his palm in the middle of their little square and all four boys looked down at the small, shiny bag of cocaine.