Saint

“Come on, Mallory, give us a peek of the goods,” she sneers, stepping forward to grab at my towel. “What’s got Saint and the boys so goddamn hot for you? What’s so fucking special about you?”

I don’t think. Instinct takes over completely, and I throw my fist at her as hard as I can. I co

“What on Earth is going on here?”

I jump at our teacher’s thunderous voice. Glancing over my shoulder, I feel the blood drain from my face as he storms toward us, face flushed red.

“Ellis!” he barks, taking in the scene. “What did you do?”

I stare at him, my mouth hanging open like a fish, unable to speak. This is bad. This is really, really bad. I just hit Laurel, the student council president. I may have even broken her nose. And that motherfucker must have cost a fortune.

They’ll expel me for this! They’re going to expel me, and I’ll have to go back to Georgia.

“Mr. Norris, I…” I don’t know what to say. I can see my future flushing down the drain right before my eyes, all because I couldn’t keep my damn temper under control.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

“Ellis, you’re in so much trouble, I—”

“Mr. Norris, hold up!” I blink as Gabe suddenly appears at my side, slightly out of breath, his red hair spiked with moisture. Where the hell did he come from?

“Carlson? What do you want?”

Gabe holds his hands up. “I saw the whole thing, sir. You can’t blame Ellis for this.”

What. The. Fuck?

Have I stepped into a different dimension?

Did Laurel punch me instead and this is all a side effect of my concussion?

“What’d you see?” Mr. Norris asks, folding his arms over his wide chest.

“Laurel stole Mallory’s clothes and wouldn’t give them back,” Gabe quickly explains. “She was taunting her with them, sir. Mallory was just defending herself.”

Our teacher glances toward Laurel, who’s sobbing as though she’s dying, and arches a brow as he looks back at us.

“Defending herself? Seems a little extreme of a defense, don’t you think?”

Gabe looks at me for a second, then gives a one-shouldered shrug. “Maybe, but can you really blame her? I mean, Laurel’s not the best example of Christ-like behavior and she’s supposed to be president of the Student Christian Fellowship, so…”

The greedy televangelist’s hard-partying, sex-addict kid just dropped the Jesus card.

It takes all my strength not to snort out loud.

Mr. Norris appears to consider Gabe’s words for several moments. At length, he releases a weary sigh and shakes his head. “Justified or not, we can’t have students smashing each other in the face. Detention, Ellis. You’ll clean up the cafeteria after breakfast and di

A breath of relief escapes my lungs so fast, my voice is squeaky when I reply, “Yes sir.”

At least I’m not expelled.

Mr. Norris goes to help Laurel up and takes her out of the gym. Her flock follows after them, crooning words of comfort her way, and throwing insults my way.

When they’re gone, I take a moment to collect myself before I turn my gaze to Gabe. “Thanks,” I say slowly. “That was … surprising of you.”

Bending down, he picks up my panties and twirls the scrap of pink lace and cotton on his finger.

“Nothing comes for free around here.”

“What—”

Before I can ask him what he means, he pockets my underwear and makes his way out of the gym without a backwards glance.