Never forget you

Chapter 39: Knight

I walk into school with a big ass grin on my face. Skye fell for my trap and I can not wait to see her face when I tell her what we're playing for. These past few days have been hell. Complete fucking hell. The minute she told me who Martin was I felt like a complete jackass and then, then when she told me the truth about what happened with Ian it took everything in me not to hunt down the guy these past few days to sock him in the face. I get angry just thinking about it.

Niko claps my shoulder. "So," he drags out the word. I look over to him and find him smirking but his eyes remain forward scanning the hallways. I shrug my shoulder in an attempt to get him to drop his hold but he just shakes me a bit.

Letting out a huff I finally cave. "What?"

He chuckles. "Are you gonna give it your all or are you pull back?"

I smirk over at him as we reach his locker. Leaning my shoulder against the metal I stare at him as he opens his lock and collects his things. The second he closes the door I say, "When have you ever known me to pull back?"

Niko rolls his eyes before laughing. "So you got a plan then, huh." It's not a question, he knows damn well I have a plan. This kids known me long enough already to pretty much read my mind and know what I'm going to do before I do it. He laughs again shaking his head when I don't answer.

"And you two," I smack both Reese and Shane over the back of their heads before punching them in the shoulder. They rub their arms and yell, "What the fuck," in unison. I stab a finger at them both. "Knock it the fuck off! You know what that's for."

They glance at each other like dumb and dumber before looking back at me with shit-eating grins. Shane hits Reese in the chest. "He's got it bad, man."

Reese throws his fist in front of his mouth on a chuckle. "Yo, for real. God forbid we mess with the little misses."

"Yeah, what the fuck is that about though? I thought she was fair game?"

My eyes narrow at Shane and an ungodly growl leaves my lips. Niko steps between us putting a hand to my chest before I attack him like a savage dog. "Why you gotta poke the fucking beast, dick head?" Niko scolds Shane who just laughs before stepping back.

He throws his hands up. "I'm just asking. Last week it was 'do anything to piss her the fuck off and get her feeling like lower than scum' and now its all 'back the fuck off before I burry your ass alive'. Just want to make sure I'm clear as to what's going down." Reese smirks off to the side, shaking his head at his best friends behavior. My hands clench into tight fists.

"Back. The fuck. Off." I grind out which just makes Shane and Reese broaden their smirks.

"Ay, ay, Captain," Shane salutes me. I roll my eyes and swallow down the urge to pummel him. My best friends are like family but my God, sometimes I just want to beat the fucking shit out of them.

Niko pushes Shane away. "Get the fuck out of here, jackass. We'll see you assholes later."

I watch them with a scowl on my face as they turn, laughing and walk away heading toward class, leaving Niko and I in the halls. When the coast is clear he turns around with the biggest smile on his face which makes me let out a heavy breath. I close my eyes.

My best friend laughs a fully belly laugh at me. I open my eyes to see him hunched over. Asshole. I roll my eyes before turning on my heel and leaving him in the hall to fend for himself. He catches up to me in the next beat. "You can't even be mad because you know they're right."

"Shut it." My tone leaves no room for argument but who am I kidding, this is Niko so of course he has something to say.

"K," he stops me with a hand on my shoulder, spinning me to face him. "All I'm saying is...just be careful, okay?" When I raise and eyebrow to him he continues. "Just make sure that you know what you're doing and that you're in it for the long haul. I know how much she hurt you the last time doing what she did and honestly, I don't want to have to pick up the pieces again. And I really don't want to have to deal with the fallout now that she's back in our lives. I just-"

I cut him off before he can continue. "She didn't sleep with him."

Niko's mouth drops open for a split second before he composes himself. "What?"

I let out a breath. "Her and I talked," he smiles at that which makes me roll my eyes. "Long story short because I'm not getting into all of this shit right here, right now," I make a gesture to look around with my eyes because you never know who's listening, "Ian basically forced himself on her and that's what I walked in on. Instead of being a mature fucking person and saying something or stopping it I walked away- or rather I ran straight to Maddie- and Skye ended up finding me."

Again Niko's mouth falls open and I try to fight the small smile forming on my lips. He shakes himself out of his shock before saying, "Hold up. Whoa. That's just...,"

"Yeah."

He lets out a breath, closing his eyes for a brief second. The bell rings but we remain standing in the hallway. "Damn, man."

"Yeah," is the only thing I can say.

"I mean you both were stupid. Neither one of you had the balls to say anything. To ask anything but then again can you really blame yourselves?"

My eyes flick to his and my head jolts back in shock. "What the fuck do you mean?"

Niko narrows his eyes at me as if I don't get it. "What I mean is...you were both fourteen. Fucking fourteen, Knight. You were kids. So, I'm sorry but ask any other person, regardless of their age and if they saw what you two saw they would jump to the same conclusion. Yeah, if you were older-more mature- maybe you would have had the balls to actually confront one another about it but it's not like we saw each other every single day. We went to camp together and Skye didn't even live here. You guys need to stop living in the past. Now that everything is out in the open you need to start new, fresh."

I look at him, really look at him, for a moment letting what he said run through my mind. Do I wish we would have just talked? Got things out in the open the second it happened? Yes, of course. It would have saved us so much fucking time, heart ache and pain but Niko's right. We need to stop focusing on the bad shit that happened in the past. We're both here now, some how fate or the universe or whatever brought us back together and we need to take it. We need to use it to our advantage. I smirk at my best friend before heading off to class.

The funny thing is his words are what I had planned all along. And by the end of the night, one way or another, Skye Davis and I will start over. The race tonight will determine which way. Mine or hers. Let's just hope were both on the same page.