Nico Vaughan, the junior class "Nice Girl" wants to be free from her abusive and obsessive ex-boyfriend.
Valen Henford, the school's resident "Rich Guy meets Bad Boy" wants to spend his senior year with the girl he's been in love with for years.
W...
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"I fell in love with his soul before I could even touch his skin. If that isn't true love, then please tell me what is." (OurMindfulLife.com).
|◁ II ▷|
I feel his gaze on me.
And I have no clue how I feel about it.
I do know exactly how I feel about Margo, though. He really went to her and made sure she wouldn't bother me again, and it worked. The resource officer couldn't do that. Dr. Brently couldn't do that. Valen could, though, and he did.
For me.
I'm thankful. He keeps making my life better. He's already entered a deal to protect me from one person, and yet he still went to Margo and handled the situation for me. With no gain for him. She's going to stop messing with me.
He's an amazing person. I can name countless guys who wouldn't have made that deal with me, let alone handle the Margo situation without further incentive. He's kind. He's gentle. He's somehow both adorable and brooding-ly handsome.
But is it wrong for me to let him deal with it all? Yes, the deal with Hunter is still me dealing with it in a way. But Margo? If I was stronger, I could deal with her. Maybe I should go to her myself. I don't want her to see me as a weak woman who hides behind a man.
A paper hits my desk. Grammar. I mark a few, waiting for Valen to turn to me to ask a question. After a few minutes, I get confused. Does he get it now?
I look over at him to see his gaze snap to his paper, which is empty.
"Would you like some help?" I whisper.
His head ducks sheepishly. "I don't know why grammar is so hard for me."
With a glance at Ms. Plynto—who I see is reading a romance novel—I scoot my chair over to his desk as quietly as I can. We move through the questions together, and when we finish, we talk by writing in his notebook since no one else is talking in the room. Somehow, that turns into a doodle contest—I win, by the way, but don't ask Valen—before Ms. Plynto sets her book down and announces that we have the rest of the time to work quietly on our English projects.
I pull out the papers we've been using to brainstorm our project and set them on the table, but Valen doesn't look at them.
"Valen?" I try. "Do you want to work on this project tonight?"
Valen shifts the papers towards him. "Yes. Your house or mine?"
I think for a moment. "What about mine? I think Mom is making dinner. You could always stay."
