Vice

Forty Eight

~if you read this chapter already, re read it cause i added on to it. :) Im sorry i know i suck for not updating, but im attached to this story so just keep checking back and there will be more stuff to read - V

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She punched him.

Not one of those petty slaps a girl usually hits a guy with.

A full on, closed fist, punch.

There was a satisfying crack as his head recoiled backwards and his vision went white.

Thea removed herself from the vehicle and brushed the soot off her pants as the others arrived. Ryder shot her a glance before retrieving James' slumped figure.

"Shit you broke your nose in the crash." Ryder pointed to the blood dripping from James face.

"No. I broke it." Thea said with a blank face. Trevor, Lottie, and Ryder looked at her with slack jaws. She did in fact just punch the leader of their gang.

She felt no remorse whatsoever.

Thea locked gaze with James who gave her a smug smile despite the blood pouring from both nostrils.

Ryder turned back to James, "are you insane man? What happened to not over heating the engine?"

James ripped his eyes from Thea, who was now walking away from them and shrugged. "I forgot."

Ryder opened his mouth to say something but decided against it and shook his head. "Whatever I'm just glad your okay."

"Too bad his nose isn't." Trevor squirmed at the bloody sight. "You must have pissed her off real good. What did you do?"

Lottie slapped trevor over the head and made a 'duh' face, "he fucking drove a race car into the wall dumbass. I kind of feel like punching you too." Lottie added quietly before turning and following Thea.

The ride back was awkward. Ryder and Trevor attempted small talk to lighten the mood but Thea hadn't spoken since the race track.

"We're going to that magic show tomorrow right?"

Lottie nudged Thea. She nodded distracted and bit the skin of her thumb. She was nervous. He had made her nervous and that made her more nervous. She stared at the back of James head and cursed him. The stunt he pulled and the words he had said confirmed that he didn't hate her, and if he did, it wasn't cause she was weak.

It was because she would never allow herself to feel the same way about him, at least not willingly.

James eyes flicked between the road and the rearview mirror as he took notice of her biting her thumb. A small grin graced his features as they exited the car and retreated back into the house. He had made her nervous. He had made the Thea Knight nervous. Perhaps he had begun to chip away at the wall she placed between herself and the world.

As soon as they entered the house, Thea disappeared but James was still grinning as he and the others watched the news in the living room.

"You're such an ass sometimes." Ryder shook his head but his face glimmered with amusement.

Trevor and Lottie sat across the room quietly bickering to themselves and huddling over the baby. The babysitter left as soon as they had gotten back.

"I needed to do something." James countered with a shrug.

Ryder scoffed, "and your first idea was to ram a car into a wall going 180?"

James didn't respond. He knew how stupid it had been, how reckless. But the only thing he could think of was the look on Theas face as she ducked into the burning car.