Playing The player

Chapter 21

I grabbed onto Blake's arm, halting him to a stop. "I'm - I'm just going to wait here while you get the stuff."


  He looked at me confused, then back at the supermarket, then looked back at  me, his head cocked to one side, an expression of bewilderment on his face.


  I forced my gaze to stay on his face, not letting it stray to the side in case he got suspicious - he tended to do that a lot with me. I shrugged, determined not to tip him off in case he decided to drag me inside, because that was the last thing I wanted. "I'm really tired, you didn't tell me that the walk here was going to be so long!"


  He continued to look at me as though there was something wrong with my head, so I let out an exaggerated sigh of relief that the walk was over and dragged the back of my hand against my forehead to wipe away the non-existent beads of sweat.


  "Okay," Blake relented finally, though now his gaze was starting to become a little suspicious, "I'm just going to grab the toilet paper, some other stuff, then be right back. I'll be ten minutes tops."


  I nodded brightly.


  "Are you okay?" Blake asked, the suspicion on his face a lot more tangible now.


  I nodded brightly again.


  "Can I stay in the car?" I asked quickly just as he started to turn towards the automatic sliding doors.


  He looked back, smirking. "Sorry, I don't trust you with my baby." Jangling the car keys in one hand, and still smirking at the pout that was now on my face, he turned his back on me and left. The sigh of relief that I let out was completely real.


  I snuck around the right side of the car, bending over slightly so I couldn't be seen too clearly. My breaths coming out quickly and incredibly shallow, I crouched down, and leaned my back against the car door, trying not to let the driver of the silver Mercedes Benz spot me.


  After a few seconds, I decided to peek up, just to see if it was still there. My head crashed against the side mirror, and I let out a loud squeak of surprise as tears sprung to my eyes, proof that it had indeed hurt quite a bit. To my horror and surprise, the head in the car snapped towards the sound, and though the windows were dark and I couldn't clearly see the face behind the window, I could see the faint outline of a smirk, and almost instantly, my body reacted and curled up in a ball next to the side door.


  If my breathing was loud before, then I was breathing like I was dying right now. I could hear my heart pounding; and my beads of sweat appeared on my hands. I hated this panic I felt, I hated the fear and the uncertainty of what was going to happen, I hated everything about it, and I hated everything about him.


  "Hayleigh! Hayleigh, what are you doing here, babe?"


  The voice that greeted me sent, as cliché as it was, chills down my spine, sent my skin tingly in a bad way, and made me want to shudder with disgust. I didn't dare look up, and even though I could see red Vans that I knew did not belong to Blake from the corner of my eye, I didn't look up.


  Because it was Dylan. Dylan Branch.


  "Hayleigh, get up." I felt a hand clench around my upper arm, dragging me up. I let out a small squeak of surprise as I stood up stiffly, jerking my arm away from his as I took a few steps back, not wanting him to touch me again.


  It had been, what, a year since I saw him? I hadn't been lying when I told Blake our relationship was screwed up - I just hadn't told him exactly how screwed up it was, because trust me, it was pretty screwed up. Dylan wasn't the type of person you'd want to mess with. He got what he wanted and in our Sophomore year - I was what he wanted, and I was what he got.


  Except  I didn't know that then.


  I hadn't realised how big a mistake I was making by agreeing that I would be his, because if there's one thing you don't want, it's to be "Dylans' Property." Our relationship was the stuff of novels, those kinds where the main character was a girl who suddenly a boy liked and then she changed for him and so on, except in my case there was no happy ending, and I didn't get a Prince Charming.


  "Please don't touch me," I whispered, my voice hoarse and slightly numb.


  He took a step closer, amusement clear in his eyes. It was weird to think that once upon a time, I used to think he was the best-looking guy in the world, and to someone who didn't know him, he would be, with his messy dark brown hair and moss green eyes.


  "You learnt your manners." Dylan nodded approvingly, "I'm pleased to hear that."


  I looked at him warily; there was no telling what he would do, he was ruthless and he knew it. I knew I couldn't go in with Blake, what happened if he saw us together? On the other hand, I didn't really enjoy the idea of us two alone, the way we were now.


  "So how come you moved away, Hayleigh?" Dylan asked, his tone sweet and caring, "I was so sad when I heard that, you didn't even say goodbye to me."


  I shook my head blindly. "I was - I was really busy. It was a last minute sort of thing."


  I hadn't realised he had stepped forward until we were only a few inches apart; I scrambled backwards, trying to be subtle about it, but I knew by the way his eyes flickered to my feet that he didn't miss the action. Swallowing nervously, I looked back at him, trying to stifle the urge to scream that this guy was psycho. I wanted him to just hurry up and say what he had to say and just leave before Blake came back.


  "So I don't know if you heard, but I go to Greenville High now… that's your school, innit?" Dylan gave me a toothy smile, and if it weren't for the fact that I was holding the car's side door so tightly you could see the bone contract in my fist, it would've looked like a friendly conversation.


  I nodded stiffly.


  "Yeah, yeah, I thought so," Dylan nodded thoughtfully, taking a few steps forward while I took a few steps back, "I thought so, see, I saw your name on their registration, and I thought, heck, how many Hayleigh Graces' do I know? So I enrolled so I could see you."


  How did he even see the student roll before enrolling? Dylan had his ways, and if I didn't want trouble, I wouldn't question them. "That's - that's good."


  "Yeah, yeah that is good, innit?" Dylan nodded again, "I just want things to go back the way they did before Hayleigh, like listen, I'm sorry about everything that happened before, it was totally fucked up, ya know? I jus' wanna start over, what do ya say?"


  I flicked a lock of my hair back nervously. "I - I - I don't know, Dylan, t-t- "


  "What did I fucking say about speaking fucking clearly in front of me?" Dylans' harsh voice snapped out at me, making me jump and shiver at the same time. I gripped the car blindly, my legs turning into jelly as Dylan's face suddenly became a lot closer. Maybe he had moved, or maybe the earth had just somehow brought us closer together. Either way, I was sure I didn't like it, and I needed to stop anything bad from happening.


  "I'm - I'm sorry," I managed to whisper just as his fist collided with my face.