Chapter 317
Arabella Rivera
Nah, I’ll behave, I promise.” His white teeth peeked through his smirk, flashing like a damn headlight.
I move my eyes away from him, knowing I had been staring for too long. I bit into my plump bottom lip to suppress a smile. “Your promises don’t count Cross.”
From my peripheral vision, I saw his head whip to face me for a second only to draw back to the road. “My promises are my word Bella. Carved into stone that cannot be lifted and broken.”
I grip my bag, hoping he hadn’t noticed my nervous habit when he turns to face me again, this time lingering his eyes a little longer than last. “When I promise something. I mean it with every fiber of my being.”
There was something hidden in his tone. Something deep that he had buried. And as I took a quick peek at him from the corner of my eye, I observed how lost he looked. He seemed to be in his head, gaze going cloudy.
Should I be worried?
Just then his eyes snap to mine, catching me staring. I exhale an embarrassed breath, turning away from him completely to stare out the window.
“Nice outfit.” His voice brought me back to sanity where it wasn’t filled with thoughts of me jumping out of the moving truck just to get away from the embarrassment.
I was very thankful that he didn’t mock me like normal guys at his age would. But however, Haiden was far from normal.
I looked down at my ripped jeans and black t–shirt with the word fearless printed on it in bold cursive letters. I lift my head to give him a side–eye, rolling my eyes as I spoke. “Well, I didn’t have an asshole dirtying me today so……” I drawled, smiling slightly when he chuckles.
“I apologized for that didn’t I?” He faked a confused look, brows drawing together as one of his hands come to rub his chin in thought.
I turn to him fully, sending him the ‘ are you serious‘ look as I rant out. “You call‘ Oh I’m so sorry that I did you a solid by dirtying your red shirt because it was ugly and there was nothing much to see anyway‘ an apology? Do I need to lend you a dictionary?”
Weirdly, having a conversation with Haiden felt normal. Like we were long lost friends, catching up on some good old times. But we weren’t. We were certainly not friends.
Why was conversing with him, ease my usual tense form exceptionally?
He spares me a quick glance where I instantly saw the flash of amusement in his eyes before he brought it back to the road. “First of all. Those weren’t my exact words. Second. I swear I hadn’t seen the puddle of water. And third. You were the one who insulted me first.” He pointed out.
“Oh so we’re counting excuses now?”
“And for the record, saying that I didn’t have a good view wasn’t an insult directed to you.” I defended.
It was more of a shield to stop myself from the embarrassment of being caught staring on more than one occasion.
“The only view you have is my room! So of course it was directed at me.” Haiden argued.
1/2
10:19 pm
Chapter 317
“I can see the road too Haiden!” I countered.
Haiden snorted. “Well, I’m sorry that I only seem to catch you staring inside my room princess, so I just presumed that it’s the only view you latch your eyes onto. He shrugged, biting down on his lip to stop a smile from emerging.
“You’re so full of it.” I huffed turning away with a tiny hint of a smile on my face. Maybe people judged him too soon. Maybe Haiden Cross wasn’t as bad as they deemed him to be.
Peeking at him under my lashes through the corner of my eye, I saw how relaxed he seemed to be. So different from how he painted himself to be. Seeing how calm he was, led me to believe that my next words wouldn’t upset him.
I was wrong.
“You’re familiar with my friend Gwen?” My voice was soft, almost unheard and for a quick second I thought he hadn’t heard me but by the tensing of his shoulders, I knew he did.
Perhaps this wasn’t the right time to question him about her.
I watch as the relaxed Haiden morph into one so tense he could be mistaken as steel. The frown on his face sketched his features so differently than before that I questioned the real him.
After a couple of awkward silence that threatened to consume us, he answered curtly. “Only met her yesterday.”
His voice had grown so coldly that the morning heat could not be felt anymore. His words held a silent warning about not dragging the topic further. But me being me, needed to know more. Especially if it involved me, somehow.
Yeah, everyone saw what happened in the cafeteria. Did she say anything to upset you? Gwen can be a little bit pushy sometimes- I began to giggle only for him to stop me in my tracks. My mouth skidded to a stop, pressing together and wishing I hadn’t asked him anything.
‘I don’t have to tell you anything Bella! We’re not friends, I don’t fucking owe you or anyone an explanation.” As his harsh one spat out the words, I noticed that we were pulling up in the school’s parking lot.
I try not to let him affect me too much. It was Haiden for crying out loud. His anger and temper were to be expected. Yet somehow, my heart felt constricted, like a heavy weight was pushing down on the organ.
Swallowing the burning lump in my throat, I nodded tightly. “You’re right, we aren’t.”
When he parks the truck and turns off the ignition, I quickly opened the door. I could definitely feel eyes on me but somehow I didn’t care at the moment. What I cared about right now was to get as far away from Haiden as possible.
“Bella-” He called out, voice growing soft and apologetic.
“Thanks for the ride.” I slammed the door of the truck with not needed force which silenced his words. I could hear the murmurs as I made a bee–line for the school.
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