She's Mine : Black Mountain Academy
stand as everyone chanted and cheered.The sliding patio door opened, and she glanced over to see Sebastien Van Cleeve walk in.
One of the richest students at school.
A certified psycho.
One of the “untouchables.”
Everyone who wasn’t part of his clique looked away, not wanting to make eye contact. They parted like he was oil and they were water. He walked by her, this blast of cold air leaving him and surrounding everything and everyone in the kitchen, leaving this icy touch that could have frozen limbs off.
Everything about him and his crew seemed fake to her, like they had their own secrets, their own hidden agendas.
Once he was out of the kitchen, she could literally feel the air lighten, as if his very presence was suffocating. The next two people got their beers just as Genevieve Montgomery walked in.
Queen bee.
Head cheerleader.
Bit of a bitch, if Keira was being honest.
But she supposed you had to be slightly cunty at her social status. She cut in front of the line, grabbed a beer, and walked away as if she had some kind of VIP pass to tell everyone “fuck you.”
God, I hate these people.
And she did. If she had a choice, she would have gone to a public school, not something as prestigious as Black Mountain. But she came from money, and because her parents had a high-class social standing, the circles they ran in were unfortunately with these types of people.
She finally got another beer and made her way back to the living room, where Molly was standing with a group of people. Keira saw Molly laughing at something Michael “Big Mike” Huntington said, the jock easy on the eyes, but his personality could lean toward the asshole side at times.
She stood by Molly, and her friend glanced at her, giving her a wide smile before turning her attention back to Mike.
Keira didn’t know how long she stood there, the noise fading in the distance, and she thought about how she was ready to go if she didn’t have Reese to stare at. This was not her scene.
And then as if her thoughts conjured the very boy himself, Reese came into the living room. His eyes were red-rimmed, his gaze kind of glossy-looking. A combination from the booze and weed, no doubt. She shouldn’t stare, especially not after he caught her, but she couldn’t help herself.
She wanted him in the worst kind of way.
Everything about him turned her on, the pull she felt toward him so strong Keira felt her body heat to embarrassing levels. He was so different than these rich pricks. His clothes weren’t designer, his car not a luxury one. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon shoved in his mouth, wasn’t handed everything to him like he deserved it. His hands looked stained with grease, as if he worked hard and did manual labor. And his expression… it showed that he’d experienced the darker, uglier side of life.
“Keira? Hey?”
She looked at Molly, who stared at her expectantly. “What?”
“I called your name like three times.” Molly's brows furrowed, and she glanced at where Keira had been looking. She noticed her friend’s eyebrows rise when she saw Reese just a few feet away, talking with Nate Black, the only person Reese seemed to let in as a friend.
“Really?” Molly asked, and Keira snapped her head in her direction.
“Really what?”
Molly lifted another eyebrow and tipped her chin in Reese’s direction. “You got a thing for the new guy?”
God, her face was on fire. She shook her head too quickly. “What?” she asked again. Keira took her beer and started guzzling it. She was nervous and knew it showed.
“What’s up?” Big Mike asked, and Keira waved his question off.
She stared at Molly hard, telling her without words to keep her mouth shut.
Molly’s eyes narrowed. “It’s nothing, Mike. Girl stuff.”
He shrugged and went back to talking to a couple other people who stood nearby.
“Keira, why didn’t you tell me you’re into the scholarship kid.”
God, this was getting worse. And because she felt defensive, she said something she shouldn’t have. “I don’t see you very forthcoming about information on Ian.”
Molly’s lips thinned, but she didn’t press her again.
An hour later and two beers down, Keira was ready to call it a night. She’d successfully avoided looking for Reese again, not wanting to cause any more attention to the subject. That was a disaster waiting to happen with a houseful of assholes who were drunk.
The heat in the house, coupled with the fire in her body and alcohol running through her veins, started to make Keira feel a little woozy.
She leaned toward Molly’s ear and said, “I’m going to get some water.”
Molly turned around, and one look at Keira’s face had concern moving across her features. Maybe she looked as gross as she felt?
“Hey, you okay?”
A few girls from their school stood around them. Keira knew them but didn’t know them, which meant to them she was Molly’s stage-five clinger.
“I’m good. It’s just stuffy in here, and the alcohol went to my head. I just need some water.”
“I’ll come with you—”
“I’m fine. I promise,” she cut Molly off and offered her a smile.
What she wasn’t telling Molly was that she wasn’t fine. Her mind was a jumbled mess, and she was too afraid, uncomfortable, and just plain awkward to confide in her best friend.
4
Keira made her way into the kitchen before Molly could say anything else or follow her. There were a few guys playing some kind of intense drinking game at the dining room table. A couple of them had their back to her, the others loud as they shouted and laughed. A deck of cards and a line of shots sat between them. She didn’t recognize the ones she could actually see, so they were either in college or drove out from another school.
After getting a glass of water and guzzling that, Keira filled it up again and turned around to lean against the counter. This new position let her