Trapped (Bullied Book 4) (Bullied Series) Vera Hollins (best large ereader txt) 📖

the hots for her? She was all my cousins talked about. Her and Megan Fox. “Really?”

He shrugged, chuckling at my expression. “What? She even reminds me of you, although you’re much, much hotter than her.” He accentuated that by running the tip of his finger over my mouth before he kissed me, slowly and heatedly.

A groan sounded near us, and I looked up to see Masen rolling his eyes before he, surprisingly, flopped down next to Marcus and lowered his tray to the table as if he’d always sat here.

“Pussy-whipped,” he said to Blake, but there was none of the usual casualness or cockiness in his demeanor. He was pissed off. “So, what now? We’re going to sit here with your chicks?” He looked at Blake and Hayden with more-than-evident displeasure on his face. “Pussies.”

Hayden glowered at him, fisting his hand on the table. “Nobody forces you to sit here, so fuck off if you don’t like it.”

“What’s going on with you?” Blake asked him. “You didn’t get to jack off last night or what?”

I blushed as I glanced at Sar, Kev, and Marcus. They looked sheepish too as they observed the interaction.

Masen dug his fork into his food. “It’s that nutcase. She deserved what she got.”

“She?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t actually referring to Mel.

He looked at me the same way he had when I’d helped Eli with the apples. “Your crazy friend, Melissa.”

“She’s not crazy,” Sar said.

I frowned. “What happened?”

“What will happen is that I’m going to kill this degenerate asshole slowly and painfully, and I’m going to enjoy every second of it,” Mel said, appearing behind Masen with her hands on her hips. She looked at us. “What is he doing at our table? He better teleport his ass away, or I’m going to eat somewhere else.”

Masen sprang to his feet and got into her face. “Make me. Not that you can do much now that you’re suspended.”

Say what?

“Okay, what’s going on?” Sarah asked, already on her feet.

“You’re suspended?” I asked Mel in a high-pitched voice.

“Of course she’s suspended,” Masen sneered. “That’s what she gets for punching Steven and acting all aggressive.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa. “What?” I asked dumbly. She’d punched her brother again?

Mel looked at me; her features were briefly shadowed with hurt before she schooled them into blandness. “Steven said some things, and I just snapped.”

Masen chuckled. “She just ‘snapped.’” He made the air quotes, gloating. “Yeah, right. It’s too bad the principal showed up right then.”

She glared at him with her bared teeth. She looked on the verge of hitting him, but then she glanced around the cafeteria. The new lunch monitors seemed ready to intervene at any moment, so if she did anything, she would only make things worse for herself.

“No, it’s too bad you had to show up with her and make things worse,” she said to Masen. “You lied through your teeth. You actually told her I punch students all the time and have aggression issues, you pile of cow crap.”

My eyes got even wider. I glanced at Sarah, who looked as confused as I was.

Masen shrugged his shoulders. “Where’s the lie in that? You do have aggression issues, and you hit your brother all the time.”

Veins bulging out on her temples, she pushed against his shoulder and raised her fist like she was going to punch him any moment now. “I dare you to say that again. I dare you.” Masen looked over her shoulder and smirked.

“Hey.” One of the lunch monitors stopped behind Mel. “What’s going on here?”

Masen cocked his eyebrow smugly. “And I dare you to hit me. Maybe that will finally get you expelled.”

“If you don’t stop right this moment, you’re going to the principal’s office,” the lunch monitor said, scowling at Mel and Masen.

“Mel, listen to him,” Sarah told her. “You’re already suspended, so don’t make things worse.”

Mel didn’t look at anyone but Masen, glaring at him like she wanted to pummel him into nothing. The aversion was thick between them, and when she lowered her hand and unclenched it, it looked like it took everything in her to do just that and not sock him.

“I’ll wipe that smug smirk off your face if it’s the last thing I do,” she said under her breath then spun on her heel to leave.

“Mel!” I called after her, already moving to reach her.

“Don’t follow me,” she tossed over her shoulder. “I’m going home.” She rushed out of the cafeteria, leaving the whole table in heavy silence.

Sarah frowned at Masen. “That was a low blow.”

Masen sat down, looking at her coolly. “A low blow? She’s like a rabid dog, and no one does anything to stop her. She deserves this.”

“No, she doesn’t,” I told him. “She’s going through a difficult time with her parents in the middle of their divorce, so cut her some slack.”

“So, what—we all have to let her treat us like punching bags just because she has issues? You can forget about that.”

“You’re the same,” I told him, and his face dropped. A sliver of danger flashed in his eyes. “You also have issues—”

“You better think twice before you say anything, Metts,” he told me, and I remembered his warning. I wasn’t supposed to say anything about Eli.

“And you better stop talking to her like that,” Blake growled.

I took his hand. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay,” Blake said. “You have some big-ass issues with Brooks? That’s fine, but don’t get Jessica wrapped up in that clusterfuck.”

Masen looked between Blake and me with a clenched jaw in silent anger, and I expected him to start arguing, but then he threw a big smile on his face and winked at us. “Whatever, man. We’re cool.”

For a few moments, I could only gape at him, reminded of Mel. She was the same. She could hide her real feelings in a second, acting like her charming, usual self despite how hurt she actually was on the inside, and it was scary how good both of them were at that. During the