Breaking Her Bad by Michelle Mankin

 

 

 

 

 

Claire

After school, I grabbed the books I needed from my locker. I smiled to myself as I heard Missy bantering with Chad at hers. She was supposed to be switching out her books too, but it sounded mostly like she was trying to dissuade Chad from going to Footit’s.

“Yo, chica.”

Belinda.

I turned my head. My eyes widened as she came toward me, wearing an expression that made my blood run cold.

“What do you want?” I asked shakily.

“This.” Grabbing my locker door, she slammed it on my hand.

Crying out, I drew my smashed hand to my chest. “Why did you do that?”

“Because you were in my way.” She made eye contact with a shorter Hispanic girl who moved to the other side of me. The other girl looked a lot like Belinda and wore the same malevolent expression.

Choking back my sobs, I threw my shoulders back. “Maybe you should try to watch where you’re going.”

I remembered the advice Kyle had given me about bullies, and spread my feet apart, pretending I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t going to waste time trying to make friends with Belinda like I’d done with my tormentors in Lakeside.

“Oh, so you have a backbone now.” Belinda cocked her head. “Not such a spineless little jellyfish, ese?”

Not anymore. I was Kyle’s woman. He was strong because he had to be strong. His circumstances had given him no other choice, and neither had mine.

“No, I’m not.” I lifted my chin, even though my heart raced as the shorter girl inched closer. “Leave me alone.”

“I don’t want to leave you alone.” Belinda flicked open a switchblade and waved it around. “I like to play with mi comida before I eat it.” She swiped the blade at me.

When I jumped backward into the other girl to avoid getting cut, Belinda said, “Hold her, Yolanda.”

The other girl wrapped her arms around me. My eyes rounding, I swallowed hard.

“Back off, Belinda.” Tommy suddenly appeared. “Now.”

Belinda turned the blade on him. “Or what?”

His weight shifting to his back foot, he kicked it out of her hand. She yelped as it flew. Landing on the linoleum, it spun to a stop by Chad’s high-tops.

“Oh, look what I found.” Chad picked it up. “I always wanted one of these.” Peering at Belinda, he raised his dark blond brows, using the sharp end to clean under his nails.

“Stupido gringo,” Belinda spat. “Keep it. It’s not my favorite blade. Andale, Yolanda.” She jerked up her chin to her friend, who released me.

“You okay?” Tommy asked, closing the distance between us while keeping an eye on the two girls as they stalked away.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Thank you.”

“Huh-uh. Not true.” He shook his head. Only a few loose black strands swung against his square jaw since his hair was in a stubby ponytail today. “Let me see your hand.”

He took it and examined it.

“Belinda slammed it in my locker.”

“Fucking hell,” he muttered. “I’m so sorry. I should have been watching you closer. Can you wiggle your fingers?”

“Yeah.” I did, but winced as pain shot up my arm.

“Crazy bitch.” He shook his head again. “Kyle’s gonna kill her.”

“No. It’s okay. I mean, I’m okay.” I wiggled my fingers. “Just need to work the kinks out. See? All better.” It still hurt, but at least I didn’t wince.

“Claire.” Tommy shook his head, not buying it. “She hurt you. You can’t let her get away with that.”

I bit down on my lip. “I’m not planning on letting her get away with it.”

Kyle had enough to worry about, and I certainly didn’t want to give him any reservations about being with me. I could stand on my own. I was tough. Resilient. A force to be reckoned with, though maybe I hadn’t proved that.

Not yet.

But behind every badass was a nice girl who got tired of being pushed around. And I was very tired of being pushed around.

Lifting my chin, I said, “Belinda is my problem.”

Tommy cleared his throat. “I don’t think he’ll see it that way.”

“Well, I do.” I leaned toward him. “Can you teach me how to kick like you did?”

“It’s Vovinam.”

“What’s that?” I asked. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“Vietnamese martial arts.”

“It’s cool.”

“It is, but it’s not just kicking. Vovinam involves using your hands, elbows, legs, knees, and weapons like swords, knives, chisels, claws, fans. Those who study it also learn how to deal with hand-held weapons, counterattacks, lock-ups, and levers.”

“That sounds good, especially the part about dealing with handheld weapons,” I said, thinking about how Belinda seemed fond of blades. So was the guy Kyle had fought. “I’d like to learn whatever you’d be willing to teach me.”

“Me too.” Missy stepped closer. I’d been so focused on Belinda, then Tommy, that I hadn’t seen her approach. “With both of us doing kung fu, we could mess Belinda up bad.”

“I’ll teach you both some basic Vovinam defense moves.” Tommy shook his finger at us. “But only to use in a worst-case scenario. You need to remember Belinda is La Rasa. No one wants to start a war with them.”

“Not a war.” Missy moved close and threw her arm around me. “Just a strategically planned skirmish to show her she can’t keep terrorizing people and get away with it. That bitch has earned payback.”

• • •

“Where is Claire?” Kyle entered Footit’s with lightning in his storm-cloud eyes and quickly found me.

The bar was empty. Bob had just finished mopping and was on the other side of the space, starting to take down overturned chairs. Chad and Missy were at a table near the bar. My aunt had gone to the back to get an ice pack for my hand.

“I’m here.” My heart thumped hard as I stood and looked up at him all tall, dark, and thundery on my behalf. “I’m fine.”

“Thank God.” My words seeming to appease him, Kyle’s expression gentled. “I was worried.”

Bob waved. “Hey, Kyle.”

Saying hey, Kyle waved back and strode to me.

“I had a chat with Jorge,” Kyle said, his voice rumbling. The thunder returned. “Let me see what Belinda did.”

“You shouldn’t have done that.” I stretched out my arm. “I don’t want you in another fight because of me.”

“Not your fault. Belinda knows the rules, Claire.”

His brows inched together as he cradled my hand carefully in one of his and gently traced over my fingers with the other. I didn’t wince. Instead, heat raced up my arm.

“Does that hurt?” he asked, watching my face as he softly traced my palm.

“No, it feels good,” I said huskily and licked my lips.

“Claire.” He shook his head. “This should never have happened.”

He released my hand and gently brought me by my elbows into him. After kissing the top of my head, he slid his arms around me, and I melted into his embrace.

“I’m fine.”

“Are you really?” He wedged a curled finger under my chin and lifted my head. His gaze narrowing, he searched mine.

“I will be.” Peering up at him through my lashes, I whispered, “After you kiss me.”

“I can do that.” Framing my face, he slid his hands into my hair and lowered his head. “Love your hair down like this.”

“Thank you.”

Anticipation made my heart race. When I put my hands on his forearms and went up on my toes, his warm breath bathed my lips. I hummed when his mouth finally touched mine.

Kyle didn’t speak. He just licked across my lips.

My legs trembling, I grabbed fistfuls of his Led Zeppelin shirt. I didn’t even think about my hand, Belinda, or anything else as he slipped his wet tongue into my mouth. He kissed me like he couldn’t get enough of me, like he was addicted to my taste. His hands on my ass, he drew me into him, and I rocked my hips over his hard cock. Aching for him, my clit throbbed.

“Ahem.”

When Addy cleared her throat, Kyle released me. He was facing her, so I had to spin around to look at her.

“Sorry, Aunt Addy. “I forgot—”

I stopped when the color drained from her face. Looking like she’d seen a ghost, she glanced back and forth between Kyle and me, then swayed.

“Whoa.” Kyle moved fast. “I have you.”

Taking Addy by the arm, he led her toward the chair I’d been sitting in. With a sigh, she collapsed into it.

“Thank you, Collin. I mean, Kyle. Sorry. I overreacted. It was a bit of a shock. I wasn’t expecting to see you with my niece. You two together, it’s like looking at me and your dad in the past.”

“What’s going on?” I glanced back and forth between my boyfriend and my aunt.

Obviously, they knew each other. Bob worked here, and Kyle lived with him in her back room. But the part about Collin being Kyle’s dad and romantically involved with Addy was a total surprise.

“Aunt Addy,” I asked. “Did you know Kyle’s dad?”