Read The Seven Devils (YA "New Adult" Romance) for Free Online

kitchen from Mom that said she was at work already and that Austin had gone to school early to talk to the football coach about joining the team. I certainly didn’t mind having a few minutes to myself, and I thought back to the events of the night before. I knew Neil would want to talk to me, and I still didn’t know if I could trust him. He told me to stay away from Derrick and it turned out he was right. Does that mean I really could trust him and that the crap people were saying about him was all false?
     
    I couldn’t decide if I would tell Neil about what happened with Derrick. I was getting the feeling that they were basically sworn enemies. I didn’t want Neil to be angry, and I certainly didn’t want him to confront Derrick about it. I didn’t want either of them to know how scared I had been. Yet, I felt as if not telling Neil was somehow the same as lying to him. 
     
    I was just walking out the door when a car pulled into the driveway. Neil stuck his head out of the driver’s side window and called, “Want a lift to school?”
     
    “Sure!” I answered and walked around the car and sat down in the seat beside him. “I assumed you didn’t have a car since you were walking yesterday,” I said as he backed out of the driveway.
     
    “It’s only a few blocks to school, so I try to walk when I can. I don’t know if this old bucket of rust would last me until I graduate if I drive it every day,” he said with a grin. The car really was in poor shape. The upholstery in the back seat was ripped to shreds as if someone had locked a few angry dogs back there. There was also a crack zigzagging down one side of the windshield.
     
    “Can I ask what exactly happened to your car?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t being too rude.
     
    Neil’s face was unreadable as he replied. “Well, it wasn’t much to look at when I first got it, and then one day a group of our illustrious classmates decided to have a little fun with it.”
     
    My jaw dropped. “Kids from school did this??”
     
    Neil nodded. “I’m not exactly well-liked.” He sounded calm as he explained it, but I saw his knuckles turn white as he gripped the steering wheel tighter. Little warning bells sounded an alarm in my brain. Because of my father, I was always on the lookout for the early warning signs of anger.
     
    “So what made you decide to drive today?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
     
    “It’s supposed to rain pretty heavily later. Plus I wanted a little privacy. I have a kind of strange question to ask you and would prefer not to be overheard,” Neil said.
     
    “Oh,” I said, intrigued. “What is it?”
     
    “It’s about last night,” Neil said. “After I left I got this horrible feeling that something had happened to you; that something was upsetting you. I almost turned back to go check on you but then I realized how strange it would seem to go running back to your house just because I had some weird feeling. But I can’t help but ask… did something happen?”
     
    He parked the car in a spot at the very edge of the school lot and turned to face me. My mind was racing and I still wasn’t sure what to say. I looked out the window beside me and wondered why the people at school seemed to dislike Neil so much, and what it was that Derrick told my brother, and why exactly Derrick wanted me to keep away from Neil so badly. Painfully aware of how weird it must seem that I hadn’t answered yet, I was tempted to lie and say nothing had happened, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it.
     
    “Something did happen,” I started, “but it wasn’t anything too bad. Derrick just told me again that I should stay away from you.”
     
    Neil studied my face and said, “Ellen, I know you don’t know me very well yet, but I want you to be able to trust me. If he hurt you or threatened you in any way, I want to know.”
     
    I tried to swallow my guilt as I looked down at my hands and replied, “No, nothing like