A whole load of hurt was evident in her voice, but her speaking to me so shittily, on top of everything so far today, really pissed me off.

“I’ll let that go since you’re clearly annoyed, and I suppose justifiably,” I said moodily. And then she surprised me again by f**king smirking at me.

She was now finding it all funny? Christ almighty, I had no idea what the hell to think! One minute she was pissed, the next laughing… complete mindfuck.

“Did you hear what he said about you?” I pushed.

Shrugging, she answered, “Yes, but I don’t care, never have cared what others thought of me.” She was telling the truth; the bland expression on her face told me so.

“Come on, sit down with me a while longer.” My girl held out her hand, but I couldn’t take it. This kind of treatment was only going to continue. I’d done a lot of shit in the last few years, stuff that I’d give anything to take back at this moment. I needed to put a stop to it.

“Mol, let me just sort the f**ker once and for all. It’ll send a message to everyone else to leave us be. There are a lot of ass**les who I’ve pissed off that’ll enjoy ragging on us being together.”

But she wouldn’t have it and held out her hand again, nodding sternly for me to take it. She looked so damn cute, being all insistent. I friggin’ loved this girl. “Fuck, Mol, I’ll be getting a new rep—Rome Prince, newest member of Pussy Whipped-R-Us!”

We sat down under a tree and I held on to Molly tightly. She played with my fingers, softly kissing each one, and I caught our friends watching us, a mix of disbelief and happiness on their faces.

Being with Molly just made me better. She made everything in my life better.

“What the hell is this?” My eyes closed in exasperation as I recognized the voice.

“Ahh, f**k off, Shel. I’ve had enough of dealing with ass**les for one day!” Looking up into her eyes, I could see she knew I was referring to our earlier showdown outside the gym.

“Are you seriously with her?” The surprise on her face was comical. She knew I liked Molly; she’d made that clear, maybe even expected me to f**k her, but she obviously never thought that anything had come of it, that she’d become my girl.

Smiling at her shell-shocked face, I leaned down and took Molly’s mouth with my own—friggin’ went for it, roughly, possessively—showing Shelly and anyone else who was still rubbernecking that she was mine.

Breaking away, I answered, “Yep, I seriously am.”

“You know he won’t stay with you, don’t you, darlin’?” Shelly directed at Mol.

“And why’s that?”

“Because Momma and Daddy Prince won’t accept a money-grabbin’ whore with their son, and they can be real persuasive. They want me and they’ll get me, you can count on that.” My heart fell at the mention of my folks, it was the one gray area I had with Mol. The one part of my life I’d kept private from her.

“Funny, a money-grabbing whore—that’s exactly what Rome said about you.” I almost pissed myself in laughter, but when Shelly lunged forward, fury on her face, screaming, “You’re nothing! A pure piece of—”

I had to interrupt.

“Shut your evil mouth, and get the f**k on before I do something I regret.”

Shelly wisely stepped back from Mol, but when she looked at me, the blood in my veins turned to ice. “I’ll give it a month and then we’ll see what your folks do. You’ll be back in my arms in no time. Your momma’s gonna flip!”

In that moment, I knew my time was up. Shelly would tell my folks about me officially being with Mol, and I, quite honestly, didn’t know what the hell they would do. Shelly seemed convinced of her plan, though, and that smartass gleam in her eyes caused me to bite out, “I’d never touch you again and wouldn’t be with you if you were the last person on Earth. You’re a bitter, vindictive bitch. As for my folks, I’m quickly learning to not give a shit what they say anymore. I want Mol and she wants me. End of discussion. Nothing you or my folks do will make a damn bit of difference to change that. Now leave us the f**k alone.”

I registered the gossiping around us, so I shouted, “That applies to everyone—leave us the f**k alone or deal with me! The next person who interferes or even breathes wrong in our direction, I won’t be so f**kin’ lenient with!”

Shelly quickly bailed, and the onlookers turned away. But Mol, Mol was freaking out. She’d gone all quiet, closed in on herself. “Don’t listen to her, okay? What she said, they’re just words. Don’t mistake them for truth.”

Without answering me, Mol got up and walked away to sit on her own. She’d gone from complete anonymity to being the subject of the campus rumor mill in a matter of minutes and was obviously not handling it well. The reality of being with me was smacking her right in the face, full force.

I left her on her own for as long as I could manage, then crouched before her, stating, “You’ve gone all quiet on me, Shakespeare. I don’t like it.”

“I’m good, baby. Don’t worry.” She tried to assure me, but I could see through her bullshit. I decided to keep going with the exposure—like a Band-Aid, ripping it off quick, showing as many people as possible that we were together. Then hopefully things would settle down.

We made plans to go out with our friends after this weekend’s game, and Molly seemed slightly less tense as I led her to class, her hand in mine. I just prayed that from this point on, our lives would be less… dramatic.