Why the hell was she covered in fleas?

“Why are you covered in fleas?” I asked, repeating my question out loud. This would have been funny if it weren’t late and if I wasn’t annoyed by her very existence.

“You tell me,” she screamed. “It’s your house!”

“Calm down,” I ordered.

“No! This is gross. You don’t even have pets!” She ran from the room to what I assumed was the bathroom.

I looked back at John and Keenan, who still watched on silently. I walked over to the bed whose sheets were crumpled. I could see even more fleas jumping about the sheets.

“Did you do this?” I asked Keenan. Diana was right. We didn’t have pets, and with the amount of fleas present, I knew they had to have been planted.

“And why would I?”

I watched him before figuring he was telling the truth. Even though he didn’t care for Diana any more than I did, he was on bed rest. If not him, then who?

Another shriek sounded from the bath and I took a deep breath before leaving the bedroom. I pushed open the bathroom door without knocking. If she were naked, then she would just have to deal. She had been trying to get into my bed non-stop for the past three months anyway.

“What is it now?”

The curtains were ripped back, and she nearly fell out of the shower in her haste. She held a bottle of shampoo in her hand where more fleas jumped about. There were even more on her face and hair. She was crying hysterically. I cursed and grabbed a towel to cover up her naked body.

“Keiran, what is going on? Why are there fleas in my house?” John asked, speaking for the first time.

“I don’t know, but they had to be planted.”

“Who did you have over here?”

“No one.” I wracked my brain but continued to come up empty. Between school, basketball practice, and gathering as much evidence as possible, I had barely been home.

“Keenan?” John asked.

“No—” he started, and then stopped as a smile spread across his face. He shook his head and then burst out laughing. It came out strangled due to his condition, and while I wanted to order him to stop, I knew he wouldn’t listen. Sometimes I think he wanted to die.

“Oh, this is rich. You really picked a winner.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Lake came to visit me today.”

“She did what?”

“She came by. We watched movies, and she left, but when she got here, she said she had to use the bathroom, so she came up here.”

I tamped down my jealousy over her visiting my brother to concentrate on the pressing issue at hand. “And she didn’t use the guest bathroom downstairs why?”

“The shrieking bimbo covered in fleas might be my first guess.”

“Son of a bitch…”

* * *

I had one thought when I arrived at school the next morning. A thorough inspection of the house revealed that the little bitch had not only infested Diana’s room with fleas, but mine as well. We spent the entire night attempting to clean Diana and control the infestation until an exterminator could be called.

For whatever reason, Monroe liked to get to school ahead of everyone else. I never knew exactly why, but my guess would be to avoid me in the hallways. It worked to my advantage now.

The only hiccup would be if Willow were with her. I knew they carpooled together every day.

I scoured the entire place for her, starting with the library, but when I couldn’t find her, I grew even more agitated.

If her car weren’t outside, I would have given up, but I knew she was here. Luck was apparently on my side because, when I rounded the corner, I caught her coming out of the bathroom minus Willow.

By the time she spotted me, it was too late. I was on her. I dragged her to the nearest classroom, and she surprisingly followed without a fight.

When I turned to lock us inside, I caught the smirk on her face.

“You mind telling me what the hell you were doing in my house yesterday?”

“I was visiting a friend—not that it’s any of your business.”

“But you weren’t just visiting a friend, were you?”

“Keiran, what are you getting at?”

“That little stunt you pulled is going to cost you.”

“I have no interest in your mind games.” She spun around quickly, her hair flying around her shoulders, and I caught a whiff of her intoxicating scent. It set me off.

I bent low and lifted her to my shoulder, ignoring her struggles as I carried her across the room to the teacher’s desk. It was large enough and the perfect height for what I had in mind.

“Put me down!”

I did as she demanded but spun her around to bend her over the desk. The ruler sitting in a coffee mug near the edge of the desk caught my eye. I grabbed it and tested the strength of it against my palm. She tensed each time the ruler hit my skin.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” She tried to stand up, but I placed a firm hand on the back of her neck.

“Let me go you—ah!” The ruler slapped against her jean clad ass, cutting off whatever she was about to hurl at me, and I wished more than anything I could see it redden.

“Lucky for you, I didn’t sleep in my bed last night or else I would make this ten times worse for you.”

“Go to hell and take your little slut bucket with you!”

I dropped the ruler next to her head and released her neck but planted myself behind her to keep her in place. “What are you doing to me?” She didn’t bother to answer sensing I didn’t really need one. “I can’t even punish you properly.”