Until Fountain Bridge: (InterMix) Read Free

out how much they cursed. Luckily for them, it had been drilled into me since the age of zero that you didn’t curse in front of Elodie Nichols, and I’d never repeated the words Braden and Adam used around me. To be fair, they limited their expressions to the basics—I’d heard way worse at school. Today in fact, and they’d been directed at me.
    I felt my eyes start to water again.
    Adam saw and his eyes narrowed. “Els, where is this boy?”
    I sighed heavily. “Around the back of the building, behind the lunch room.”
    “Right.” Adam strode in through the gates and I hurried after him, ignoring the curious gazes of my fellow students, and the excited chatter as they guessed that Adam was here on my behalf and that something was about to go down.
    My cheeks burned with embarrassment, while my heart pounded in anticipation for a little retribution for the worst morning in the history of my entire school career.
    When we rounded the corner of the building, Adam stopped and stared into a crowd of seniors. The fourth and fifth years gradually turned their heads toward us, their eyes widening at the sight of me with Adam.
    “Which one?” Adam asked flatly.
    “Brian is the one with his blazer tied around his waist.”
    “The tall, blond kid with the bottle of juice in his hand? The one that looks like a prick?”
    “That would be the one.”
    “Little . . . ” Adam growled under his breath and marched toward Brian, who dropped his drink and clenched his hands into fists. Brian’s friend nudged him and he turned around to face Adam. Brian instantly paled at the sight of him.
    Adam approached and towered over Brian. He titled his head, so his face was close to Brian’s, and whatever he said made the seniors around him grow wide-eyed.
    “Well?” Adam suddenly asked loudly.
    Brian mumbled something.
    “Louder, you lying little shit.”
    “I didn’t have sex with her!” Brian cried. “I didn’t touch her . . . ” He turned and caught sight of me watching and his eyes seemed to plead with me to call Adam off. “I’m sorry!” he said. “I lied, alright!”
    A murmur from the crowds drew my eyes past Brian to the lunchroom doors, and my stomach dropped when I saw Mr. Mitchell standing there watching Adam. Adam must have seen him too because his head came up. He didn’t, however, back away from Brian.
    “Who are you?” Mr. Mitchell asked in a belligerent tone as he walked toward Adam. “You’re not allowed on school grounds.”
    “I was just having a word with Mr. Fairmont here. We’re all good.” Adam shrugged as if he wasn’t a twenty-one-year-old who’d just gotten through threatening a sixteen-year-old.
    “Brian, are you okay?” Mr. Mitchell asked.
    “Uh, fine, Mr. Mitchell,” he took a step back from Adam toward the safe proximity of the geography teacher.
    “Adam!” I called out, wanting him gone before he got into trouble.
    I drew Mr. Mitchell’s gaze and his face clouded over. “Miss Carmichael, you know quite well you aren’t allowed visitors during school hours.”
    “Sorry, Mr. Mitchell.”
    “I’m just leaving.” Adam shot Brian one last warning look and then turned and casually strode toward me, taking his time. Adam didn’t like to be told what to do. When he reached me, he put an arm around my shoulder and had me walk him back to the school gate. No one said a word as we passed. They were all looking at me as if I was extremely cool. I mean, I must be, if I had Adam Sutherland’s arm around me and he’d shown up at school to scare the truth out of Brian.
    I grinned and Adam caught it, his soft laughter making me all warm and fuzzy.
    “Feel better?” he asked as we came to a stop.
    “Yes. Thank you.”
    “What were you doing at a party on a Saturday night?”
    I frowned at his proprietary tone. “I’m fourteen, Adam. It was a friend’s birthday. Anyway, I didn’t know seniors were going to be there.”
    He nodded. “Just be careful.”
    “Yeah.” I