Kill Switch by Penelope Douglas

God.
“Whoo!”
Michael’s fucking basketball player buddies were going
wild, and the song choice was not lost on me at all.
You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.
A Christmas song, indeed. And dedicated to me with its
nasty lyrics meant to describe me, too.
Clever.
I shot my eyes over to Michael and Kai standing next to
each other, both of them laughing and sharing words, enjoying
this too much. Michael looked up at me, grinning like he won
something, and Kai followed his gaze, laughing again. Winter
publicly slighted me, and everyone was loving it.
She continued dancing, working every inch of the song
and feeding off the crowd, and I buttoned my jacket, using
every ounce of control to not lose my cool here.
Someone appeared, and I shifted my gaze away from the
dance floor as Michael approached.
“You know what?” he said, laughing and patting me on
both arms. “I’m feeling generous tonight. Forget what I said.
You can stay as long as you like. Eat, drink…” He tossed a
glance behind him to the dance floor and then turned back to
me. “Because it looks like you have your hands full enough at
home. Ouch.”
I steeled myself, letting him walk away, but the air pouring
out of my nose was damn near steam.
The song ended, the crowd cheered, and I saw Crane
approach my side again as I watched Winter smile on the
dance floor and soak up all that love at my expense.
“She needs to be disciplined,” I said.