Vivian curls into herself and cries. She’s murmuring something over and over, but it’s unintelligible.
Looking up, I see five sets of hungry eyes boring into me. Owen is visibly hard as he twiddles his knife. Lev’s calculating gaze is taking me in. His eyes survey every inch of me for what I’m not sure. Wyatt looks ready to skin Vivian alive, his teeth bared as his jaw flexes, and Sebastian and Wes stand like sentries by the door, collecting everyone’s phones and instructing anyone caught with footage of what happened will not like the consequences.
Where the fuck did they come from?
I’m walking toward them when the hair on my neck stands. A keening sound rips through the air like a battle cry as I hear the guys shout their warnings. I turn in time to see Vivian launch herself in the air, giving me just enough space to ready myself. My arm pulls back, my hand balled into a fist, and I punch her. The crunch of bone against my knuckles alerting me to something breaking. I prepare to aim again when I’m pulled back and hoisted into someone’s arms.
I begin to fight, resisting whoever has me. “It’s me. Relax. She’s out.” Wes’s sharp tone finally registers. Turning, I see an unconscious Miss Taylor sprawled on the classroom floor. “You calm now, Rocky?” he teases.
“Shut up before I knock you out too,” I retort, hiding my smirk. The banter between us is new, but I like it.
Wes laughs before he leans in and whispers, “You know how much I enjoy your fight,” then nips my ear before placing me back on my feet.
I roll my eyes, then take in the room.Shit.I’m about to be in so much trouble for this.
* * *
“What were you thinking?”Mr. Edgewood shouts from his desk.
I’m standing in his office, being chewed out for yesterday’s fight. Even though the guys took everyone’s cameras, word got back, and I was summoned.
“I was defending myself,” I said dryly for the tenth time.
Wes’s dad has been lecturing me for the last thirty minutes about how aladyhandles herself and the expectations of aSelected. I want to shout ‘fuck that’, but my dad is giving me the eyes.
“Rules are rules, Miss Bradford, and one of those rules clearly states that you’re to behave like a Selected,” he barks.
“Easy on the growl, Donald,” my Dad snaps. “She gets it. I think there should be some exception because of how Miss Taylor handled herself,” my father continues.
Take that, asshole.I internally cheer my Dad on.
“Miss Taylor has officially been dismissed from her duties and will be escorted out of town within the week. Her stay in Edgewood has been rescinded,” Mr. Edgewood explains. “Now, what did she say to you?” he probes.
I dig my nails into my palms, preventing the smartass remark on the tip of my tongue. “She said the Bradford line should be eliminated and that she didn’t care who my mother and father were. She was going to kill me.”
My Dad’s jaw clenches, and Mr. Edgewoods brown eyes darken.
“Thank you, Ariah. You’ll have three etiquette training sessions to help you learn how to handle yourself in situations like this— you’re dismissed,” Wes’s dad instructs.
I bite the inside of my cheek until I draw blood before I look at my father, and he gives a quick shake of his head, signaling me to go.
Turning, I storm out of the room but carefully shut the door before pressing my ear to it, hoping to overhear something.
“Miss Bradford, there’s a camera on you,” I hear Wes’s father sigh.
Shit.
Accepting defeat, I skulk down the hall and try to make sense of their reactions.
54
WYATT
Vivian being fired and forced to leave town is the perfect cover-up for what she has coming to her.
“I think we should go grab Ariah,” Sebastian suggests from the passenger seat.
My gaze whips from watching Vivian pack her car with suitcases to the only idiot left among us. “I thought you were ‘keeping your distance.’ Why would you want Ariah to come to the farm?”
