Asch sits down at Stringer’s desk. “Let’s make sure he doesn’t have anything else like that,” he says as he starts to go through emails. “This is a total mess, Blaze.”
“He can get it cleaned up,” River says dismissively. He glances at the doorway. “Let’s finish up in here and get Pandora home.”
I don’t want to go home. I want to see Stringer’s insides on the outside.
“Why does everybody think your daddy walks on water, Blaze? My Papa is scarier,” I complain. I take a step toward my knife, butbefore I can pick it up, River wraps his arms around me and pulls me against his chest.
He’s warm and solid, and I let him hold me despite how much my fingers itch to scratch somebody up and destroy them.
Not River. I don’t want to hurt him.
He’s the best.
“Yes, but your scary papa would burn the whole place to the ground,” River says. “With us in it. So if you want to survive, Stringer… you won’t give Pandora a reason to call in her family.”
Blaze picks up my knife and wipes it off on Stringer’s shirt. I don’t think that’s doing much, on account of the shirt being soaked in blood. “You must know about her family, Dean Stringer. Giulio Pavone is semi-retired, but I think threatening his daughter and watching those videos would be enough to make him reconsider that retirement status.”
I laugh, because don’t they know Papa is already preparing for war on my account? He didn’t give me a gun for nothing.
I don’t want him to be worried about me.
I don’t want anyone to be worried about me, because that would mean there’s something wrong, andnothing is wrong with me.
Stringer immediately shakes his head. “I… I don’t… I won’t…”
“No, you won’t,” Asch says, getting up from Stringer’s chair. “And if you even try, we’ll know.” He nods to Blaze. “I forwarded the emails to you that I think are worth looking into.”
River strokes my hair. “Good. Then let’s get out of here before that woman outside decides to do something stupid.”
“We aren’t done,” I complain, but River pulls me along, and I don’t have it in me to resist his flow.
Stringer cowers when I look at him, and that expression of pure fear has my smile lighting up.
Blaze is the last one to the door. He stops there and turns to Stringer. “By the way. I have your Kappa Alpha pledge video. It was very… enlightening. What would the entire school board think if that got made public?”
Stringer’s eyes widen, but Blaze shuts the door before we can hear a response. The door handle is crooked though, and the door creeps open a few inches as soon as Blaze lets go.
They must have broken it to get in.
They could have asked me. I would have opened the door for them. Probably.
Unless I couldn’t hear them over Stringer’s screaming.
The waiting room is empty now. No assistant, no other students.
“Do you think there are cameras in here?” I ask, looking around.
“No,” Blaze says with surprising confidence.
Asch shakes his head. “He wouldn’t risk it.” He glances at River, whose hands are red. “Might want to wash your hands before we head out.”
River’s hands briefly tighten on me, but then he sighs. “Yeah. Let me duck into the bathroom. Pandora’s shirt is a mess too, though. So’s your face.”
“All of us should wash up then,” Asch says. He leads us to the small faculty bathroom. “You take care of her, Blaze.”
Blaze places my bloody knife into the sink and turns on the faucet. The water around the knife gains a pink hue.
It’s a work of art.
