If anyone even looks at him wrong, I’ll break?—
“Dad.” Liv is standing close, and she’s reaching out cautiously. I don’t know when she got here, but fuck, I’m so goddamn angry. “Let’s go to the gym and you can beat the shit out of a punching bag.” I glare. “Or we can go to Mitch’s house.”
I give a clipped nod. But with the way I’m feeling, Mitchell might die tonight, and that is not the plan.
“Just make sure I don’t kill him.”
“I’ll try, but I really don’t want to watch you shove a bat up someone’s ass.” That gives me an idea. We’ll be stopping by one of my dens. “You just got an idea. As long as it doesn’t change anything with surveillance.” She sighs. “It should be fine.”
“It won’t.”
10
RORY
‘Hey sexy.’
I try not to roll my eyes, but I don’t stop walking as Chad runs up next to me.
‘Hey Chad,’ I mumble.
‘Listen—’
‘Sorry, but I’ve been up all day and I’m tired, so I’m going home to sleep.’
Chad surprises me by grabbing my arm and shoving me against a tree. ‘No, I’ve had enough waiting. This is your last chance to say yes.’
My blood boils. ‘Then no, you ass—’ A hard backhand to my face has me shutting my mouth real quick. That’s when I notice another guy coming closer. I think about yelling for help, but it becomes obvious that he isn’t here to save me. Tanner.
‘Since you decided on the hard way…’ Chad punches me in the stomach, and I double over, trying not to puke. ‘We’ll do this the hard way.’ He shoves me back against the tree before punchingme again. This time he lets go, and I fall to the ground, clutching my side. He takes a few menacing steps toward me, so I crawl to my knees and try to get up. A swift kick to my side has me rolling on the ground.
‘Come on, sexy.’ He kneels, grabs my hair, and pulls my head back. ‘You’re making this too easy.’
Making a choice, I slam my head back into his and pause. Fuck, that hurt! I try to shake away the stars and scramble to my feet.
‘What are you waiting for?’ Chad yells at Tanner while holding his bloody nose.
I’m not waiting around to find out what he means, so I start running as fast as I can, which isn’t very fast because I’m dizzy… and short, and out of shape. I’ll apologize to the gym gods later if they help me outrun these asshats now. Too bad the gym gods are spiteful bitches cause the footsteps I hear from behind are gaining on me. Damn, what am I going to do?
If I can just make it inside somewhere—there! I run toward the dining hall, but just as I’m about to round the corner, something hard crashes into my chest and I fly backwards.
I lie there on the ground, blinded by the pain in my chest and the back of my head, but I can’t breathe. My chest won’t expand, I can’t get in air, I’m going to die right here and now.
‘Nice hit, Mitch,’ Chad says when he gets to us. ‘Now let’s get him somewhere more private.’
Maybe it would have been better if I had died right there. It would have saved me a lot of pain.
“Rory? Where are you going?” Brendan laughs when I run past him, but his smile falls when he sees me. “Shit, what happened?Did you get hurt? Where were you?” Both of his hands grip my shoulders lightly.
I try to answer him, but the words get stuck.
“What’s wrong?” I shake my head, and he gets it. “Okay, pixie, let’s get out of here.” He pulls me tight before kissing the top of my head and leading me toward the elevator.
We ride down in silence, but he stays close and puts my head on his chest so I can hear his heartbeat.
“Do you know what song I had stuck in my head all day today?”
I shake my head, but I think I know what he’s going to say.
