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I put hands on his chest, forcing the circle to break when I pushed him out of it. “Go walk this shit off.”
“D—”
“Now, Ares,” I gritted, and at this point, Sloane finally made her way into the chaos. I’d let her go when I saw Wolf swinging, and though she started to go to Bru, she stopped once she realized Wells and Thatcher had him. They were doing the same thing I had with Wolf. They told him to walk this off, and he started to, but one look at Sloane had him navigating the other way.
I didn’t know if he didn’t want to answer to her or what, but he shouldered through the circle to get away from her.
She took a step after him. “Bruno!”
He didn’t stop, and that was about the time security finally made their way into the hallway. Fucking useless. They immediately started herding people back into the lunchroom, and Sloane stalked her way over to me.
“You said you’d help,” she said, but she didn’t say it to me. She stepped up to Wolf. “I mean, what the hell was that?”
That had been her brother goading one of my best friends, but it wasn’t wise to cut into this conversation. She lifted a hand at Wolf, and all he did was shake his head at her.
He was choosing to be the bigger man when he walked past her, and when he did, I sent Thatcher and Wells after him. I, on the other hand, went after Sloane who was now headed in the direction Bru had left, and I hoped this wasn’t a snapshot of the future. Me being lodged between my buddy, his sister, and Bru.
It definitely didn’t feel like a good place to be.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sloane
“So, does anyone want to talk about what happened today?” Ramses asked, and it was one of few dinners where it was only the five of us. Dorian had been eating at home recently, and Bow, Thatcher, and Wells only came over sometimes. Ramses opened his hands. “At school?”
Though the question had been open to the table, it was directed at Ares. I knew because Ramses’s sight didn’t leave his son, and neither did Brielle’s. She had her arms folded beside her husband, and I was sure security had told her all about what happened in the halls of her school today.
I mean, clearly.
Bru, beside me, was picking at his food. I had tried to talk to him about what happened today when I’d finally caught up to him, but he wasn’t having it. I’d texted Ares right after. I’d kind of blown up at him, and he hadn’t completely deserved it. All I’d gotten from him was a text message bubble for about two seconds before he never actually sent anything.
And here we were now.
Ares, on my other side, hadn’t bothered to pick at his food. He simply sat there under Ramses’s and Brielle’s gaze.
At least, until he pulled the napkin off his lap.
“Can I be excused?” he asked, not waiting for their response. He merely got up, his chair squeaking across their polished, hardwood floor. He walked right around the table, passing Ramses, who angled around.
“Actually, no—” Ramses started, but Brielle put her hand on his arm.
“I’ll go talk to him,” she said, sighing. She tossed her napkin on the table as well at the same time Bru removed his.
“May I be excused too?” my brother asked, and I shot him a look.
Ramses sighed. Instead of responding, he gestured his permission to go, and Bru took full advantage.
“Bruno,” I gritted, but he ignored me. He headed out of the dining room as Brielle was making her way back in, mentioning something about Ares needing a minute to stew. I didn’t know what was said, but either she didn’t like what her son had had to say to her, or Ares really had asked for some time.
I hoped it was the latter, but despite wanting to excuse myself too, I stayed. I cuffed my arms. “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what I was apologizing for, but once again, I was at the base of all this crap. I chewed my lip. “We were going over stuff for Bru’s birthday party, and things kind of got out of hand after that.”
I proceeded to tell them the fallout and confirmed that security had told Brielle all about the fight itself. They’d obviously talked to students, even though security themselves had arrived late.
I frowned. “And it wasn’t Ares’s fault. Bru was already feeling weird about the security.” I told them about that too, sighing. “Ares offered to go talk to Bru after he walked away, and Ares only tried to deescalate things before the fight happened.”
All this only sounded worse rehashed, and I covered my face. Brielle touched hers. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t realize the security was adding so much tension for you and Bruno.” She took Ramses’s hand. “I’m sure we can figure out something with that.”
“It’s not a problem,” Ramses continued. “But as far as the fighting, Ares does know better. We’ll talk to him.”
