I place a hand on his shoulder, attempting to discourage any vampire voodoo he’s about to perform. My heart starts to pound in my ears, as I feel the coiling of his muscles under my fingers.
Connor goes scary still, his head leaning to the side like he’s listening to more than the confrontation in front of us.Oh shit.
Kaleb’s hands curl into fists on top of the table. There’s a hard tick to his jaw from him gritting his teeth, and there’s angry indecision in his eyes.
“Guys, please. Just let it go,” I plead, my fingers clawing into Nolan’s shoulder to keep him still. “They’re just being assholes and aren’t worth the suspensions.”
“Guys, please,” the moron echoes in a mocking high falsetto, then sneers because he doesn’t want it to be a quick death, “So, on top of snipping your balls, she has you all on leashes.”
Hearing that, both Donovan and Connor stand, and the moron’s friends aren’t laughing anymore. At more than half a foot taller, Connor looms over the group of boys and glares at them with a cold fury that promises, if they’re lucky, only a shit ton of broken bones.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity. Fuck. Fuck. This is so not going to end well.
While Connor terrifies the group of boys so bad that they look ready to wet themselves, Donovan grabs the moron by his sweatshirt and begins to lift the guy off the ground.
“You better hope she holds my leash,” he threatens, his aqua eyes blazing as he stares down the moron, “because otherwise, I will fucking end you-- and no one will miss your sorry ass.”
Appropriate amounts of fear start to make its way across the guy’s face, as it begins to dawn on him that the huge crowd of witnesses he thought would protect him from the guys acting rashly, are actually cover to keep them from being seen by the administration. He swallows heavily, and his mouth flaps open and closed like a fish gasping for life.
Kaleb rolls his shoulders, then slowly stands. Placing a hand on Donovan’s shoulder, he murmurs, “Not here. Not in front of Callie.”
Since I don’t want the fight to happen, I’m choosing not to take offense to that and decide to have another discussion with Kaleb about what I can handle. When Connor and Donovan were sparring I was okay-- well, I didn’t have an episode. Then I consider how this guy doesn’t have a chance against Donovan. I can mentally hear the screams, the crunching of bones, the meaty thud of fist against flesh, and I shiver.Yeah, okay. He may have a point.
Donovan glances at Kaleb, then at me, before growling, “Run. Run far. Run fast. And pray to fucking god that I don’t find you when they’re not around to stop me.”
He let’s go, and the moron crumples to the floor. Quickly, he scrambles back to his feet, and the linoleum squeaks with how fast he and his friends sprint away.
“The fuck you looking at?” Donovan snarls at the surrounding students that are silently gawking at us. With one look at him, in almost unison, they turn back around and suddenly find their dwindling lunches fascinating.
After another warning glare from Connor and Donovan that promises extreme pain if anyone is dumb enough to mess with us again, they all return to their seats.
“Stupid must be fucking contagious,” Donovan grumbles, “because I swear I remember warning some other dumb shit last week that messing with Callie doesn’t end well.”
“I remember,” Kaleb mutters, before sighing, “Did you have to threaten to kill him? The administration takes that seriously, and they’ll believe thatfilius canisover you-- especially since it’s true.”
“So what?” Donovan replies, with a shrug that encapsulates how little he cares. “I’ll get detention, or if they really want to make an example of me, in-school suspension. Doesn’t really matter to me.”
Kaleb buries his head in his hands. “I wish you’d care just a little bit-- at least enough so your name isn’t on every administrator’sfaexlist.”
“Shit list,” he mocks with a hard roll of his eyes. “You can say it. There won’t be anarchy in the streets if ‘Perfect Kaleb’ swears in English.”
True irritation takes over Kaleb’s face, as he turns to glower at Donovan. He snarls, “Futue te ipsi, es mundus excrementi. Potes meos suaviari clunes.”
Donovan whoops, a huge grin taking over his face. “God damn, man. You nearly made me blush.”
Kaleb throws his arms up in the air in defeat, then rubs at his eyes, muttering, “I don’t know why I bother.”
I really need to learn Latin. It seems like I’m missing the opportunity to add some good curse words to my vocabulary.
Nolan surprises me out of my thoughts when he murmurs, “Callie love, you can let go now.”
I look over at my hand on his shoulder, and find his fingers curling under my own in attempts to loosen my vice like grip.
“Shit, sorry,” I apologize, snapping my hand back.
He wraps both his arms around me and shifts so my head is against his shoulder. “I wouldn’t have hurt them,” he assures, speaking quietly to the top of my head.
Not physically,I think to myself, but reply, “Can’t be too careful with you lot.”
