Several girls scream, a few run. Self-preservation at its finest. Gunnar releases his hold on me, and I step out too. The few remaining girls other than Carly—who seems to be too frightened to even move—flee. Lily looks up at me when I kneel at her side. “Hey, kiddo.” I keep my voice light.
She opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Her eyes are huge as she stares at me. I’m not sure if the lingering fear she’s experiencing is from what just happened or if it’s me that scares her.
“Let’s get you up.” Gunnar quickly cuts the ropes, and I slide my hand under Lily’s back to ease her into a sitting position.
“How are you here?” she finally says, never having taken her eyes off me.
I ignore her question. “Are you okay? They didn’t hurt you too badly, did they?” I glare over my shoulder at the ringleader. Grim and Calix have her positioned between them so she can’t get away.
When I look back, Lily is shaking her head. “You want me to walk you back to your room? Those girls won’t bother you anymore, I promise.”
“What are you going to do to her?” She narrows her eyes on her tormentor. That little bubble of vengeance pops up again, so I stroke my hand over Lily’s matted hair, tasting the sin.
“She’s not worth it, little hellion. I’ll make sure she learns her lesson.” Lily lets out a heavy breath, and most of the anger she was feeling goes with it. Gunnar helps Lily off the ground. When she’s on her feet, she dusts off the back of her sleep pants and squares her little shoulders. Stars, I like this little girl, she’s tough as nails.
I take her little fingers in my hand and walk us right past Carly, stopping once we’re in the wannabe witch’s line of sight. “I’m just a phone call away. If you ever bother my little hellion again, I will stake you, strip the flesh from your bones, and let the ants devour you. Slowly.” I smile down at Lily. Her eyes are wide, but a genuine smile lifts her lips at my proclamation.
We walk away then, hand in hand. Once we reach the sidewalk that leads to the dorms, Lily tugs on my fingers. “Thanks for saying that to scare her. I don’t think she’ll bother me again.”
“I didn’t say it to scare her, silly, I wanted to warn her what I would do.” Gunnar clears his throat and gives me a barely there shake of his head.
“Really?” She looks up at me with her big brown eyes.
“Yeah, I don’t like bullies.”
“Me either. My dad’s a bully. That’s why my momma sent me here.”
“Who’s your dad?” Gunnar no longer seems concerned that I might scare the kid with my talk of murder.
“Bronson Cartwright,” she sneers. “When I get bigger, I’m gonna take everything from him.” Her words ring with truth. This brave girl believes to the very bottom of her soul that she will follow through with her promise.
“Good for you, little hellion.” I swing our still joined hands as we walk. I should probably be concerned I’m corrupting her, but I’m not. Some people deserve what they have coming. Her dad seems like just the sort.
I give her my number, telling her I expect her to check in weekly so I know the girls are behaving. Lily cradles the scrap of paper Gunnar managed to find to her chest. “You never told me your name.” She blinks up at me.
I snort. “It’s Dami.”
“Like the bad word?”
“Pretty close,” I reply. “Go get some sleep. Call if you need anything.”
“Okay, thanks, Dami.” Her face flushes prettily when she says my name.
“I’m going to take care of her dad so she can go home,” Gunnar growls, as soon as the kid disappears through the door.
“You’re so sweet,” I coo. “Let’s go see if we can figure out what Carly’s been up to.”
Chapter 24
“Someone will come looking for me,” Carly says, but it’s a lie and she knows it.
“Oh yeah, you think one of those chicken shits is going to run to a teacher and tell them you guys were out in the woods assaulting a little girl and got caught by the Grim Reaper?” I give her a dubious stare.
“Wh-What?” she stutters, her eyes were already wide, but now they’re comically so.
“Oh dear,” I murmur. “You want to sit at the big kids’ table, but you don’t know what’s on the menu?” I pretend to be sympathetic. Really, I just want to beat some answers out of her for screwing with a kid half her age, especially when she had four other girls with her for backup.
Carly looks around again, expecting help from somewhere, but there’s none to be found, not from our group. Reaching up, she tries to fist a small pendant around her neck on a leather string.
