Maxim looks to his friends and I see the gleam in his eyes the second he realizes what I already know. The odds are in his favor right now. Unfortunately for him, I don’t fucking care. I’m in it to win, and I fight dirty.
“Nah, man. This is where we—“ He indicates his two friends on either side of him. “—warnyouto walk the fuck away.”
“You wanna go a few rounds?” I ask, keeping my voice low and threatening. I allow the rage coursing inside of me to bleed into my eyes and smirk.
“You’re outnumbered.”
I shrug. “Your point?” My smile spreads, baring my teeth. “You might take me in the end, I’ll give you that.”
His expression grows smug, but I’m not finished yet.
“But by the time you do,” I tell him, “the girl will be long gone, and trust me when I say, I’ll mess up all three of your pretty faces and I’ll enjoy every goddamn second of it. So, by all means, try and take me. I fucking dare you.”
They’ll out muscle me in the end, but I’ve taken a beating before, both on and off the mat. I’ll take one again if it’ll buy the Castro girl enough time to get away. The question Maxim needs to ask himself is, can he take a beating?
Maxim strikes me as the type who’s never been bloody before. He gets by on status and bravado. A dog that’s all bark and no bite. But me, I bite. Hard.
“I’m waiting,” I quirk a brow, taunting him. Ben and Dorian shake their heads, neither one interested in getting into a brawl with me.
Ben’s older brother is on the wrestling team with me. He’s got twenty pounds of muscle on me, but I still pinned his ass to the mat last week, and Ben was there to see it. Glad to know I made an impression.
Seeing the hesitancy on his friend’s faces, Maxim grimaces and takes a step back.
“You’re not worth the fucking effort,” he says. “But I won’t forget this.”
It’s not an idle threat.
“Good. Neither will I.”
Without hesitating, I take Leticia’s hand in mine and haul her across the gym and toward the rear doors. She hurries to keep up with me, my longer stride eating up more ground than hers. I need to slow down, have more care with her, but the adrenaline flooding my veins won’t let me.
My number one priority is to get her out of here before I do something stupid, like turn around and take those three fuckers on regardless of the odds so I can make them hurt. Later, I remind myself. There will come a time… later.
As soon as we’re outside, I release her hand to retrieve my phone from my back pocket. I fire off a message to my brother.
Andres:I’m going to be later than planned. Call Miguel for a lift. I’ll catch you back at the house.
Not waiting for a response,I shove my phone back in my pocket and head for the parking lot, but come to a stop when I realize Leticia isn’t walking beside me.
Brows furrowed, I look over my shoulder. She’s stopped ten yards away, arms folded over her chest as she chews on her bottom lip in worry.
“You coming?”
She hesitates, so I turn around and walk back to her.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, immediately recognizing how stupid of a question that is. She was both physically and sexually assaulted in the span of minutes. Fuck. What’s the protocol for something like this? Should I take her to the front office? Maybe the school nurse. Shit. I don’t know.
I lift my hand, intending to cup her cheek but she flinches. I drop my hand to my side.
“I won’t hurt you,” I tell her.
She swallows hard. It’s clear she doesn’t believe me.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I look out at the empty parking lot. Why was she here at school so late? Classes got out almost an hour ago. “Do you have a ride, or—“
She shakes her head. “I was going to walk.” Her voice shakes with each word and I barely manage to stifle my curse. Why the hell is she walking home? She’s the fucking Castro Princess. She should have a driver and a goddamn bodyguard. People to protect her so shit like this doesn’t happen. But she has neither of those things, and instead she’s fucking defenseless against assholes like Maxim Sidorov.Fuck.
Gritting my teeth, I look at her again. I can’t leave her like this. Shaking my head, I ignore the fact that what I’m about to suggest is a terrible idea, but fuck it, I’ve had a few of those already today. What’s one more?
