What little Ihadseen wasn’t good?—
“All he does is talk shit about people,” he went on. “I’m worthless and can’t fend for myself, Kit’s the rich kid who gets everything he wants served on a platter, Tate can’t stop talking about the wedding, Ivy and Gretchen shouldn’t be in charge of the munch in a community mostly for men, Gael’s a fat know-it-all, Corey’s too much, and Archie’s a poser for some fucking reason.”
I felt my jaw tick with tension. I hadn’t known it was that bad. I mean, I’d seen some of his posts. He didn’t appear to come out here often, but he had a group of friends online and they didn’tfeed his hatred. They seemed to just ignore it when he made mentions of others.
“You should go inside,” Noa stated. “We can catch up when this is over.”
Whoa. “You don’t think I’m letting you face those two goblins on your own, do you?” I placed a hand on his chest when he tried to walk past me. “I’m coming with you—if you swear you’ve thought this through.”
He jutted his chin. “I have. I’m gonna show him I can fend for myself.”
That wasn’t the best defense, because I was guessing he’d taken offense to the troll’s nonsense. But so be it. I backed off and showed my palms.
He nodded once and started walking again, and this time, I followed.
Please don’t let this escalate into a fight.
I hadn’t been in a fight since junior high when Wilson tried to steal my lunch money.
Oh, for the love of God!Nowsomeone was calling me? My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I couldn’t very well take the call when we were roughly thirty feet away from Troll One and Troll Two.
“Do you know the fuckwit’s name?” I asked under my breath. All I knew was his username?—
“Axel,” he replied. “Lucian looked it up last night when he sent the warning. No idea who the friend is.”
My phone buzzed again, right as Axel and Whatshisface glanced our way. I couldn’t lie—I felt a little nervous. I was brand-new out here, first time I was here in person, and it was during a conflict.
What if I was asked to leave?
I knew Noa sufficiently to feel confident that he would stand up for me, but that wasn’t always enough. I was a grown man. I was responsible for my decisions.
Axel tilted his head at us and smirked.
Crap.
They had finished setting up the cross, and the friend was holding a bundle of rope.
They were dressed very casually for a bondage session, but what did I know? Maybe some liked getting tied up in jeans and hoodies.
“If it ain’t a yappy little squirt,” Axel drawled.
Noa let out a laugh and tossed his skateboard in the grass. “This squirt can still fuck you up.”
The friend let out a whistle and looked amused.
I swallowed my nerves and steeled myself for something that didn’t exactly look like a peacemaking venture.
Axel snorted and folded his arms over his chest. “How are you gonna do that? Can you even reach my knees?”
I furrowed my brow. “Are we really commenting on each other’s looks?”
Because I could play that game too.
He flicked me a glance. “And you are…? Oh hell. You’re the newcomer—the guy who’s a makeup artist.”
Uh. That wasn’t weird. Did he know anything about the entertainment industry?
“Yeah, and no amount of makeup can fix what you’ve got going on there.” I gestured vaguely at his face.
