“None of your fucking business!” Bobbi shouts back. “But at least I’m not simping for an unhinged bitch.”
My vision goes red around the edges.
Pandora isn’t anunhinged bitch.
I swing at her, but my anger makes me sloppy, and I miss.
Asch rushes Bobbi from the other side but Bobbi narrowly avoids the kick. She raises her arms to block the follow up punch, and I take advantage of the brief distraction to sweep her legs out from under her.
Once I get her on the ground, she’s finished.
There’s no way she can fight against two grown men who have her on her back.
“You keep your fucking mouth shut about Pandora!” I snap. “You don’t know the first thing about her.”
I straddle her legs and punch her again in the jaw.
It’s the least she deserves for making Pandora bleed.
“River!” Asch yells. “River, don’t kill her! We need her alive.”
Fuck that.
We don’t need her alive. She deserves to die for hurting Pandora, for wanting to kill Pandora.
For calling her an unhinged bitch alone, she deserves to hurt.
Bobbi grunts in pain—but she grabs my arms, too, and manages to roll us onto our sides. She kicks my stomach and scrambles away from me.
I get on my feet, and I eye Bobbi warily as she wipes the blood from her lip.
“I did like you,” Bobbi says, keeping her distance from both me and Asch. “I wouldn’t have turned you down.” She gives a glance toward Asch. “Not you. I’m not interested in closet cases.”
“The Bouchards are going to turn on you,” Asch says steadily. He’s not breathing as hard as I am, but she’s been more focused on pressing me. “They’re not going to keep their word to you, either.”
“What word? I get paid. That’s it.” Bobbi’s chest heaves with her heavy breathing.
She might have taken Pandora by surprise, but Pandora did tire Bobbi out first.
Good.
I’m going to make sure she never takes another breath ever again.
“Mary isn’t safe. She’ll never be safe with the Bouchards in charge. They’re only going to keep using her against you,” Asch says. He’s stepped into a defensive position of his own, his eyes trained on her.
Bobbi’s eyes widen. “How do you— No, shut up.” She rushes at Asch.
That leaves her back wide open to me.
I’m on her in a second, grabbing both of her arms and wrestling them behind her back. “Who fucking cares about her!” I snap. “Don’t bother, Asch. She hurt Pandora!”
Asch takes a step back. “You want to murder someone in themiddle of campus?” he retorts. “No. We take her to Pandora and let Pandora decide what happens to her.”
That breaks through my haze of anger.
Bobbi laughs. “Fuck. You really are pussy-whipped, huh?”
Asch punches her in the face. “You’re lucky we are,” he says, his knuckles coming away with blood. “Otherwise, this would be a different conversation.”
