AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Feel sick? Dizzy?”
“What do you think?!”
Theo bares his teeth. Leaning around me, he assesses the back of my head, parting my hair in a number of places and making furious sounds as he takes in the damage.
“Stay right fucking there,”he snarls. “Don’t you fucking move.”
“I’m not going anywhere!” I snap back.
Done with the back of my head, Theo appears before me again. He cups my face in his hands and tilts my head back, frowning. “Not you.Him,” he says, jerking his own head toward Sebastian.
I hadn’t noticed, but Sebastian’s been inching away from the scene by the looks of things, trying to sneak off unnoticed.
“What, man?” he says airily. “I gotta get to class.”
Theo squints even harder at me, looking into my eyes. “Stay right fucking there, Seb.”
“What are you gonna do about it? Be the big man? Punch me or some shit? You forget, I’m captain of the wrestling team, asshole. I’ve been going easy on you. I could take you in a heartbeat.”
Theo doesn’t justify his claim with a reaction. He talks to me this time. “Pupils are responsive and equal. I don’t think you have any real damage, beyond the cut.”
“What are you, some kind of doctor now?” I appreciate the concern, I guess, but the fact that it’s coming from Theo makes me want to scream. He’s not supposed to be here, saving the day. I’m not supposed to want to fall into his arms and cry, just so I can have him hold me.
His thick, wavy hair falls into his face as he looks down at the coke can, his mouth pulling into a tight line. “Something like that,” he murmurs. Without another word, he launches himself to his feet and rounds on his friend. In a flash, he has the other guy by the shirt and he’s slamming him back against the wall.
“You’re a dead man, motherfucker!” And then he really snaps. I watch in horror as Theo winds back and throws a fist at Sebastian West’s handsome face. The punch connects, and Seb’s head snaps back, making a loud crack as the back ofhisskull connects with the wall behind him.
‘Ahh! FUCK!” Sebastian tries to loosen Theo’s hold on his shirt now that he’s pinning him down with one hand, but Theo won’t let him. He hits him again, and again, and again, reigning down blows so fast that Seb barely has time to react between them. Eventually, he shakes off his shock and starts hitting back, though.
Reeling back, Seb launches a right hook at Theo and lands it; the sound of his fist connecting with Theo’s jaw cracks and reverberates off the hallway walls—it seems loud enough to wake the dead. Theo’s head whips around. He staggers back, but he doesn’t lose his footing. If anything, the blow serves less as a warning and only makes Theo madder.
Seb sees it. I see it. Noelani sees it: the moment when Theo decides to murder Sebastian West right where he stands. Noelani covers her mouth. Sebastian holds his hands up in protest—he’s apparently realized that being captain of the wrestling team won’t help him any here—and starts to back away.
I know anger. I’ve lived with it coiled around my bones for as long as I can remember. It’s been a stalwart companion, dogging my every move ever since Rachel died. But I’ve never been witness to the kind of condensed, magnified hatred that lives in Theo’s beautiful eyes now. The sight of it makes me tremble.
“Theo. D—Dude. Be reasonable,” Sebastian stammers.
“Reasonable?” Theo’s face twists. “Reasonable?You’re fucking kidding me, right?”
“I didn’t mean any harm.”
“Your actions suggest otherwise.” Theo has him trapped; he’s backed Sebastian into a corner, and his only escape route now is through Theo. Which simply isn’t an option. Theo towers over him, blocking his path…and then proceeds to beat the shit out of him.
“Theo! Oh my god!Stop!”Noelani’s loud shriek threatens to rip my head apart, but Theo doesn’t hear her. Can’t. He’s disappeared into another world. I can see it in his vacant eyes.
Noelani pulls me to my feet; she squeezes my arm so hard, her fingernails gouge my skin through the sleeve of my sweatshirt. “Say something, Sorrell. Stop him. He’ll listen to you!”
Sebastian’s face is a bloody, pulpy mess. He slides down the wall, sagging to the floor, but Theo doesn’t stop hitting him. I try, and try, and try again, but I can’t look away. This is brutality at its cruelest. A horror show that would give most people nightmares. But to me, it's a symphony. A bloody, breathtaking ballet. Theo Merchant is about to kill this guy for hurtingme. He has no right to take these actions in my defense, but his fury is stirring something within me that’s been slumbering for a long time. Some strange sensation that makes me want to crow from the rooftops. It feels dark, and twisted, and wrong on so many levels, but seeing Theo like this, at his most vicious, is like seeing his soul laid bare.
And it’s fucking breathtaking.
“Stop him!” Noelani urges again. “He’s gonna kill him!”
Oh, God. I shouldn’t be enjoying this. I step forward, breath catching in my throat as I yell, “THEODORE WILLIAMMERCHANT!”
The words fire down the hall like a gunshot. Theo stiffens, still as a statue, one bloodied fist raised behind his head. Slowly, it lowers to his side.
No one speaks a word.
