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“Ow! What was that for?”
“I’m putting my foot down.” I let out a puff of air, like a scoffing laugh. “Don’t interfere, Alex.”
His look of betrayal, and the shaking of his leg at the throbbing pain, makes me feel a little bit bad. But still. It’s not his life. He won’t have to deal with the consequences of his actions once he’s gone.
“There are easier ways to tell me that…”
“Yeah, but they’re less effective. And this one comes with a reminder. The second you try to move, you’ll remember. ‘Oh right. I shouldn’t interfere.’ I don’t need your help. Especially not from a prince, issuing edicts on my behalf. We got rid of our kings in this country for a reason.”
We both wash our hands. I look at myself in the mirror. If my ‘friends’ out there saw reason to judge me before, my wild hair and shortness of breath won’t help things.
I see Alex start to limp pathetically, hanging his head and scowling a little bit. I pass him as I open the door and I let it close behind me. I don’t even want to look at him.
I don’t look back. I don't want to have to feel bad for what I did. He deserved it. Or at least, I think he did.
Did he?
My body is shaking. I want to collapse or just get the hell out of there and run all the way home. I feel like I could cry.
My heart feels like thousands of horses are running through me, pounding their hooves as they race together with Maximus and Water.
What the hell did I do? Who stomps the foot of someone who’s just trying to help her? What is wrong with me?
The stranger who’s probably limping right behind me might have my interests at heart more than the vipers trying to bring me down at the table just a few feet away.
Now that I see their ghoulish faces, I want to take back my foot-stomping and tell Alex Vanecourt that maybe he’s not so bad after all.
Oh, well. Time to face my smiling tormentors alone.
13
ALEXIS
“Does that girl wear horseshoes in her cowboy boots?” I whisper to myself, still in disbelief that she just pounded my tarsals into hamburger meat. “God almighty!”
In addition to her many other talents, Isabella Sanchez can pack a kick. I wonder how many bicycle pedals she obliterated as a child.
I seriously consider whether I’ll need an X-ray later. But for right now, I have more important concerns. Like catching up with her just in case those fools mess with her again. This time, I’ll try to keep at least a meter distance from her feet.
“God, that friggin’ hurts.”
I splash some water on my face and limp out of the restroom.
Good. I’m not too far behind her.Close enough to see that the committee of vultures is still pecking at her, trying to get the last scraps.
“How did you manage to get with someone so out of your league, Bella?” Mandy says. She’s the only one whose name I know.
The throbbing in my head from these piranhas erases all thoughts about my foot.
“Yeah, tell me your secret,” the redhead adds. “How do you get someone like that to date someone like… well, you?”
Bella is squirming at the table, half-standing and clearly trying to leave. I’m sure stomping on their feet is just the beginning of what she’d like to do to them.
It looks like they’re pulling her down to sit, and she’s protesting, trying to get up.
“You’re sure he’s really your boyfriend? This isn’t some prank, right?” It’s one of the boyfriends.
Isabella opens her mouth and starts saying something, but she’s not able to get out the words once I place my arms around her waist and pull up a chair next to her. The way I sit right against her, she sort of folds down into my lap, and I keep her there.
