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The school bell rang out, but he didn’t make a move to let go. My last class of the day was French, and if he didn’t let me out, I’d be late. And being late was an automatic deduction on my next paper. A deduction I could not afford to get.
“I’m really sorry, Knox.” I didn’t mean the words that came out of my mouth, but I knew saying them would appease him. Finally, his grip lessened, and he let go altogether. But he didn’t step back. He stayed in my space, drumming his point home.
“I need to go to class,” I finally told Knox, my voice low and my tone unsure. He was on the edge of something, and I needed to be careful not to push him off because I wasn’t sure what would happen if I did. I had an inkling, but I didn’t truly know. And that was what scared me the most—the unknown.
He stared down at me, and I held my breath, waiting…
Then his stance changed, and his arm hooked around my shoulders like we hadn’t been locked in a silent stare-off. Like he hadn’t grabbed my hair. Like he hadn’t hurt me.
His grip was firm, but not hard enough to make me wince. He wanted to make sure I knew he was there. I adjusted my eyes to the bright hallway as he opened the closet door. It was full of students going to their last class of the day, and I could feel their stares on us as we walked away from the closet.
“Meet me after school,” Knox growled in my ear, and one look up at him told me whatever had happened in the closet wasn’t over, not by a long shot. I had two options, I could refuse and stand my ground, not knowing what would come next from him, or I could go along with it, just like I always did.
“Okay,” I whispered, choosing the easy way rather than the hard, rocky path. I didn’t have the energy to climb the mountain and go against Knox’s words. Time. I needed time to be on my side and make the rest of the school year go as fast as it could.
My stomach dipped as I spotted the classroom for French. I wouldn’t be late, which meant I wouldn’t get an automatic deduction, but I wasn’t sure what else I had given up for it. I’d bowed down to Knox in the closet, and I hated myself for it.
“Watch where you’re going,” Knox growled and darted to the left, still holding on to me. I slipped and grabbed hold of his T-shirt to try and stay on my feet, but it was no use because he let go, and I went tumbling to the floor. My palms slapped on the ground, causing a vibration to ricochet up my arms, and I gritted my teeth, thankful my hair had fallen forward to shield my reddening face.
“Sorry,” another voice said, and at the tone, I whipped my head up, my eyes wide. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
“You should be,” Knox gritted out, and I scrambled back onto my feet and toward him. I had to diffuse the situation.
“Knox,” I pleaded, grabbing his arm to pull him away.
“It was an accident,” the voice said again, and I moved my gaze to him. Blood was spurting from Leo’s nose, and his expression was full of confusion. Fuck. What the hell had Knox done?
“Fuckin’ nerd,” Knox spat out and yanked his arm away from me. His stare met mine, a clear warning in his dark eyes, and I knew then it hadn’t been an accident like Leo had said it was. Knox had spotted him and made a beeline for him to send a warning. Knox continued to look at me for several seconds, and my stomach dipped. He was a coiled snake, ready to str
ike, and I felt like the only target. I opened my mouth, not sure what I was going to say, but he spun around and darted down the hallway, away from the situation.
I was frozen to the spot for several seconds, unsure what to do and where to go, but my gut knew there was no way I could leave Leo like this, so I bent down and winced at the blood still pouring from his nose.
“What happened?” I asked, although I already knew. I was trying to make small talk.
“I was just walking past,” Leo breathed out, his chest heaving. “And then I was falling, and my face smacked into the lockers.” I looked behind him, spotting the dent his face had left in the metal.
“Damn.” I stood and held my hand out for him, not caring at this point whether Knox saw or not. He could warn me all he wanted, but it didn’t mean I’d heed to it. I’d always done as he said, whether he’d verbalized it or not, but it was different now. Things were changing. I was changing. I wasn’t sure if this sudden urge of not caring if he saw would last.
Leo placed his hand in mine, and I helped him up, groaning at putting all my weight into it. He stumbled, then righted himself and tried to laugh it off, but the gurgled sound had me cringing. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me, so I whispered, “I’m sorry.” I kept my arms outstretched in case he stumbled again, not that I’d be able to keep him up because he was taller and wider than me. He definitely didn’t look like a fourteen-year-old kid. But luckily, the nurse’s office was right next to the school office, and we were only one hallway away from it.
“Huh?” Leo frowned and turned to face me, his hand still cupped under his nose. “Why are you sorry?”
“It’s my fault,” I murmured, but I wasn’t sure if he heard me, because we were walking into the nurse’s room and her eyes widened at the sight of Leo.
“Oh my god,” she gasped, acting like she’d never seen blood in her entire life as she ushered him onto one of the three beds she had set up in here. “What happened?”
“Fell,” Leo said before I could say anything. I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at him. He was going to let Knox get away with it, and I didn’t know why the thought of him getting away with this angered me so much. He’d done and said so much worse to me, and yet I took it without a second thought. But this…this wasn’t right. He didn’t get to take his anger out on the fourteen-year-old kid who had no idea what was going on. He didn’t get to use him to vent his frustrations. If he needed to use someone, then it could be me. I could take it. I always took it.
“Elodie?” the nurse asked, turning to face me as she grabbed supplies. “Go and tell the office to call Leo’s mom and tell them about the incident. I think he may need to go home.” She moved back to Leo and started cleaning the blood up. “Then head on back to class.”
I clipped my head in a nod, took one last look at Leo, and walked into the office, feeling like utter shit for deciding to be Leo’s friend. If I had kept to myself, none of this would have happened.
* * *
ASHER
“You’re going too deep,” I told Maverick. “You’ll damage the skin, and the ink won’t settle like it should.” I stared down at the pigskin he was tattooing, impressed with how confident his lines were. The problem was depth. It was a leap to go from drawing with a pencil on a piece of paper to using a needle to create the same exact piece of art. You couldn’t learn it overnight, but Maverick had been practicing, even when I wasn’t here, according to Lara.
