Page 21 of Broken

“I’m not.” I reply, not actually lying.

“I just watched you with her.”

“Oh, you mean Katherine, yeah, she’s not your girl.” I shoulder past him and make my way back out to her. When I reach her, I hand her the cup and take a drink out of mine. Now, I am by no means a fighter, and the first time I ever actually hit someone aside from my trainer was Knox, that night. So, it could get ugly as fuck. I’ve trained, but never fought outside of gloves and training gear. My hand hurt for days after, and I’ve never been hit in the face with a bare fist. So I’m really hoping that Knox keeps to himself, but the exchange in the kitchen tells me that there’s a chance he won’t stay put.

“Thanks.” Katherine says with a smile as she takes the cup.

The music is slightly quieter in this corner, which I’m assuming is the reason why Max sits here. “Sit.” Max says, shooing the other person off the couch. So I take the seat, “So, West, you’re headed to Yale with George.”

“Yup.” I reply, taking another sip of my drink.

“And you’re here with Kat.”

“Yup.” I say again, is this how it’s going to be tonight?

“Why now? You treated her like shit for years.” There it is.

“Why not?” I ask, “She is beautiful, amazing, and talented.”

“Oh, I know. But, just because you live next door and are best friends with her brother doesn’t mean you know her, or what she’s been through.”

Katherine kicks him. “What do you know about her past?” I ask, scooting up to the edge of the seat, putting my elbows on my knees.

“I know that Knox is a control freak with anger issues, I know that he likes to take what he wants, and Kitty here was on the receiving end of most of that.”

“Max!” She growls at him.

“What have you done to help her?” I ask, “I mean, as her bestie, you should have stepped up and helped, I didn’t know there were issues with her and Knox until last weekend when I found her drugged out of her mind and him attempting to rape her.” My tone is sharp and I’m doing my best to keep my temper down. I don’t really have anger issues, but for some reason when it comes to her, I feel like I could take on the world.

“This is a party, let’s not talk about all the dark things in the world.” Katherine pushes up off the couch, holding a hand out for me, “Let’s dance.”

“I’m going to need more than a couple of sips to get on that dance floor again. The last time you left me standing here alone.” I down the rest of my drink, and when I take her hand and stand up, I’m shoved back down, Katherine is shoved to the side barely missing the shelf and Max is quick to catch her before she hits her head on the table.

“Stay down.” Knox stands over me, and when I know Katherine is fine, I turn to look at him, feeling enraged.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” I ask, not staying down. I get to my feet and the music cuts off as the crowd backs away.

“No fighting in the house Knox, mom will kill me if we break shit, you know the rules.”

“It’s fine Max, this pretty boy hits like a girl.” Knox laughs, the crowd following suit.

“Yeah, and a girl gave you those.” I point to his eyes. “Did the witty Kitty hurt your ego?” I mock him, and I see his fist coming from a mile away giving me time to duck out of the way. “What the matter, Knox? You don’t like a fair fight? Gotta use a little pill to help you get what you want?”

Now, again, I’ve never really fought outside of training, and Knox is the teenage reigning boxing champion. Which means this could get ugly, quickly. But, there’s no way I’m going to just let him get away with this behavior. My heart is beating so hard in my chest as everyone creates a circle around us. “Fuck him up!” someone shouts from somewhere. Damn savages, they just want to see a fight.

“I said not to fight in the house!” Max jumps into the circle. “Knox, you’re fucking wasted, either go to bed or get the fuck out!”

“Katherine, get your guy and take him into the kitchen.”

“Yeah Kitty, put a leash on your dog.” Knox sneers, and I see red. My fist connects with his jaw, the recoil vibrating up into my shoulder. I lay another fist into his side, between his ribs and hips, just as I was taught. Dipping under his arm, I get behind him, wrapping an arm around his neck and pull him backwards. Boxing champ or not, I will not sit around and do nothing. Not after that.

My grip tightens, and I feel two different people trying to pull us apart. “Let go.” I hear Katherine, her soothing voice pulling me back to reality. I’m not even sure what happened, I wrapped him up and then suddenly everyone is screaming. “Westley, he got the message.”

“You’re gonna kill him!” Max shouts.

I release Knox, watching him crumple to the floor, grabbing at his throat, coughing. “Fuck, sorry.” I reply.

“It’s fine, sometimes I want to do that too, but I don’t let my intrusive thoughts win.” Max replies, helping his friend up. “Knox, get the fuck upstairs and don’t come back down.” He shoves his friend to the stairs and when Knox disappears without a word, he turns and claps twice. “Party on!” He shouts, dropping a palm to my shoulder as he leads me into the kitchen. The music kicks back on and the adrenaline starts to settle.

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