Page 125 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

Howwe’dmake her pay.

Now she’s here, within reach, and all I can think about is the way she thrashed when Mason and I held her down so Knox could mark her. He told her to remember us. It’s obvious she does…but I expected fear in her eyes, not anger.

Knox gives her a cruel smile and snaps his fingers. “Bennett.”

Mason reaches down, grabs Nim’s legs, and tosses her over his shoulder like a bag of coal. Knox always makes a show of claiming dominance, and Mason has been his right-hand man since they were kids. I just wish I knew where I fit into all of this.

Furino’s mouth falls open. Nim is so shocked, she squeals—drawing the eye of every student in earshot. My first instinct is to fade into the background, but this isn’t the worst thing we’ve gotten away with here at the Academy.

“Put me down!” Nim shrieks, and starts banging her fists against Mason’s back. She stops when he grabs her ass through her jeans, holding her in place so she won’t be able to struggle off his shoulder.

“Room number, Furino,” Knox says, waving his hand toward the girls’ dorm as he completely ignores Nim.

“What?” the girl bleats.

“I assume she’s your roommate, else you wouldn’t have given her the time of day. Now what’s your room number? Or should I write you up for insubordination?”

I glance around under my lashes. All the students are staring now, and not a single one of them looks ready to stop this. Some are even laughing. Eating up the show.

Because Knox is the reigning bully champion, or because Nim is an outsider with no one in her corner? Even Romi’s cheeks are red with embarrassment.

Nim grabs hold of Mason’s blazer, using her grip to push up so she can glare at her friend. “Don’t you dare?—”

“213.” Romi drops her eyes as she backs up and whispers, “I’m sorry, Nim.” Then Romi’s gone, walking away so fast it’s almost a jog.

Nim’s still staring after her friend, but when Knox and Mason head for the girls’ dorm, those hazel eyes meet mine, fury sizzling in their depths.

I give her a cold smile. That anger flickers, then fades. There it is. There’s thefear.

Seems Lady Liberty remembers us after all.

Chapter 12

Nim

I’ve never been this embarrassed in my life, and I once had my pants split in public. Every student in sight is watching as these three savages carry me back to the girls’ dorms. It’s humiliating, and painful, and when Mason starts rubbing my ass, it becomes incredibly confusing.

Someone in the crowd calls out, “What the hell are you doing, you whack jobs?” but even they sound more curious than alarmed.

Mason yells back, “Deporting an illegal immigrant,” which gets a roar of laughter from everyone in earshot.

The rules obviously don’t apply to the Serpents, because they walk straight into the girls’ dorm like they own the place. Judging from what Romi told me, they probably do.

How does any of this make sense? They’re murderers! Yet here they are, walking in broad daylight, not a fucking care in the world. Of course, I could blurt out what happened. There’s more than a big enough audience. But if they’re punishing me for justbeinghere, I can’t imagine what they’d do if I started runningmy mouth about what they were doing in the woods three-some months ago.

“I have legs,” I say, twisting so I can speak to Mason. “And I learned to walk when I was two.”

“Yeah, but I like doing this,” he rumbles under me, giving my ass another vicious squeeze. It’s terrifying how big his hand is. It literally engulfs my cheek, and the base of his thumb is brushing up against my asshole. That’s why I stopped struggling—I was just creating more friction.

As soon as we step inside the girls’ dorm, Knox says, “Put her down and check her pockets.”

Oh God, they’re going to find my keycard. Then they’re going to take me to my room.

Andthenwhat?

Fuck that—I am not finding out.

As soon as my feet touch the ground, I slam my heel down on Mason’s toes. Thankfully his dress shoes don’t have steel tips, and from his grunt I think I hurt him a little. He still tries to grab me, but I duck under his muscular arm and race for the stained-glass doors we just came through. I yank them open and dash outside, blinking as sunlight stabs my eyes.

---