Page 170 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

Nim keeps running until I do it again. Then she glances over her shoulder. Slows, slows, stops. I twist my hand in Romi’s hair, forcing the girl onto her toes. She’s at least a foot taller than Nim, so it should be easy for Winters to see that I have Romi at my mercy. I hold out my hand, beckoning for Nim to come back.

We stare at each other over that distance for a few beats, then Nim slowly starts heading back our way. Her steps pick up, and I recognize the angry scowl on her face when she clears the embankment on her hands and knees.

“Let her go!” Nim yells.

“With pleasure.” I shove Romi away, darting forward before Nim’s even done dusting her hands.Her throat cords when I clap a hand over her slim neck, and she immediately grabs both my hands, trying to pull me away.

“What are you doing?” Romi calls out behind me, but I ignore her. There was terror in her brown eyes—she won’t do anything. And I have a feeling I know why.

I pull Nim close, grabbing her tangled hair in a hand and wrenching back her head. “You told her, didn’t you?”

Nim opens her mouth, but when I squeeze her throat, she coughs instead of trying to talk. “Come,” I tell her, using the grip in her hair to drag her back to Knox’s car. “We need to have a discussion about breaking promises, Lady Liberty.”

Romi makes a grab for me. “Let her go.”

I shove her against the side of her car hard enough to make her gasp. “Fuck off, Furino.” I point at her, glaring as we pass. “And if you breathe a word of this, you’ll be shipped off to Lavender Valley so fast it’ll make your head spin.”

“Romi, just go!” Nim yells at her. “I’ll be fine.”

I scowl as I wrench open the passenger door and toss Nim inside. “You keep telling yourself that, princess.”

Chapter 33

Nim

I was angry when I was in front of Sheriff Di Toro. There was a quiver in my stomach, and my cheeks felt hot. This? What I’m feeling right now? It’s motherfucking rage.

HowdareSilasthrow Romi around like that? And after everything she did for me? If I wasn’t a hundred percent sure he would brutally assault me for even trying, I’d be clawing his eyes out right now.

But I have to choose my battles if I’m going to win this war. After he threw me in the car and told me to put my seatbelt on, he hasn’t said a word, hasn’t touched me. We’re on Academy Road now, headed back to school.

But just because I can’t use my fists, that doesn’t mean I can’t still attack him.

“You’re a pathetic excuse for a human being,” I tell him, injecting as much hate into my words as I can.

Silas frowns. “Now why’d you say something like that, princess?”

“Because you’re a gutless fuck who thinks it’s okay to hit girls.”

“You talking about that little love tap I gave you back in Silverash?” Silas glances over at me with a scowl on his face. “I apologize if I hurt your feelings, but we don’t grow such delicate little flowers around here.”

“All you have are weeds and parasites.”

Silas’s frown deepens. “You’re right about that,” he mutters, which kind of shocks me. “So tell me, whichparasitesponsored you?”

I let out a silent huff of a laugh. “Wouldn’t I love to know,” I say, more to myself than to him. “Why do you care, anyway?”

“Because that’s not how things are supposed to work,” Silas says. “You don’t have the grade average to get into this place, yet here you are.”

“I’m sorry, am I too dumb for you?” I lean back, incredulity twisting my mouth with disgust.

He tilts his head, letting out a mirthless laugh. “I don’t know what you are, princess, but you’re not Academy material.”

“And criminal scum like you and your friends are?”

“Is that what you told Sheriff Di Toro?”

My body goes ice-cold, like I decided to jump into Scarstone’s pitch-black water. When I turn to look at Silas, his face is set in a stony scowl. “How do you know about that? Did Romi tell you?”

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