Page 122 of Ruthless Legacy

“I’m nice to all your friends.”

“You tolerate my friends, but you never ask them questions like you did Amaya. She’s been having a bit of a tough time with the transfer. I’m her class liaison so, I’ve been trying to help her settle, but I don’t speak fluent advanced computer geek.”

I think about Thea’s experience as the new kid on campus and how hard we made it for her. “I’m sorry your new friend has been having a tough time. She’s lucky to have you as a liaison. Now go back out there to your friends.”

“Okay. Have a good talk with daddy.”

I find my father in his office. The room’s soundproof, and he scans for listening devices all the time. On the off chance, he has to take a work related call at home. “Thanks for coming.”

“You don’t need to thank me, dad.”

“Yes, I do, especially since I asked you to come on such short notice. You’re my son, but I still try to be respectful of your time.”

“Is everything okay?” I told Hayden things were fine, but I’ll always say that to protect her from worrying. Her job is to be a kid. Mine is to pick up the slack for my parents and worry. I’ve already put Amaya’s name in my search algorithm to do my own background check on the Ward family.

“Everything is fi-” He stops short of finishing the word. “You know. I’m not sure if things are okay or not. What I do know is that the last few weeks have been chaotic. There are some things that have been happening and will happen in the coming weeks. I wanted you to hear them from me.”

Chapter50

Thea

Holden’s avoiding me, and I can’t figure out why. After our picnic, I expected him to be more sociable. He’s more sullen and quiet than usual. If he’s changed his mind, he can just say that. I’ve got too much shit going on to be confused about whether or not he’s regretting his decision already.

I’m taking a page out of The Trium stalker handbook. I’m waiting in the hall for his computer science class to end. The door opens and I wait for the trickle of bodies to slow before slipping into the room. He’s still packing up, ignoring or oblivious to the three people lingering in the room with him, casting come fuck me looks in his direction.

I need the room empty, so I snap, “Get out!”

Holden’s head snaps up. His hands stall when I bark the order at the girls I recognize from the future wives’ table. I can see them trying to decide how to respond. I don’t have time for this shit. I pull out my knife, flipping it in the air. “Get out or you can bleed out.”

That gets them moving. I stand in front of the door, arms folded across my chest. Holden will have to physically move me to get by. He can. It’d be easy to do, but I’ll ask my question before he does.

“I’ll make this quick. What the hell is going on with you?”

“Nothing.” He drops his head and goes back to packing his backpack.

He’s answering, so we haven’t slipped all the way back to our starting point. “I spoke to you this morning, waved, and you looked right through me. So if nothing’s wrong, then it must be me. What did I do to piss you off?”

“You didn’t do anything, Thea.”

“Both of those answers can’t be right. If there’s nothing wrong with you and it’s not me, then why are you in dick mode?”

Is this about the mentor thing? Is he upset that I’ve chosen Deacon instead of taking the one they gave me? Holden’s fully on board with The League. Fraternizing with a troublemaker is probably against the rules when you’re a Trium. I take a deep breath and get the rest of my question out.

“If you’ve changed your mind about wanting to hang out with me, that’s fine. I just wanna know if that means you’re done helping me.”

His head jerks up. “I’m committed to helping you. That hasn’t changed.”

“Then it is about hanging out. My no dating thing it’s a deal breaker, right? I get it. You shouldn’t settle.”

I smile, letting him see this doesn’t hurt my feelings. “You’ll find someone new to play with and hunt in no time.” I wave at the door. “There were three potential victims hanging around before I kicked them out.”

The color drains from his face. “Oh god. That’s it, isn’t it? You’ve already found someone else.”

“It’s not- I didn’t find someone else. I didn’t go out looking, but my parents…”

“Your parents? Just tell me whatever it is, Holden. Rip the bandaid off.”

“They found a match for me.”

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