Page 161 of Heartless Legacy

She puts her hands back up and counters with, “Who can get a word in? You’re running your mouth enough for the both of us to disguise that weak ass right hook of yours.”

That’s my girl. I straighten my stance, smirking at her. “It might be weak, but it catches you more often than not.”

“Catch this asshole.” She fakes me out with a jab, uses my leg as a step stool to launch herself in the air, and wraps her legs around my neck.

“That’s new.”

“It’s new to you. I’ve been putting boys to sleep with this hold for years.”

“I’m happy to fall asleep with my face between your thighs. You should know that by now, Nem.” I wheeze as she locks her legs at the ankles, taking away my air.

“Are you going to kill him, Pet?”

Her response is to squeeze harder. Finn’s voice goes from playful to concerned. “Shit. No.Really. Let up, Thea, or you’re gonna kill him.”

My visionisfading in and out, and I’m feeling light-headed. I lose consciousness as I hear Finn say, “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but you need to get here.”

“Wakey, wakey.” Finn sings-songs, patting me on my cheek. Holden pulls me to a sitting position and passes me a bottle of water.

“How long was I out?” My voice is raspy, and it hurts to swallow.

“I don’t know. Five, maybe ten minutes.”

I rub my hand against my neck. “I can’t believe she almost choked me out.”

“Almost?” Finn snorts. “What was she doing here?”

“I don’t know. She showed up at my door and started yelling about how much she hates me, so I pushed her buttons and we started sparring.” Finn looks at me like I’m sporting three heads. “What?”

“You might’ve been sparring, but Thea was trying to kill you.”

“It just looks that way. We’ve always been serious about our workouts.”

He shakes his head. “It might’ve started out as a sparring session, but for her it got real. She threw a knife at me when I tried to pull her off of you. I had to call Deacon for help.”

I don’t remember any of that. “He was here?”

“Nah. He was too far away to get here in time to be of any use, but I guess one of Thea’s guards was hiding in the ceiling or something. He came in and knocked her out.”

I laugh until I realize he’s dead ass serious. “You’re not joking?”

“I’ve never seen her like that before. She was damn near feral.” He juts his chin towards Holden. “Reminded me of how he gets when he finally gets pushed to his limit.” He gives me an assessing look. “So, what did you do to push our girl to the breaking point?”

“The usual.”

Holden walks to the doors and says, “I hope it’s not the usual, because that means you’re the reason people are posting pictures of her mother around campus.”

Finn

I feel like I’m living in a time loop. That crafting article from Rock Mountain is plastered all over campus. I rip them down, and the next day they’re back again in the exact same spots. Someone is deliberately putting them in places where Thea will see them. Outside her dorm, along the route she walks to her classes and the library, and on the athletic complex’s door.

“Who is doing this?” I crumple the paper and toss it in the trash before sliding a stack of books over on the table so I can see Holden’s face.

He says, “It’s random people. No sense in wasting time trying to track them down.”

“Since when is questioning people a waste of time?”

“A lot of times, Finn. You just find the things you do during questioning more exciting, so you rarely care what information they give you. But in this case, I think we need to discuss the circumstances surrounding the picture and the link to the article being posted on Prospectus.”

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