Page 24 of Bully

“Bloody hell.” I whispered as Sloane’s lips parted and her eyes squinted angrily before dropping to the cherub cheeked toddler banging against the glass excitedly. My Rainbow looked like a wet dream of mine, dressed in the skintight red dress I bought her, with flawless makeup and her hair styled beautifully. But I wasn’t stupid enough to let her beauty trick me into missing the anger radiating off her body. I set her up tonight, cruelly sending her to dinner all alone so she’d remember that I was always in control. Bending down to pick Rory up, Sloane turned on her heel and marched back down the sidewalk towards the entrance to the restaurant. “Come on, darling. You need to have your big scary daddy holding you for this.”

Maddox eyed me suspiciously as he took Rory and glanced over at the door where Sloane was all but running toward me. Liv scoffed, “Let me guess, you know the angry rainbow?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, leaning over Peyton to grab my jacket. “Best I leave, now.”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Liv shook her finger at me. “We want to see the angry rainbow cut you a new ass.”

“Rainbow!” Rory cheered, and I felt Sloane’s presence behind me.

“I hate you all.” I deadpanned, turning toward the woman of my dreams and my nightmares. “Sloane.”

Maddox hissed behind me, “Oh, it’s Sloane.”

“Don’tSloane, me!” She hissed, “You weak, sniveling pathetic piece of English shit!”

Dane snorted, covering it with a cough, and Liv chuckled, “Oh, I like her.”

“Fuck off, Little Hacker.” I threw over my shoulder and faced the angry rainbow again. My pretty little angry Rainbow. “Let’s talk outside.”

“No.” Sloane cried, ripping her arm out of my hand as I tried to steer her backward. “Don’t touch me!”

A server appeared behind her and awkwardly tapped her on the shoulder, making my hackles raise up as he touched her. “Ma’am, we cannot allow any outside alcohol in our restaurant.”

Without even glancing away from my stare, she lifted the bottle and shoved it at the man’s chest. “That’s fine, it’s empty anyway.”

“Did you drive here?” I interrupted as the server took the bottle and left. I hated that my family was staring at us like they were watching the most entertaining sitcom of their lives, but Sloane wasn’t in the mood to leave. And I wasn’t in the mood to embarrass either of us in public.

“No, I walked!” She snapped, “Because the car you hired to drive me to your little prank, took off, leaving me abandoned halfway across the city!”

“Tamen.” Peyton sighed behind me, and I waved my hand at her dismissively.

“So, you walked drunkenly across the city wearing that?” I scoffed, “Are you incapable of ordering an Uber for yourself?”

“I swear to god!” She cried out, squeezing her fists tight like she was imagining the way they’d feel around my neck. “I hate you!”

“The feeling is mutual,” I shrugged and then tossed my jacket at her. “Put that on, and I’ll drive you home.”

She scoffed and tossed my jacket on the floor, crossing her arms over her lush chest, drawing my eyes to it for the hundredth time. “I’d rather—”

I waved my hand at her, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Puke in your handbag and eat it.” I shivered dramatically at the disgusting thought. “Let’s go, anyway.”

“Don’t touch me.”

“Let’s save Tamen any bodily harm this evening,” Peyton cut in, rising from her seat and stepping between Sloane and me with an exaggerated glance my way as she faced my Rainbow, “Even though I’m one hundred percent sure he deserves it. Hi,” She held her hand out to shake, “I’m Peyton, Tamen’s sister-in-law. My husband Dane,” P motioned to Dane who smiled at her, “Is Tamen’s brother. And if anyone knows how much of a pain in the ass he can be, it’s me.”

Liv snorted mockingly from her seat, and I glared at her, but she didn’t stop. “He hit her with a car once, put her in a coma for a week.” Liv said with a shrug, “Yet she still lets him come around, I don’t understand it.”

“I didn’t drive the bloody car—”

“Shut up,” Peyton argued, elbowing me in the gut. “No one cares what you have to say.”

Sloane’s golden eyes flicked back and forth between the girls and me, like she couldn’t quite believe how they were speaking to me. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“That’s fair.” Peyton slid her arm through Sloane’s, and I groaned as she pulled her toward the couches as our server appeared with a massive tray of food. “Would you like some dinner? You can have Tamen’s plate while you tell us all about what he did tonight. Chances are we won’t be surprised in the least by his actions, but we can help you plan your revenge.”

“I can’t believe this, does loyalty mean nothing to you people?” I argued as Sloane sat down in my seat next to Peyton, eyeing me angrily still.

“Tee-Tee!” Rory wiggled out of Maddox’s arms and tottered back over to me. “Eat! Eat! Eat!”

---