Page 20 of Redeemed

His eyes widen, andfinally,he’s getting it through his thick skull how serious we are. “N-no. I won’t do anything.”

“Good.” I don’t move the knife—not quite yet. “We’ll be watching you. If we see you doinganythingsuspicious, you’re done, all right? We’ll dump your body so far out in the middle of nowhere that you’ll never be found.”

“All right, all right,” he sobs. “I’m sorry.”

As Xander and I stand, we pull him up with us and shove him to the shore.

“Get lost,” Xander grits out. “And if you report this to the school, just know it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

The guy scrambles off and runs as fast as he can to get away from us. Once he’s out of sight, I glance down at my knife. I cut his skin a little, so there’s some blood on the edge.

As I rinse it off in the creek, Xander lowers himself onto a nearby rock. I watch him out of the corner of my eye as he examines his hands. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen his knuckles bloody and bruised from a fight, but this time, they’re still unmarred. I don’t want any evidence of this on him. That’s why I punched the guy instead.

“So much for a fresh start, huh?” he asks quietly.

“Well, drowning isn’t one of your typical moves when you get into a fight, so I say it doesn’t count,” I reply lightly.

Xander doesn’t laugh.

I sigh. “I doubt we’ll get in trouble. It was too dark for him to get a good look at our faces.”

Still staring at the water, he mutters, “I hope so.”

“Hey.” I close the distance between us and crouch in front of him. “You’re here. That’s farther than anyone thought you’d get, isn’t it?”

“It’s not far enough.”

My chest squeezes. Back home, no one ever thought Xander would even graduate high school, let alone make it to college. Hell, until my mom remarried and we moved here, I think most people thought the same of me. I was the angry son of an angry man, destined to follow in his footsteps.

But Xander and I pulled each other through. When he wanted to quit, I wouldn’t let him, and he did the same for me. Moving here to Birchwood right before our senior year helped. It gave us both a new school, a squeaky-clean record for him, and an escape from the shithole we grew up in.

Sure, we still managed to get in trouble, but only enough to get us suspended once or twice. We both vowed to change after graduation, but… well, here we are.

“We’re not getting expelled,” I tell him. “I’m pretty sure my stepdad had to put in a good word for the two of us to even get accepted here, so if we run into trouble, he can—”

“Formeto get accepted here, you mean. You automatically get in to everything.” He waves a hand. “You have all the power that comes along with being a Rook. Nepotism and all that.”

“Hey.” I lightly punch him in the shoulder. “Secondhand nepotism is what got you accepted, so I’d watch your mouth if I were you.”

That pulls a small, tired smile from him. “I guess.”

“And I’m not a Rook. You know that. I’m not joining without you.”

He looks away. “Sure.”

“Listen, Greg will make sure we stay enrolled no matter what. Fuck him, but he’s committed to Mom, and she loves you. He’s gotta protect you to stay on her good side.”

“Does she even have a bad side?” Xander rubs his face. “That woman is way too nice.”

“She is,” I mumble.

It’s the only reason I was okay with her marrying Greg. He’s protective of her. With him watching out for her and Aurora, no one can touch my family. He can keep them safe in ways I can’t.

“We should go check on that girl,” Xander says. “You know, to make sure she’s okay.”

Standing, I hold out my hand to Xander and pull him up when he takes it. I don’t let go, and he kisses me softly before we trudge out of the creek.

It’s a short walk back to the dorm hall. The girl is still there, but now she’s sitting on a bench with a tall boy with blond hair. They’re both cast in a warm glow from the lamp post above them, and as we creep through the garden, we get a better look at her face.

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