Page 150 of The Silent Note

Dutch spins around too. He sees who I’m looking at and pulls Cadey behind him. “Hall.”

Theodore Hall is standing a few feet away, his eyes on the ground and his body trembling. I quickly search out Grey and see that she’s walking off with the teachers.

She hasn’t spotted him yet. Relief makes my shoulders sag.

“Who told you that you were welcome back at Redwood?” Dutch’s tone drips with a dark, cold threat.

“I did.” Sol steps forward.

Dutch scowls.

Cadey frowns.

I look at Sol and realize that pretending last night didn’t happen was a mistake. The best friend I once had is gone. Something new is in its place. Something not quite human.

“Sol,” I grab his shoulder and speak quietly, “you want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Revenge,” Sol says, waving his hand like a magician after a magic trick.

And then he laughs.

A shiver runs down my spine. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Didn’t you all stage an intervention last night? ‘Oh, Sol. Breaking into houses and holding knives to people’s throats is wrong’.” He clasps his hands together, his voice tuned to ahigh, female-mocking pitch. Then he drops to his usual voice. “I promised I’d back off. This is me backing off.”

“This is not—” I begin.

“I wanted to break his wrist and leave him for dead,” Sol interrupts calmly. “You all said no. I wanted to punch him twice for every one punch he and his goons landed. You all said no. So I kept an eye on him while Zane was too busy screwing Miss Jamieson into next semester?—”

“You call stalking and attempted murder ‘keeping an eye on things?” I hiss, intentionally ignoring his dig about my relationship.

Sol shrugs, eyes numb. “This is option b.”

“And what is option b exactly?” Dutch growls.

“Humiliation.” Sol walks over to Hall and grabs him by the back of the neck. The junior jumps in his skin. I can literally see his heart pounding in his chest. “Theo here didsucha good job fetching our toy last night, I thought he could be more useful if he came back to school for a more full-time position.”

Dutch scowls. “You don’t make decisions like this alone.”

“So I need permission from you?” Sol arches a brow.

Dutch stares him down.

I get between them. “It’s not a bad idea, Sol. Hall proved his worth to us last night. But he came after Grey. Tried to do something unspeakable. There’s no forgiving that.”

“He won’t bother your wife, Zane.”

I frown.

Sol shoves Hall forward. The junior stumbles in front of me.

“Tell him,” Sol says darkly.

“I-I’m sorry. I won’t talk to Miss Jamison again.”

I snarl at him. “You won’t even look at her.”

“I-I won’t even look at her.”

---