Page 61 of The Kings
“Hey,” Eliza snaps as one of them throws a punch, taking the other guy off guard. “Break it up!” She steps between them,and they back up, the reluctant respect in the eyes of those who challenge her. They know her reputation, and they fear it.
“Back off, Hughes,” one of them sneers, but his voice quavers like he’s already regretting his words, his bravado in the face of a potential fight failing him when Eliza’s steely gaze lands on him.
“Or what? You want to fight me? You were there the other day; I saw you. So, you know I can beat your ass into the ground with one hand tied behind my back.”
“You got your ass kicked,” a girl spits out from the side who got their leader punched. I can’t even place their names. They’re that low-level. This is ridiculous.
“Excuse you?” I growl, moving forward. “She stayed on her feet against stacked odds and took down a guy twice her size with ten times the experience. He would’ve killed you, you little bitch.”
She literally hisses at me, hooking her fingers into claws.
“Tarq,” Eliza murmurs, putting her hand on my arm. “It’s fine. If she wants to live in cloud cuckoo land, let her. All it will do is ensure she doesn’t survive in this life.”
“Fuck you,” she snarls at Eliza now, but the leader of her gang knows better than to pursue this.
“Your temper is going to get you in trouble one day,” Eliza murmurs, but she is looking at me.
“Moi?” I ask, mock shocked. “I’m the personification of calm.”
“No,heis,” she points at Raph, just standing there, glaring at everyone and everything he comes within a ten-foot radius of him.
Snickering, I shrug. “Yeah, well, no one talks to my girl that way.”
“Your girl?”
“If you want to be?”
She stares deep into my eyes and presses her lips together. “To be continued.”
Disappointment hits my guts at the rejection. She is so guarded, even now. I wish I could understand it, but until she lets us in, we won’t. But she won’t let us in. It’s a catch-22.
The campus is like a minefield right now, and I’m on edge like a blade waiting to strike. We move through the students, confident and ready. It looks like the unseen player is fucking with everyone, and the rumours have everyone spooked. I don’t like it, not one bit.
My gaze snaps to the right, zeroing in on the rival from the O’Grady crew slinking closer. He looks like he is about to cause some shit.
“Watch it, asshole!” a guy I barely recognise barks, shouldering past me.
I grab him by the back of his shirt as he saunters past. “Watch where the fuck you’re going, prick. I’m kinda hard to miss, wouldn’t you say?”
He smirks.
The distraction’s brief, but it’s enough.
Enough for me to lose sight of Eliza as she lunges forward to break up another spat between rivals.
I let go of the wanker, who was out to cause a distraction, as a dark blur hurtles towards Eliza. My heart slams against my ribs, a sickening premonition tightening its grip around me.
“Fuck!” The curse explodes out of me as I surge forward, but I’m too slow. The flash of the sunlight glints off the blade.
Raphael, moving with that deadly grace of his, intercepts the asshole, a tangle of limbs and fury, taking down the threat with no mercy.
“You okay?” I ask Eliza, grasping her arm and pulling her away from the group.
“Yeah, fine,” she says, brushing it off. “Just some fucking punk who needs his ass-kicked, old-skool style.”
Relief floods me that she is unharmed, but it was my job to stick right next to her. I was thrown off the post by someone who knew what they were doing. There is no excuse.
My knees hit the ground hard, the thud echoing through my body like a physical reprimand for my screw-up. Bits of gravel dig into my knees, but it’s the weight of guilt that’s crushing me. I look up at Eliza, her frown fierce.
