Page 203 of Call the Shots
Xavier searched for sympathetic faces in the audience, for someone to pipe up, but the table was silent, gaping in shock. Nobody dared to say a word. He took a long breath, eyes on me, before he darted away.
Oh, fuck, there’s another door.
With a curse, I ran after him, after his shoes squealing on the linoleum. The bastard knew the building better than I did. He shoved open another door to the outside stairs and I fumbled for the handle—locked.Shit!I jerked around for another exit.
Fuck it, if he was going downstairs, I’d follow.
I dodged past students until I burst out of the student center to see Xavier’s blonde hair bobbing in the crowd.
“Get back here, pussy!” I shouted.
“Fuck, Bear,no!” Fridge yelled.
Xavier whipped back and screamed at me but that just spurred me on. “You think you can outrun me, bitch?! I’LL RIP YOUR FUCKING LIMBS OFF!”
“Bear, don’t do it!” Nick shouted. “Don’t do it!”
“Denali’s going to kill us!” Montoya warbled.
Xavier took a sharp left towards the law library, trying to weave through the food trucks, but I grabbed him by his jacket and swung him around, smashing my fist into his face.
CHAPTER 75
JUNE
ONLY FAMILY PERMITTED
When Xavier cheated,it was my first heartbreak.
But when I told Bear we couldn’t be anything but friends…my heart didn’t just break, it shattered. Bear and I were there for each other, our biggest protectors, our strongest supporters, my source of comfort. My safe place. A love that felt like it’d grown and ebbed over years, not just months.
Fuck, how could I dothisto him?
My phone rang, and I hoped it was him, but it was Cleo. I sniffled, brushing away the tears. “Hey, C,” I croaked. “I—um—need some time?—”
“Why was Bear arrested?” Cleo demanded.
I jerked up in bed. “What?”
“Fridge called me—he’s at the campus police station—Bear’s been booked on assault—June, I’m downtown—what’s going on?!”
I hurried off the bed and grabbed my purse, slamming the door behind me.
I racedto the police station where it was all too easy to spot Montoya. He was that tall. Stooped over, he sat at a policewoman’s desk, and she talked softly to him, her forehead drawn in concern. Not on my watch. I grabbed Montoya by the arm. “He’s not speaking without a lawyer, this interview’s done.”
“June!” Montoya’s shoulders crumpled in relief. “Bear went after?—”
“Montoya,hush.” When I confirmed he could leave, I brought him to Fridge, who had his arms folded, and kept repeating, ‘I don’t have a lawyer’ to the officers. I hurried them to the reception area. “I knew I could count on you, Fridge. At least someone’s being smart about this?—”
“My family taught me who my best friend is,” Fridge said, pushing Montoya to a chair. “My great uncle Forrest, the family attorney. Only an idiot would talk to the police—” He paused. “Where’s Nick?”
I craned my neck and cursed. “There’s our residential idiot.”
Nick was giving incriminating evidence like it was some hilarious story until I dragged him away.
“You don’t talk toanyonewithout your lawyers, do you understand?”
“I wasn’t saying anything new,” Nick argued. “There were tons of people filming?—”
