Page 37 of Bonds of Magic
It’s not so different from how you treat Lew, is it? whispered a traitorous little voice in the back of my mind, but I crushed it. Itwasdifferent. I knew what Lew wanted. And I would never push him if he said no.
I swung my head to look at Cory. “Is that true? Did I interrupt something I shouldn’t have?”
Cory was frozen. He hadn’t moved since I’d walked into the room. For the first time, I registered that he was naked. Shivering. Wet.
I wanted to wrap my arms around him. To rush him away from here. To beat Sean to a pulp and make sure he never bothered Cory again.
Please tell me you’re not sleeping with this piece of shit,I begged silently.
Finally, Cory shook his head.
“No.” His voice was hoarse. “No, you didn’t.” He hugged his arms around his chest and continued, his voice barely above a whisper. “I meant it when I said ‘stop.’”
“Oh, come on,” Sean said. “You know you always change your mind when—”
“He saidstop.” I pushed him back against the wall and leaned my arm on his throat. His eyes went wide, and his face blanched. His lips moved frantically, but no sound came out.
“When someone says stop, you stop,” I ground out. “You don’t push them further, you don’t try to wear them down. And you don’t assume they’ll change their minds. Fuck, a first grader knows that. Did your parents never teach you, or are they as despicable as you are?”
Sean was still working on getting words out. He struggled against my weight, but I had pounds of muscle on him, and years of practice. Keeping him pinned barely took effort.
“I don’t know why I’m surprised,” I went on. “After seeing how you act in class, I should have realized arrogance and stupidity were key pillars of your personality.”
Sean’s fingernails dug into my arms, but I had no intention of letting him go.
“You’redoneat this school,” I told him. “You hear me? Finished. Gone. And not one of us is going to miss you. Hell, I could take you out right now and I’d be doing everyone a—”
“Um, Noah?”
The words were so tentative, they barely made it through the red mist of rage that filled my brain. But the fact that it was Cory’s voice, sweet and vulnerable, pulled me back from the brink.
I glanced over my shoulder. “What.”
It came out angrier than I intended, but I couldn’t help that. Not while Sean was still in front of me.
“I, uh, think maybe you should let him go.”
“Don’t tell me you care about this asshole.”
Cory’s cheeks flushed. “No. But I also don’t think you should kill him. And he needs some air.”
I turned back to Sean. His eyes had gone glassy, his face purple. With a disgusted sigh, I removed my arm. Sean slumped to the floor, his head hanging between his knees. I had to resist the urge to kick him.
I’d never liked the kid, but his treatment of Cory went beyond the pale. Cory was right. I shouldn’t take justice into my own hands. Not at Vesperwood, anyway. But at least I finally had an excuse to get rid of Sean, as soon as I reported what I’d seen to Isaac.
I looked back at Cory, my lip curling. “Happy?”
He nodded. Then he shook his head. “I mean, no. But yeah. Kind of.” His brow furrowed. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but what are you doing here?”
“We have a lesson tonight,” I said, careful not to mention what it was for. Sean was still gasping in huge gulps of air, and I doubted he was coherent enough to pay attention to what we were saying, but still. “When I couldn’t find you in your room, I thought, with everything going on at the school…”
I trailed off. I didn’t want to say I was worried, but that was exactly what I’d been. Scared, even.
I’d only had two lessons with Cory, but they’d already become a part of my routine. And considering what had happened the last time he’d missed a lesson, I’d been more than a little concerned when I couldn’t find him. I’d checked with his friends after seeing Cory’s room was empty, and Felix had mentioned something about Cory planning on taking a shower.
I’d felt ridiculous, barging into the showers like Cory might be in mortal danger, but it had turned out to be a good thing, hadn’t it?
“Oh,” Cory said softly. “Right. That makes sense.”
