Page 53 of Backfire
“I gave them to Devlin.” He shrugged. “But maybe if you ask him real nice, he’ll give them back.”
Screw Shakespeare, I needed a bigger book to beat him to death with.
Day two of Reese getting hit with a book went well. Minus the part when Angus suddenly decided to check on my studies. To say he was less than impressed with my assault would be an understatement. But in my defense…
“This never would’ve happened in regular school.”
Angus stopped pacing long enough to cock a brow my way. “No, you prefer to send teachers to the hospital in regular school.”
Damn. Didn’t think he knew about that. “I still maintain that he kicked himself in the balls.”
Mr. Jones was a perv who brought it on himself. If he hadn’t grabbed my ass, then none of his balls would’ve had to have been surgically retrieved. So technically, it was his fault. As far as I was concerned, Reese got off lucky.
All he got for kissing me was smack to the face. So what if I was ogling him a bit? I was the teenager in this scenario. Doing dumb shit was kind of in the job description.
“Your other homes may have let you get away with this kind of behavior.”
I slumped back in the chair and rolled my eyes as Angus’s stern finger waved through the air.
“But I will not tolerate it.”
“But you’ll tolerate your son dragging me off like a caveman,” I grumbled in response.
The stern lines in Angus’s forehead deepened. “Pardon me?”
I huffed out a disgruntled, “Nothing.”
Every fiber of my being itched to jump up and protest his unfair judgement, but what good would that do? Being the unseen paycheck in the background was one thing. Being grossly outnumbered was another. I was in a house full of misogynistic assholes. Hence why I didn’t say anything about Reese kissing me. Angus would probably ask what I did to instigate it.
“You have an opportunity for a high education, Sydney.” He gave me a pointed look. “I suggest you start respecting that.”
That made me snort. “Yeah, sure.”
Higher education for what? Sex ed? How to be an asshole one-oh-one. I think pass.
Angus took a steadying breath and rolled his shoulders back. “All right, have it your way.”
The strictness tightening his frown almost made me laugh. So far, I’d been accosted by my so-called stepbrothers, had my face held under water because I was apparently wearing too much make-up, and had all my underwear stolen.
Oh, and let’s not forget the being dragged to a dungeon. What could Angus possibly do to make things worse? I was already in the ninth plane of hell. A person couldn’t sink any lower than that.
I’d never been more wrong in my life.
“From now on, Devlin will be attending all your classes with you.”
“What?” I shrieked. “That’s not fair.”
The last thing I needed was more time with the king of assholes.
Angus’s brows rose as he crossed his arms. “Clearly you can’t be trusted alone.”
I’d seen the look on his face many times. It was the my-word-is-final stare all parents gave their kids. Though I couldn’t help but wonder if he had ulterior motives.
Charmaine had yet to join us for a meal. The only times I did see her, he was there. Keeping us apart would be a lot easier to do if I had an escort following me around.
I wanted to say something. And I might’ve, if Perry had shown up like he was supposed to. But he wasn’t coming for another day or two now. Apparently, an emergency came up. Pretty sure being locked in a dungeon constituted as an emergency, but hey, who was I to argue? It wasn’t like I spent ten years of my life in the system or anything.
If there was one thing I learned about CPS, it was that there was no point in arguing once a decision was made. And as Perry had pointed out, technically, I wasn’t under their rule anymore. Charmaine, or should I say her dickhead husband, had that power now.
