by James Tate
Was it? Hell no! I’d always been so proud of my GPA, of the fact that I’d been on a track for a decent scholarship. But when it came down to it, staying alive had become more urgent than learning trigonometry.
“Thank you for letting me know,” I replied in a shocked whisper. “I had no idea about ... the bribes. I’m sorry that you feel threatened, and I assure you that I won’t tell Catherine about this.”
She nodded, her gaze wary. “And your school work?”
Sucking a breath, I released it in a heavy sigh. “Honestly, I want to tell you that I’ll do better, and that I’ll spend the rest of the school year making up for it.”
Her brow arched. “But you won’t?”
I met her gaze head on, going out on a limb like she had for me. “Last week a group of boys here at this school dragged me into a classroom, beat me, and tried to gang rape me. Almost two months ago I was in a plane crash and nearly died. This morning, someone again tried to murder me. It’s not that I won’t try. It’s that I physically can’t.” The guidance counselor’s face was pale and drawn, her eyes full of fear and pity. “I’m doing my best, here, but I’m not Superwoman.”
We sat there and stared at each other for a long moment before she cleared her throat and looked down at her hands. “Yes, well. I’d say you’re coping better than Superwoman.”
Her genuine compliment brought tears to my eyes, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep them at bay. “Thank you for your concern. I really will try harder, when I can.”
She nodded again, not looking back up at me until I stood to leave. “Riley,” she said, halting my exit. “If you ever need to just talk to someone...” Her offer stood clear, even as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“I’ll know where to find you, Ms. Hewlett. Thank you.” I gave her a small smile, and let myself out of her office before I had a mental breakdown and told her my whole sad story. As it was, I’d said too much, but something about her seemed trustworthy.
“Everything okay?” Jasper asked when I joined him in the hallway. He was my shadow for the day, and a damn fun one at that.
I nodded, falling into step with him as the final bell chimed. “Yep, all good. Just discussing grades.”
Jasper wrinkled his nose. “But why?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I glared at him. “Maybe because I have higher aspirations in life than to end up as someone’s trophy wife with nothing more than a high school diploma that she didn’t earn?”
Jasper threw an arm around my shoulders and grinned. “Aw, come on Riles. As if Beck would ever call you his trophy wife.”
I elbowed him in the side and tried really hard not to picture myself as Mrs. Beckett. “Shut up, you. I really do need to study a bit harder. All this Delta shit has made me lose sight of my own goals.”
He kept grinning at me, but he nodded his agreement. “That’s fair enough. I’ll help you study for some classes if you want? I don’t know if you know this, but I’m actually kinda brilliant.”
“Hah! I had no idea. Thank you for informing me.” The sarcasm was heavy, but all in good humor. One thing I was coming to count on, was that Jasper could cheer me up pretty much always. Beck knew what he was doing by assigning him as my shadow today.
“Seriously!” he insisted. “In fact, let’s get you caught up on class work tonight. What’s your worst subject?”
“All of them,” I muttered with a pout, and he rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. Probably biology?”
Jasper cringed. “Yuck. Okay, I’ll call Evan. He can help you on that one.”
* * *
That evening turned out to be shockingly normal. Evan came over and put me through a crash course on everything my biology class had already covered, and we even had enough time for Jasper to help me finish my English assignment. It would be late, but at least I would have learned something.
Dylan and Beck didn’t come by until after we’d finished dinner—homemade enchiladas, courtesy of Eddy. Both of them seemed moody and quiet, but I didn’t press them for information. No doubt they’d discovered something about the early morning assassination attempt and I was enjoying the “normal” evening we were having, so didn’t want to ruin it.
It wasn’t until later that night, when Beck slipped into my bed in nothing but his boxers, that I broached the subject.
“You found something out, huh?”
He let out a long sigh, wrapping his arms around me so that I was snuggled to his hard chest. “Yep.”
“Anything I need to be worried about?” I asked, tracing my fingertips over one of the tattoos on his ribs.
“Nope,” he replied, sounding confident. “I have to meet with Delta about it tomorrow, though, so I won’t be on campus.”
“Okay,” I said, not pushing it any further. My meeting with Ms. Hewlett had given me a whole lot to think about, and seriously given me some perspective. I’d been so caught up in everything Delta—despite my insistence that I wanted nothing to do with it—that I was practically drowning in the intrigue. If I was really serious about getting out, about not just rolling over and becoming their obedient little lap dog, then I needed to stop involving myself.
So it had been me who was attacked, but Beck and Dylan were handling it. There was absolutely no need for me to go off all Nancy Drew, investigating it myself and probably ending up in an even worse position.
“That’s it?” Beck asked, disbelieving when I said nothing more.
“Yep,” I responded, snuggling down into the blankets a bit more and closing my eyes. “Good night, Sebastian.”
He stroked my hair for a few minutes before whispering back, “Sweet dreams, Butterfly.” I felt the briefest press of a kiss to my lips. “And happy birthday for tomorrow morning, since I won’t be able to tell you until after school. I have a Delta meeting in the morning.”
My eyes flew open again. “You know it’s my birthday tomorrow?”
He snorted, his hand brushing down my side and sending tingles across my skin. “Of course I know. I haven’t forgotten anything about you.”
My body was warm, my chest aching in a good way. “It’s my first birthday without my parents,” I confessed my pain. “And even though they never made a big deal about birthdays, it still hurts like a fucking bitch.” Somehow, I wasn’t crying, even when my eyes burned. “I planned on forgetting it completely, but deep down I know they wouldn’t want me to do that.”
“I’m so sorry, Riles,” Beck said, his deep voice wrapping around me almost like a protective blanket. “You’re right though, your parents would want you to celebrate your birthday, because you deserve to celebrate every perfect moment.”
The tears finally came, and they were different to the last few times I’d cried about my parents. Healing, almost.
I was coming to see that Beck was more than just the guy who kept my nightmares away. He was also the one who was slowly healing me, piece by piece.
I’d never be over my parents’ deaths, but maybe one day I would be able to function okay in this world without them.
Hopefully.
* * *
Beck was gone when I woke up, but the bed was still warm beside me so he could have only just left. Sure enough, when I wandered out to my kitchen, I found a fresh, hot mug of coffee waiting along with a note that simply said “Happy birthday, Butterfly. Stay out of trouble - S” which seemed innocent enough but set my belly fluttering.
Stupid hormones.
A polite knock at the door clued me in to who my shadow was for the day, and I happily welcomed Dylan inside.
“I’ll just be five minutes, cool?” I called out as I hurried back to my bedroom to finish getting dressed. It was Friday and tonight I was going to party with Eddy and Dante, so I was eager to get through the day.
When I re-emerged, fully dressed in my Ducis uniform, Dylan gave me a sheepish look and presented a gift box from behind his back.
“You didn’t think I forgot, did you?” he teased when I just stood there g
aping with my mouth open.
“Uh ... actually I didn’t think you knew at all,” I admitted. I should have known after Beck mentioned it last night, but for some reason, I thought it was only him that knew.
Dylan gave me a small frown. “You told us your birth date on pretty much the first day we met. But even if you hadn’t, one of us would have looked it up.”
My jaw dropped a little at the idea that he’d remembered such a small detail from when they were all hating on me. “Well, you still didn’t have to get me anything,” I murmured, accepting the box nonetheless.
It was all white, tied with an expensive looking satin bow and when I opened it up, I needed to dig through layer upon layer of tissue paper to reach the gift inside. When I finally got to it, I pulled it out and inspected it—speechless.
“It’s...” I trailed off, turning the clutch bag around to look at it from all sides. It was small, the sort of thing I’d use if I was going on a date, but instead of a normal clasp at the top, there were four loops with huge precious stones on top of each. So if I were to carry it, it’d look like I was wearing rings on all four of those fingers. “It’s stunning, and way, way too expensive.”
I knew designer and high quality when I saw it these days.
Dylan smiled. “It’s not just a vanity item,” he informed me. “Look.” He slid the fingers of my right hand into the loops and positioned the clutch bag in my palm. “Now, what would you do if someone attacked you?”
“Huh?” I frowned up at him and he just waited patiently for me to click on. “Oh, my god. You bought me a knuckle duster purse?” I burst out laughing and simulated a punch to his face with the bejeweled bag. “Dylan, this is seriously the most amazing present.”
He nodded, satisfied. “Not to mention functional.”
Not wanting to let go of my awesome new bag, I gave him a quick one armed hug and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Dylan. You’re the best.”
“Careful, Riles,” he teased, but there was an edge of tension in his face. “I really don’t need another lecture from Beck about getting too friendly with you.”
I gasped, mortified. “He didn’t. Did he?”
Dylan grimaced, and shrugged. “Come on, let’s get to school. Jasper filled me in on your new determination to pass classes legitimately, so we should stop skipping.”
“Fair point,” I agreed. I tucked my awesome present back in the tissue paper and left it on the counter top to fetch my school bag. “Let’s roll.”
“Hopefully we can make it through your whole birthday without anyone dying,” Dylan muttered as he followed me out of my apartment. It seemed like sort of an odd thing to say, but then again ... this was Delta.
27
During study period, Dylan joined me in a quiet corner of the library and peered over my shoulder at my open laptop screen.
“Ah, I remember that assignment,” he commented, coming around the table and taking the seat opposite me. “Can’t believe Mr. Matherson hasn’t changed his course material.”
I smiled. “Well then, would you care to read over what I have so far?” I turned my laptop around and pushed it toward him. “I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Why? Where are you going?” He made as if to get out of his seat and join me, but I waved him off.
“To pee, shadowmaster. I highly doubt Beck would appreciate you holding my hand while I did that.” I snickered at the thought, and Dylan cringed.
“Fair point,” he agreed, relaxing back into his chair. “Be quick though, or I’m coming to check on you.”
Totally straight faced, I nodded. “So, don’t take my time on a huge poop then?”
The look of abject horror on Dylan’s face kept me chuckling all the way out of the library and down the corridor to the nearest restroom. Right up until I pushed open the door and found Katelyn Huntley holding court with her minions.
“Yay, my favorite person,” I muttered with heavy sarcasm when she glared daggers at me. It probably would have been smarter to just turn the fuck around and walk away, but stupid me was all buzzed on how pleasant my birthday had been so far. That, and I was pretty confident Katelyn would never actually get her own hands dirty in trying to tear me down.
“Where do you think you’re going, slut?” Brittley sneered, stepping in front of me when I made to pass her.
I took a deep breath to try and calm myself before replying. “To pee, Brittley. That’s what you usually do in restrooms. Not stand around and compare lip gloss shades.” I flicked a contemptuous look at Katelyn, who was currently applying another coat to her lips, as I said this.
“You’re going to want to mind your manners, Riley Jameson,” Katelyn said, smirking at me in the mirror. “You don’t have your lap dogs in here to protect you.”
I met her gaze dead on, not a single ounce of fear projected from me. “I don’t need them.”
The other chick, who I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting, turned to join Britters and Katelyn. Great, three against one. Were these bitches actually serious?
I had a brief eight-second daydream about Dylan busting in here and using his kung fu skills on the three of their perfect bitch-faces, but then I remembered that I was a strong, confident chick, with half a day of fight training. I’d survived a lot lately, and I would survive these bitches.
“Where’s Sebastian?” Katelyn said, and all of a sudden I was fucking pissed. I called him Sebastian. She could call him nothing, because she shouldn’t even say his name.
“None of your fucking business.”
She smirked harder. “Oh, I wasn’t asking because I didn’t know. I was just pointing out that he’s been gone a lot lately and you should maybe find out why that is.”
Her implication that he was out fucking someone else was very clear.
“I know exactly where Sebastian is, and I don’t have any worries when he’s not here, because we trust each other.”
Saying it out loud cemented that truth for me. I really did trust them again, maybe I’d never stopped—I’d mostly been pissed by their actions, but I was coming to learn that was a part of being in Delta. Not everything was above board, and now that I was a Delta heir, I had to readjust my expectations of life.
Fury pulsed through me as I pushed closer. “What sort of woman pays a group of guys to gang rape someone? You should have your tits ripped off and your vag glued closed. You’ve officially lost your chick card.”
Brittley gasped, swinging her head to stare at Katelyn. “I thought you said they were just going to scare her?”
I snorted. “Word of advice, Britters. Don’t trust bottle-blondes who wear permanent smirks. It’s like the 101 of surviving a psychopath.”
Katelyn was no longer smiling. “I’m going to laugh at your funeral,” she said quietly. “Then I’ll fuck Sebastian. Just to prove I can. Bad things are coming for you and Delta, and if I was you, I’d run now. It won’t do you any good, but at least you’ll feel like you had a chance.”
I laughed. Because I really couldn’t let her threat settle inside of me. I had to take it as a joke because that was the only way I would survive.
Her face creased into angry lines, and she lunged forward for me. I’d been waiting for it though, and I channeled Dylan and Beck, and instead of backing up, I pushed forward, aiming for her throat with an open handed punch.
She’d clearly had some fight training as well, because her movements were smooth as she dodged my punch, swinging her arm around to crack me in the side of the head. Fuck.
I didn’t let that stop me though, and my next hit was a solid smash into her nose. She hadn’t expected it. She’d thought hitting me would be enough to stop me. But I’d been hurt a lot recently, and I was pretty sure my pain threshold was at a new high. “Are you bitches going to help?” Katelyn snarled.
Brittley shook her head. “I’m out. This shit is insane.”
She rushed from the room, and the other chick followed soon after. Leaving Katelyn and me alone.
/> “Now, you should run,” I advised, even though my stomach was still churning at everything she’d said. I was damn fucking good at false bravado. “We all know the head bitch can’t fight her own fights ... your squad has bailed.”
The bathroom door slammed open then, and my heart sank until I turned to find Dylan framed in the doorway. Now it was my turn to smirk. “You’re fucked now,” I said cheerfully.
Katelyn backed up, clearly well aware of the deadly skills of my guys. “Get out,” he said without inflection, and she was gone in a flash.
“Thanks, dude,” I said cheerfully, ignoring the feeling of dread in my gut. “I still gotta pee though, so can you stand guard.”
Dylan nodded, his face hard and unyielding. He was not happy, and I couldn’t blame him. This might have ended differently; Katelyn was a complete psycho and she could have had a gun or anything.
When I was done, hands washed, I joined Dylan who had not moved from the doorway, keeping out any other students.
There was a line of glaring chicks when we got out; I must have missed the bell ringing for next class. When they noticed Dylan with me though, they stopped glaring and started drooling. This was half the reason I got hate, because everyone wanted the Delta boys, and they fucking hated that I appeared to have them.
“Riley!” Eddy shouted, distracting me as she rushed down the hall. “Did you fight with Katelyn?”
I blinked. “Heard that already, huh?”
Her pretty face looked darker and angrier than usual. “I’m gonna kick her ass,” she said.
I shook my head. “Don’t even stress on it. There was hardly any fight, and I managed to crack her in the nose, so I’ll take that as a win.”