* * *
“So…” Paul said as began the walk back to the welcome office. “You don’t have more questions? I just told you some pretty crazy stuff in about a minute’s time and here you are, ready to march down and sign up as my Sentinel. And you don’t even know what that is. I’m not sure I do!”
Steven made a face. “Don’t care. You said you need me to watch your back. Does it really matter why? You asked for my help. I’m here.”
Smiling, Paul started to get a little misty-eyed until Steven added, “And you said I’m done with school.”
Sighing, Paul ruefully shook his head. They rounded the corner to the main second-floor hall where the elevators were, and almost ran straight into Hodge and Rex.
“What’s up, new guy?” Hodge asked casually. He and Rex were lounging against the wall near the elevator, obviously aware that Paul and Steven would be coming back this way. Looking Steven up and down in disgust, Hodge wrinkled his nose. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised a reject like you would have to scrape the bottom of the redneck barrel to find himself a friend.”
Pushing away from the wall and standing up to his full height, Hodge approached them with a look of pure contempt. Rex stayed where he’d been, still leaning against the wall, saying nothing.
Looking down at Steven, Hodge said, “So this is your guy, huh? Don’t look like much.”
Annoyed, Paul sighed. “Hodge, this is Steven. Steven, this is Hodge. We’re on our way to meet Dr. Abrams. You want to get out of the way?”
Hodge took a break from staring daggers down at Steven, briefly flicking his eyes at Paul. “Say please, new guy. No need to be so rude.”
Knowing Steven’s inability to keep his temper under control and knowing that Hodge had probably already read about it in Lisa’s report, Paul stepped between the two of them, breaking the staring match.
“Look Hodge, seriously,” Paul said. “We’ve got things to do and you know time isn’t something we have a lot of, so quit screwing around and move.”
Hodge looked back at Rex and smirked. “New guy thinks he’s running the show here, Rex. How about that? He imports a friend and suddenly he’s got balls.”
Apparently Steven had had enough. He pushed Paul aside and stepped up chest to chest with Hodge. “Nice to meet you, assbag,” he said quietly. “Less than one minute and I already want to kick your ass. You got a problem with Paul, you got a problem with me. You got a problem with both of us—well, you got a big frickin’ problem.”
In the blink of an eye, Rex flew across the hall and pushed Steven up against the wall with his left forearm, his right hand holding a dull silver blade to Steven’s throat. Neither of them spoke a word, neither blinked an eye. No trace of emotion whatsoever showed on Rex’s face as he stared unblinkingly at Steven. Steven stared back, one eyelid slightly closed.
Paul took half a step forward, but realized that this was more of a pissing contest than an actual fight. Steven was in no real danger. Not wanting to escalate it into something more, he decided to hold his ground and say nothing.
Smirking, Hodge sauntered up behind Rex and placed a hand on one leather-clad shoulder. “I think we’ve made our point, Rex. I suppose we can let them go take care of their business now. After all, we wouldn’t want to keep Dr. Abrams waiting, now, would we?”
Exhaling through his nose, Rex released the pressure on Steven’s throat and slowly backed away, maintaining eye contact until he was out of arm’s reach. Casually, then, as if to convey a lack of regard or concern, he flicked his blade closed and into an inner pocket in his coat, put his ear buds in ears and turned his back on Steven, walking away down the hall behind Hodge.
Rounding on Paul, trembling with rage, Steven demanded an explanation with blazing eyes. “What the hell kind of place is this, man? Who was that prick? What the hell!”
“I told you,” Paul said. “I’m in over my head. I need a friend and guardian. And believe it or not, those two guys are the least of my problems. In fact, those two guys are two of the people we’ll probably have to work with.”
“Nice,” Steven fumed. “I will not forget that. Both those cock-knockers are on my short list.”
“Yeah,” Paul said. “Well, they’ll probably be on it permanently. But as far as I can tell, even though Hodge is always like that, he’s pretty much all talk. Rex is his Sentinel. It’s his job to protect Hodge, and you threatened him. I just stay clear of both of them, but the fact that we live in the same building makes that hard sometimes.”
Steven stared in the direction that Hodge and Rex had gone, breathing heavily.
“Come on,” Paul said, punching Steven in the arm. “Let’s go see what kind of abuse Dr. Abrams and Dittrich have in store for us with our training.”
Watchers of the Night Page 31