She growls. “I’m not wearing them for—”
“Why should I trust you now?”
The way her eyes flicker between mine, as if she’s trying to find the answer in my irises, makes me feel a little sick. The longer she waits to respond, the less confident I feel, my heart quivering as I realize she’s not into me anymore. I’ve served my purpose with her. I don’t have any social standing on my own without my family to back me, and I’m merely the muscle she carries along for her debt collection.
It would be easy for her to use one of her guards, yet she keeps me around. Why the fuck is she doing that? To toy with me?
Just as she parts her lips to speak, chaos erupts at the entrance of the school. Students scatter in all directions, with security attempting to set up a perimeter. Three men wearing torn vests stride into the rapidly emptying hallways, the kind of brawny, no-brain hicks who don’t mind starting a fight.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I grumble as I take Alex’s arm. “The Scow Landing Mafia has arrived for retribution.” I glare at her. “Probably because of you. Come on.”
“We’ll be fine, right?”
I try not to focus on the concern in her voice. “Just stay behind me.”
“I’m not weak, Soren.”
“Yeah, and you’re not that fucking smart either. You remember the last encounter you had with these guys?”
Her silence is enough of an answer.
School security rushes onto the scene and clashes with private security. It’s a mess of mixed orders shouted into the air as guns are drawn. The school quickly goes into lockdown as the hicks are separated from the mess of security and threatened. Everyone has fled from the hallway except for the guards and hicks, leaving me and Alex backing slowly into a nook behind the wall of lockers.
A door knob jabs my elbow. I’m keeping my eyes on the scene ahead, trying to make sure things aren’t going completely to shit just yet. I cock my left ear toward Alex while keeping my eyes peeled. “What’s behind us?” I whisper.
“A closet.”
“All right, let’s get inside.”
She squeezes my bicep. “But Soren, they’re probably going to evacuate the school and—”
“You want to be hauled into the parking lot to be executed?”
Her trembling fingers clutch me hard. I grab the handle behind me, swing open the door, and shove her inside, fumbling to secure the door behind us.
“So much for your security team,” I snort while slapping the light switch. Dim fluorescent light blankets our shoulders. “Cozy.”
With the light on, I notice the bolt on the door. Thank the universe for paranoid cleaning ladies. I slip the lock into place quietly and turn around, studying our surroundings. The closet isn’t any bigger than a standard office and has plenty of items for us to use if we need to defend ourselves. Though the chaotic scuffling on the other side of the door seems to be drifting away from us, I don’t want to take any chances.
The speaker in the upper corner of the hallway near the closet door crackles with static and then the voice of our trusty headmaster comes through, his voice laced with urgency as he explains the situation to us. “Once the situation has been handled, all students and staff must evacuate immediately. The school will be closed until further notice.”
I hum. “Looks like an opportunity for quality time.”
Alex squints suspiciously at me while dropping her bag on a nearby chair. “Only you would say something like that.”
“Like what?”
“Point out the positive in such a shitty situation.”
I shrug. “Is that a bad thing?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She sinks into the far corner while folding her arms over her chest. She’s trying to hide from me. And why wouldn’t she? This ridiculous shit has been happening since her mother passed away. Alex just wants to use us for her personal gain. We’re not people to her. We’re just toys.
“I made a deal with Parker,” she whispers, her eyes rolling to the shelf on my right. “We made a vow when his father died.”
I frown. “Why are you telling me that?”