How Sinners Fight (Sinners of Hawthorne University 2)

“I don’t fucking understand?” Declan finally explodes, and I’m not at all surprised that between him and Elias, he’s the one who lost his cool first. “You selfish asshole. You’re using Beth’s death as an excuse to act like a dick, and I’m fucking done with it. Fuck you.”

If I thought things couldn’t get any quieter before, I was wrong. Everyone here knows what happened to Beth. Everyone here knows how close Gray and Beth were, and how her death at the beginning of last summer wrecked him. Everyone also knows that you don’t talk about Beth unless you want your head chopped off, and if it wasn’t clear that the Sinners were over a few minutes ago, it’s sure as hell fucking clear now.

“I made a mistake, Gray,” Declan continues, his voice firm. “I made the biggest fucking mistake of my life by backing up all of your bullshit last semester and hurting Sophie for no reason other than the fact that she’s the scholarship student who is here in honor of your sister’s life.”

My heart is racing in my chest, crawling up my throat as Declan continues. “You were so determined to torture her. Bully her. Make her pay for something that wasn’t her fucking fault. And we helped you because we saw how much pain you were in. Maybe we thought if you just got it out of your system, you’d be able to move on. But I’m fucking tired of cutting you slack.”

Declan takes a step forward, and the crowd around us almost takes an involuntary step back, as if they’re preparing for something to happen. He stops so close to Gray that their shoes practically touch, and everyone seems to strain a little more, listening even harder when Declan speaks again.

“You know what the worst part is?” he says, his voice rough with emotion, his eyes dark. I get the feeling he hates this as much as he hates what his friend is doing, and it’s not easy for him. “The worst of it is that Beth would be fucking ashamed of you, Gray. She loved you. She looked up to you. And she’d hate to see how much of a prick her brother actually is.”

One second passes.

Then two.

Then three.

I’m holding my breath. Gray’s face goes blank. Absolutely fucking blank, a void. Just a face. No emotion, no human expression. He could be a wax statue, nothing underneath that skin—no heart, no mind, no pulse, no blood.

My chest constricts. Just a tiny, painful squeeze of my heart. As much as I hate that I ever shared any connection with Gray, I can’t deny that I did. And enough of that connection still exists that I can feel how much Declan’s words have hurt him.

Two more seconds pass.

Then, without warning, Gray’s fist shoots through the air.

He moves before Declan has time to dodge or even block the blow, and his knuckles connect with Declan’s jaw with a loud crack.

The silence of the crowd breaks in an instant, like someone turned the volume back on. A roar of shouts and cheers and whistles rise up like a symphony from hell around us as Declan shakes off the blow and throws a punch of his own at Gray.

Gray takes the hit, barely stumbling back from where he stands.

Hurt, rage, fear, burning anger: it flickers through his gaze in milliseconds, and he raises a fist again, fully ready to fight his friend in front of the entire school.

No.

I don’t know why, but I can’t fucking stand to watch this. Maybe I should enjoy seeing them fight, but something about it makes my skin crawl and my stomach twist unpleasantly. And I’m sure as hell not going to smirk like Caitlin is right now, her shiny little iPhone pointed at the scene, gloating over the fact that people are ready to tear each other apart.

Elias curses under his breath, and we both move before I even have time to think about it.

Just as Declan winds up to throw another punch, I shove my way between him and Gray, pushing at his chest.

“Stop it!” I yell as Elias joins me, yanking Declan away from Gray as I shove at him again. The two of us are barely able to hold him back. “Stop it Declan. He’s not fucking worth it!”

I didn’t ask for any of this.

I didn’t ask for them to fight over me.

I fucking hate it.

Gray’s jaw is already bruising, his eyes dark and stormy as his gaze flickers between me and Declan. I swear I can see the bridge between them burning right before my eyes.

It hits me, just like that. More than any of the shit that happened before, it hits me like a load of bricks being thrown at my chest that Declan and Elias mean it.

They’re on my side.

“Stay the fuck away from Sophie!” Declan yells, his voice hoarse. His whole body is shaking, the rage vibrating off of him. “I’m not kidding, you asshole. If you fuck with her again, you’ll pay for it.”

Declan and Elias are on my side.