Page 101 of Twilight of Embers
He scowled at me. “I heard you’ve missed several classes.”
I gulped. “I was feeling under the weather again. But I’ve made up all the work and talked to all my teachers.”
Brent’s jaw worked back and forth. “I expect more from you. We’ll meet tomorrow at five p.m. to discuss these recent issues.”
It was no longer a request but a requirement.
I winced but nodded. “Okay.”
Brent’s gaze lifted to Easton, who hovered behind me, and his eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say a word.
Easton let out a low growl as we walked away. “I don’t like him.”
“You and me both,” I mumbled.
The moment I was outside, I was hauled into strong arms. Cáel nuzzled my neck, breathing deeply. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I lied.
Cáel just held me tighter.
“That guy still breathing?” Knox asked his twin.
“Unfortunately,” Easton answered.
Knox shook his head. “Hopefully, your message was heard loud and clear.”
I burrowed deeper into Cáel’s hold. “You can’t just beat everyone to a pulp who says something mean to me.”
Cáel held me tighter, scowling. “Why not?”
“We can’t let it slide,” Knox said. “It’ll only get worse. We give a show of strength now, and it’ll be better in the long run.”
I sighed. “So much for being normal.”
Knox’s brows pulled together in confusion.
“All I wanted for my college experience,” I explained. “Just to be normal. I’d always been the foster kid, the one with the dead parents. People look at you differently. I thought I finally had a chance to blend in, to have a normal college experience.”
Knox moved into my space, his hands framing my face. “Hayden.”
“It’s dumb.”
“No, it’s not. If you want normal, we can give you normal,” he vowed.
Cáel scoffed, keeping his hold on me. “We wouldn’t know normal if it bit us in the ass.”
I should’ve listened to Cáel.
50
HAYDEN
My last class of the day was a freshman English seminar. I didn’t mind it, even if some of the literary analysis seemed like grasping at straws to me. Because it was a freshman class, none of the guys were in it with me. They’d assured me that enforcers would be just outside if anything were to happen, but it meant that my classmates were free to make their opinions of me known.
“Slut,” one said as she tried to disguise it with a cough.
I ignored her, packing up my bag.
