Page 27 of Midnight of Ashes
A few weeks ago, the thought would’ve been preposterous. Now it felt normal. More than that, it felt right.
Easton strode ahead, opening the door. The building was full of students heading to their various classes.
Delaney and Bella strode by as Delaney sent me a look that should’ve fried me on the spot.
“Looks like she didn’t get the message yesterday,” Easton muttered.
Knox glanced at him. “She has Mad’s class with you guys, right?”
Easton nodded.
“Keep a lookout,” Knox ordered. “I don’t like how she’s fixated on Hayden.”
Easton jerked his head in a nod.
We wound our way through the halls until a guy stepped into our path. He licked his lips in an exaggerated motion. “How do I get in line for a piece? Or do you require payment?”
One moment he was in front of me, and the next he was pinned against the wall, three feet in the air. Cáel pressed his forearm to the guy’s throat. “Say. That. Again.”
Everyone in the hallway froze, all stopping to stare at the show.
“Fuck, man. I was kidding,” he wheezed.
Easton strode up next to Cáel, casual as could be. “Does it look like anyone’s laughing?”
“N-n-no.”
“Put him down, Cáel. I’m pretty sure he already shit his pants. I can smell it,” Easton said with disgust.
Some of the students around us snickered, and the guy flushed.
“No,” Cáel grunted.
“Let him go this once, and if he says something again, I’ll let you gut him like a fish,” Easton said casually, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
The guy’s face went from red to sickly pale. “I-I won’t say anything. Swear.”
Cáel growled low but released his hold, and the guy crumbled to a heap on the floor. I was pretty sure he was crying.
“Shit, man,” the redheaded friend of Knox’s muttered as he walked up. “What’d Erik do to Cáel?”
Knox’s grip on me was just shy of pain, and I saw that he was struggling for control. I quickly slipped a hand under his tee, pressing my palm to his back. “I’m okay,” I whispered.
Knox swallowed hard. “He said some shit about Hayden.”
Jason’s eyes widened, and then he glanced at the fallen guy. “Real dumb move, Erik. Tell all your soccer buddies that Hayden’s off-limits.”
Erik scrambled to his feet, flipping Jason off but jogging down the hallway.
Jason sent me a grin. “Some guys have no manners. I, on the other hand?—”
A hand came out to smack him across the back of the head. Their friend, Frank, shoved him aside. “Did you not just see shit-his-pants-Erik get his ass literally handed to him?”
Cáel stalked around them and into my space, breathing hard. His white-blond hair swung around him with the force of his agitation.
The entire hallway went deadly quiet.
I released my hold on Knox and lifted my hands to Cáel’s cheeks. I pulled his face down to mine so that our foreheads pressed together. “I’m good. It’s just an idiot saying stupid stuff.”
