Page 265 of Knox Academy Omnibus
Are you afraid of spiders, Batman?
Baxter
Piss off, I’m not afraid of anything.
Amelie
Except feelings.
Baxter
Sorry, who am I speaking to again?
Amelie
Your BFF. If you’re lucky we can make each other friendship bracelets.
Baxter
Chapter Eighteen
Baxter
Stepping off the curb at the airport, I wait for my driver to open the door. As much as I dread my next stop, it needs to be done. Camilla called again before I left and made it clear that she will be actively getting to know her granddaughter but that doesn’t sit well with me. She lived so close to Amelie her whole life, but never bothered with her? It’s only now that she is joining The Order that Camilla wants her around.
How she even knows that Amelie passed initiation or even ran in the contest...well, it means there is a mole among us. I may have worked with her to keep Amelie safe, but I would never open my mouth about the details of what was happening. Even I couldn’t hide from the ones they send to take you out.
I make a call to Frost and get the run down on some information I asked him to find me. He also informs me that Onyx is staying at Sawyer’s house. I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t stay with that horrid woman Monty calls a fiancée. Her and Cordelia would be in the running for biggest cunt of the year. I fucking despise them both. I can’t wait to help Amelie takerevenge on Laura. One day I might even get to deal with Cordelia too.
I have to keep myself busy; a certain dark-haired beauty keeps entering my thoughts. I have never been infatuated with anyone or anything like this before. Not since...well, the two people who landed me in Knox in the first place, but those thoughts get firmly locked down. Like always.
As Amelie would say, it has thrown me for a loop. What has Raven done to me? This new pansy-ass version of Baxter Branson is pathetic. I should just off myself now. It’s all downhill from here at this point. What's next? Two point five kids, a golden lab called Buddy and a white picket fence? Kill me now.
Only, I can totally see that raven haired beauty and I making amazing babies together. And I’d make sure we had a hell of a lot of fun making them.
We pull up at Sawyer’s house and my driver lets me out.
“Take my things home, I have a friend bringing my bike.”
That’s a lie. I don’t let anyone touch my bike. Ever. I’ve used wire cutters to dismember fingers over smaller infractions. Except Amelie. She touches the damn bike. I also don’t have any friends. Except Amelie. But she’s still halfway across the world. And I don’t like that either. It’s irrelevant; I can find my own way home, I don’t want a damson driver hanging around for this.
“What are you doing here?” Onyx snaps when he opens the door in just a towel. Looking him up and down, objectively, I try to see what Amelie might see in him, but I just can’t.
“You knew I was coming, dick,” I snap back. Maybe not now, or here to the house, but that's on him for assuming otherwise. “We need to talk and now is as good a time as any.”
“Hurry your ass inside, it’s cold and my brothers will be back in an hour.”
He doesn’t wait for me or offer to hang up my coat, not that I expected him to. I shut the door and throw my coat over the armchair, along with my gloves.
Onyx reappears in a pair of sweats. “Coffee?”
“Tea, if you have it.”
He mumbles something about Sawyer but puts the kettle on and potters around the kitchen, while I sit in silence until he is done and places the steaming mug in front of me.
“So, what was so important that you thought we could have a civil conversation and not kill each other?”
“Amelie's safety,” I state.
