Page 47 of Reign of the Queen
A shout gets all of our attention from the far side of the cafeteria. There's a group of students making their way over there and blocking the view from our sitting position.
"What's going on over there?" Mateo is already rising and moving around the table.
We can hear shouting and crying from our location. I get up and follow Mateo across the cafeteria floor. Theo and Finn, hot on my heels.
When we reach the group, Mateo pushes at various students' shoulders, and once they realize who's touching them, the spectators part readily. In the middle of the crowd is a young junior girl on her knees, held by a hand wrapped around her dark brown ponytail. At the other end of that hair is a sophomore I don't know but recognize; he's on the baseball team with Mateo.
"What the fuck you doing, Chad?" Mateo thunders, grabbing onto Chad's wrist to prevent him from further pulling on the poor girl's hair.
"Teaching this hoe a lesson," Chad spits back, tightening his grip on the ponytail regardless of the fact that Mateo has him in his grasp.
"Let her go." I move forward towards Chad and the poor girl on the floor with tears streaming down her face. Everyone around us was watching the sickening show and not attempting to intervene.These vultures all deserve a reckoning.
"No, I'm not afraid of you bitch. My family's wealthy, too." He yanks harder, dragging the poor girl a few more inches across the floor.
Theo pushes through the crowd until he's right in front of Chad. Without a word, he rears back and lets his fist ram at lightning speed to the side of Chad's temple. Chad immediately releases the girl's hair and goes down hard.
I scoot down, grab the girl by the arm and drag her a safe distance. Chad, the dumb ass, tries to recover and get back on his feet only to get a kick right in the stomach from Mateo.
"Are you ok?" I ask the girl, looking her over to see if she's hurt anywhere else. Besides her hair and clothing, which are both a mess, her face flushed, but she doesn't look like she's physically hurt.
"Yes...he wouldn't take no. I... I kept telling him no... I don't want to do anything with him." She lets out a huge sob, snot, and mascara running down her face.
"You mother fucker, Stevens. You tried to force her!" Mateo kicks Chad again harder. Finn grabs onto Mateo to keep him from losing control.
"He tried to force you?" Theo turns and questions the girl.
She looks terrified at Theo speaking to her. She can't seem to get any words out and nods her head, shrinking in on herself and leaning further into my body to escape Theo's wrath.
A cloud of red fury descends across my vision. I stare at Chad, rage boiling through my veins. "You're a dead man," I spit out at him.
He goes to open his mouth to respond to my threat, but Mateo gives him another kick, this time to the groin. A high-pitched shriek leaves Chad's mouth and he curls up on himself.
"Your queen has spoken; Chad is a dead man breathing!" Finn shouts out to the rest of the spectators. Everyone takes a step back and distances themselves from Chad's presence.The sick cowards.
Raegan and I lift the poor girl from the floor and hold her up between us. "What's your name?" I question her.
The girl opens her mouth to answer, but nothing but sobs make their way out.
“Candance, her name is Candance,” Raegan responds for the poor, shaking girl. I let Raegan take Candance's weight and move back to Chad and the kings. Carter has now made his way into the group, having been called over by the shouting.
He's moving behind Chad, shifting back and forth like he's trying to rein in his rage, a caged tiger pacing. The grace of a predator moving within his toned frame.Hell, that’s sexy. Terrible timing, I know for that inappropriate thought.
"Carter," I motion with my head at Chad, and he immediately gets what I want him to do. He grabs onto Chad's head and neck, effectively putting him in a headlock.
Mateo moves out of the way so that I can approach Chad. I crouch down to where he's still on the floor. His eyes are terrified, and his chest rises and falls with adrenaline and fear. Good, he finally realizes how precarious his situation has just become. He thought he was a predator; Chad has no idea who the alpha predator here is.
Blood trickles down the side of his head from where Theo sucker punched him. He should be afraid; I am scarier than anyone here; he just hasn't figured that out yet, but he's about to, and so will the rest of the vultures watching.
I reach out and sink my nails into the side of Chad's face. He flinches and whimpers in pain. Carter grabs onto a fist full of his hair to keep him still. I use my other hand to pull a pocketknife from my skirt's hidden pocket. I open it and just run the sharp blade down Chad's whiskered cheek.
"You like forcing girls, Chad?" I dig my nails in again, a little lower on his face, and move the blade to create a shallow cut on the side of his chin.
Chad's face is turning a shade of puce with the force Carter is putting around his head and neck. The gouges on his face from my nails have filled instantly with blood, and the cut on his chin is starting to gather with blood.
"You don't care what I say; you're wealthy too, huh?” I question, never taking my eyes off of him.
"You think you're entitled to do whatever you want because you're wealthy? Think that you can get away with anything?" I look from Chad to the rest of our audience.
