Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
“Uh, what the hell happened to your face?" Jaime asked Ben as he and I took our seats at the lunch table.
The left side of Ben's jaw had swollen a little, and he was sporting some splotchy green and yellow coloring lingering from where Thad's elbow strike had landed. It looked a lot better than it did an hour ago, at least.
"Oh, you know, we were doing some self-defense stuff in Gym," Ben said casually as he popped a piece of chicken from his salad into his mouth. "Thad and I might've gotten into it a little more than was truly necessary." He winked.
A glance over to the Elite table showed Thad glowering in our direction with the same fading green and yellow discoloration on his cheekbone where Ben had nailed him.
"Oh, uh-huh," Harriet said knowingly. "Any other self-defense mishaps to report?" She narrowed her eyes at me pointedly.
I shrugged. "I may have broken Nikka's nose. Just a little."
The whole table again shifted its collective gaze to the Elite table.
Nikka was in her usual position on Ice Man's lap, delicately sipping a Diet Coke through a straw.
She'd cleaned all the remnants of blood from her face, and the swelling in her nose was already reducing.
She had applied some heavy makeup, but you could still see the purple bags under her eyes.
"Damn, girl." Harriet winced. "I mean, I'm all for Parker getting what's coming to her, but are you sure that was the best idea?"
"No, but I sure enjoyed the fuck out of it." I grinned.
Everyone at the table chuckled. I peeked at the human jock table next to us, and I caught Blake giving me a questioning look with his eyebrows raised as he glanced over at Nikka and right back to me.
I just gave him a thumbs up and sent him an air kiss.
He smirked then, and I felt my panties melt a little.
After lunch, Chem was quiet. Nikka and Madison spent the whole class whispering to each other and pointedly ignoring Harriet and me, which was great. On my way to Stats, Blake appeared at my side, and we drifted toward the classroom together while dodging the mass of students crowding the hallway.
As we entered the classroom, Blake paused for a second and picked up my right hand to inspect it.
"Hmm. I assumed you were responsible for rearranging Parker's face, but not a scratch on your knuckles here," he mused.
"Was I just engaging in some wishful thinking?
" He rubbed his thumb slowly over my knuckles.
It may as well have been my clit with how hot and bothered the simple touch was making me.
I composed myself quickly, then I leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I broke her nose with my foot, Mr. Blaze."
I slunk away to my seat after that, and he just watched me go, looking hungry.
Me too, buddy.
Mason was frowning at me, per the usual, as I dropped into my chair.
"What?" I snapped at him as the teacher approached the whiteboard and began to scribble out the day's lesson.
He just looked at me, all scrutinizing and serious. "I think there's something going on that I'm not aware of. I think you and your brother are hiding something, and I think the Alpha knows about it. I want to know what the fuck is going on."
"Don't know what you're talking about there, Man Bun," I replied.
"If you have an issue with how your Alpha is running his pack, I suggest you take it up with him.
" I paused, then I dropped the sarcasm a bit so he could see I was serious.
"You might find he's not the type of Alpha that you thought he was—like maybe he's the type who would threaten a young wolf with what amounts to sexual slavery.
" I paused. "Or, maybe you do know exactly how he is, and it's me that's misjudged the type of wolf that you are, Mason Hayes. "
He reared back at my words and looked at me in shock. I glanced over my shoulder at Thad, who was also staring at me with a confused look on his face.
"You're lying," I heard Thad hiss behind me.
I just shrugged. Now was not the time to have it out with these two since the teacher had begun the lesson in earnest.
When class was over, I darted out of the classroom before the beta-wolf squad could interrogate me more, and before Blake could catch me to turn me into a puddle of goo by touching me on the arm or something.
I kept my nose in my tablet and workbooks all through Study Hall, trying to race through my various homework assignments so I wouldn’t have much left to do after my shift at Marilynn's that night.
I'd left my bag containing my work clothes in my locker at the gym, so after class I hustled across campus to change, planning to walk to work and leave Ben the car since he was staying around for soccer practice.
After I'd changed into my usual uniform of cut-offs, a ripped purple tank top, and my combat boots, I started down the hall to make my way back out into the gym.
As I approached the doors to the gym, I heard familiar voices, so I froze and tucked my body up against the wall of the hallway to eavesdrop.
The Three Musketeers were huddled up against the wall of the gym right next to the doors to the locker room hallway, having paused on their way out to soccer practice and whatever Thad does after school, to have a meeting.
I heard Mason saying, "... sure you don't know what your dad's said to her?"
"I told you, man," Knox replied, sounding frustrated, "He just keeps telling me I should lure her in like I do every other bitch. Wants me to have a choice when the time comes for me to mate, and he seems to think the fated mate thing is at least worth considering."
"Look, dude," Thad chimed in, "You know we support you in whatever you want to do and trust you and your dad want what's best for the Pack. But if he threatened her, it would be helpful for us to know it. She and her brother are super fucking volatile and could cause us problems."
Harsh, Nerd Porn, but... probably true.
I heard Knox chuckle a bit and say, "You've just still got your panties in a twist over the fight this morning. It's okay if you're into him, man. I'm straight as fuck but I almost got hard watching you two go at it."
"Fuck you, Knox."
Mason was exasperated. "I still think your dad's hiding something, Knox. The dinner? The dynamic with Mave's dad? The way he seems to care more about this than he should, given how hung up he's been on the potential of a Mississippi Pack merger? I don't know."
"Would you just fucking relax?" Knox said.
"I appreciate you looking out for me like you always do, but this isn't a thing, okay?
Mave's pissed at me because of the rejection, but she'll give in to the urge to fuck me at some point.
They all do, and she's got the bond pushing her hard.
She's jealous of Nikka, which is what I want.
My dad will get what he wants when I tell him I've got her on the hook, and I'll get what I want, which is him off my back and to fuck the hot new girl without having to take an omega wolf as a mate.
And I'll continue to put off my actual mating for as long as fucking possible. "
My fists were clenched at my sides as I stood there, listening and seething. Ice Man better hope he didn't run into me in any dark, deserted spaces anytime soon because I was going to rip his nuts off then smash them under the heel of my boot.
But also, unless he was straight-up lying to his best friends, it didn't sound like he was aware of the Alpha's true threats against me, so there was at least that.
They started to walk away. "... trying to get Mave interested in fucking you, I'm not sure you're going about it the right way," Thad was saying.
"I know you're used to being able to be a total dick to girls before and after you fuck them, and they just keep coming back with a 'please sir, may I have another,' but my sense is your usual methods may not be effective in this particular situation. "
"Agreed," I heard Mason chime in.
"Fiiiine," Knox drawled as they headed out the door. I peered out around the doorframe to catch sight of them. Knox punched Mason in the shoulder, and they all jostled each other like bros do, then disappeared out the door.
When the coast was clear, I stalked out of the gym, backpack on my shoulders, and headed down the sidewalks and out the front gate. I stomped all the way to Marilynn's, where I had to take a total of two tequila shots to calm down before my shift.
Fuck that slimy, lecherous, self-involved asshole.
Clearly I still had a ways to go to force that jackass to respect me even the tiniest bit—to see me as more than some dumb female who would eventually just be reduced to her baser instincts of chasing Alpha dick.
A few patrons began trickling in the open bay doors for after work drinks and food.
As I started pouring happy hour beers, I realized it was odd that this particular notion came into my head.
I forced a smile at the few people who settled at the bar while Pen and the runners were shuffling between the tables with trays of drinks and food.
Is that really what I want?
I certainly didn’t want Knox as a mate or even as a friend. But did I want to demand his respect?
Actually, yeah, I think I did.