Chapter 10
10
TOBY
After dropping Shiloh off at the building with all of the art studios inside, I race off toward my last class of the day. I’m late most days, but so is Professor Silas. She only takes attendance at the end of class and only because the school makes her. It’s an easy A as long as I do the assignments.
Outside of the classroom, there is a bit of a commotion, but being on the shorter side at five seven, I can’t see over the crowd. The sound of a slap makes most of the crowd part for someone to make a hasty retreat, and the drama lover in me creeps forward to get a good look.
“Bitch!”
I turn from the sight of the angry woman student stomping down the hall at the man’s shout. I mean, yeah, she slapped him in public, but that’s still no reason to be calling her names. Intent on giving the man a lesson in manners, I freeze at the sight of him.
He’s fucking huge! I’m pretty sure he’s taller than Jace and solid muscle where our teddy bear has some cushion. This guy also has some tattoos that I’m pretty certain came from time behind bars. As he turns fully to face my direction, my fear turns to pure rage.
This is the fucker who hurt my Shiloh. This is Michael.
Before my brain can kick in and remind me that this guy can squash me like an insect, I race forward to sucker punch this ass-nugget in the balls. I must have caught him off guard because he goes down like a douglas fir in December.
“Timber, mother fucker,” I grunt out and proceed to start kicking him anywhere I can reach. Too bad the asshole covered his head. I would love to stomp him until his brains leak out.
“Toby! Stop it!”
I can feel hands pulling at me, but I shake them off. I feel my elbow make contact with something with a satisfying crunching noise. This piece of shit needs to die for what he’s done to my Shiloh. It’s the only way to give him some real peace from the nightmares.
Arms wrap around me, trapping my hands to my sides and I’m lifted away from the whimpering shithead on the ground. I struggle against the hold that has me trapped and can’t stop the animalistic growl that escapes my throat.
Someone leans in close to my face, holding a bloody rag up to his face. It takes me a few seconds to recognize Professor Barnes. Oh, shit. Eric’s gonna kill me for hurting his Mattie, but fuck if I’m done with this asshole .
“Down, boy,” he commands softly. “You need to calm down before you end up in jail. You haven’t done any real damage to Greg, but you need to stop now.”
The rage disappears in an instant. Greg? Who the fuck is Greg?
Looking past my professor turned neighbor, I get a better look at the guy on the ground. He’s still big and tatted up, but now that I’m looking, he’s missing the scar on his face and his eyes are all wrong.
“I fucked up,” I mumble quietly enough that only Matt and the guy holding me can hear. “I thought it was him . I can’t let him near my kitten.”
Campus security shows up late to the party, as usual, and requests in a not very nice way for me to join them. They also help up the guy, Greg, to take him to the infirmary. There’s a bunch of hushed conversations happening around me while I’m marched away from the classroom to face my doom.
I see Matt running to catch up to that Greg guy and his escorts while I’m doing the walk of shame alone. I assaulted a total stranger because he slightly resembles the man who haunts my best friend’s every moment. I broke the nose of my neighbor slash professor slash kind of friend when he tried to stop me from making the first mistake.
Mother was right. I’ll never be anything more than a screw up.