Chapter 18
Creed
Eli. Eli. Eli.
No one calls me that. No one’s fucking allowed because that’s what my mom called me. Back in a different life when I was a child full of dreams and hopes. Back when I was good and deserved good things.
Whenever someone’s called me Eli over the years, I’ve lashed out. It’s Creed. Always. Elias if someone’s trying to piss me off. Mostly Hyde when he decides I need berating. Sometimes Noah.
But Eli?
That’s wrong. Too soft. Too good for a man seeped in blood, plagued by the past, and shaped by violence, but fuck if it didn’t sound perfect from Millie’s lips.
It’s like she saw something in me that shouldn’t exist anymore.
A part of me that shouldn’t have survived my bad temper and worse decisions.
I stalk through the quad, my spine tingling, thoughts fractured. The morning with Millie keeps playing at the backs of my eyelids, my concentration shot. It’s good that today’s light on classes. I can’t recall a single thing Professor Tomkinson spewed over that two-hour lecture.
It’s not just Millie occupying my headspace, though.
The next fight night is on my mind too because I won’t challenge some random guy at the last minute.
Somebody has truly pissed me off and it just so happens that I find the fucker surrounded by friends as I round the corner, heading toward the cafeteria.
They stand outside the North Wing, clustered by the hood of Jasper’s overpriced, lime-green BMW M4. An excessively powerful toy that gives small dick energy.
He laughs at something his buddies say, the sound grating my nerves. Rationally, I know all he did was make Millie uncomfortable. She told Hyde everything, and he repeated it to me, Noah, and Dash later that evening.
But rational thoughts don’t stand a chance once Millie’s tear-stained face flashes through my mind. I spent a full minute coaxing her off that treadmill before her choking sobs and lack of response started clawing me open.
A metal chain squeezed my throat, fear that someone fucking hurt her stealing my breath. She was lost in her head, feet thumping against the treadmill on its highest speed. Seeing her so scared tore a hole right through my sternum.
I pull a red marker from my back pocket, shouldering past Mateo, Rowan, and Dex. Jasper barely has time to look up before I pin him against the wall by the collar of his hoodie.
His friends fill the air with fucks and shits.
“Creed, what the—?” Jasper starts, the rest of that sentence knocked out of his mouth as I connect his head with the stone facade. “Shit, man, what the hell?”
I uncap the marker with my teeth, drawing a prominent X across his forehead. “Next time you look at Ward’s sister, remember this.”
“I didn’t do anything!” His eyes flick over my shoulder, seeking help from his buddies.
Not one of them dares to interfere.
“We were just joking around,” he continues, voice rising an octave. “Abby’s with us now and Millie’s her friend, right? I mean, she’s never alone, so I thought—”
“Stop talking,” I snap, capping the marker.
“Come on, Creed. That beef between me and Hyde is old news. I don’t give a shit about him or his sister, alright?” He raises both hands in surrender. “I don’t want to fight. How about I stay away from Millie, and we call it a day?”
“Damn right you’ll stay the fuck away from her.”
I shove him into the wall again and his skull cracks against the stone with a dull, satisfying sound. His eyes glaze over and someone decides to help him, a heavy hand landing on my shoulder. I look over, cocking an eyebrow at Mateo.
“Get your hands off me unless you want to be next.”
He lets go, holding up both palms. I turn back to the guy who’ll be strutting around campus with two black eyes and a broken nose after the fight.
“You know the drill, Jasper. You don’t have to show up. You can forfeit. That’s your choice, but make no mistake... touch Millie again, and you won’t get a fucking choice. I’ll break your jaw wherever I find you.”
I let him go, but Mateo slides into my path, playing brave.
“Give him a break, Creed. He didn’t do anything, honestly. She panicked and ran for no fucking reason.”
“Yeah.” Dex nods along. “I have no beef with Ward, man, all respect to him—and you—but the sis isn’t all there.”
I whirl on him, anger gunning through me. “You want to join your buddy in the cage?” I snatch his throat, squeezing hard. “Because I don’t mind fucking you up, too.” I look at Jasper. “You need help again? I hear you can’t even satisfy a girl without backup.”
“Fuck you, Creed,” Jasper spits out.
“No, thanks.”
I look back at pink-faced and panting Dex who’s shaking his head so fast it’s a miracle he doesn’t snap his neck.
“I don’t want any problems, man.”
“Thought so.” I shove him back, adjust my hoodie and shoulder-check everyone who’s in my way.
Turning back the way I came, I spot Dash leaning against the North Wing’s doorway, arms crossed over his chest. He doesn’t say a word, just grins his signature shit-eating grin and falls into step beside me as I navigate the stone pathway, heading for lunch.
“Hyde set you up for that?” he asks.
“Nope.”
“Careful, Creed.” The grin widens, emphasized by a theatrical eyebrow wag. “A person might wonder if maybe you like Mini Ward a little too much.”
And said person would be correct.
Eli. Eli. Eli.
Goddamn it, I need to hear her call me that again.
“Hyde didn’t ask because he knew he didn’t have to,” I say, my boots squelching the damp lawn. “The more guys know to stay away from Millie, the better, don’t you think?”
Dash shrugs, taking me over in three strides to shove the double-winged cafeteria door open. “That depends... are you making a statement for her sake or yours?”
“Hyde’s,” I lie.
I don’t even know why, since Dash sees right through my bullshit. Maybe because Millie’s wreaking havoc in my system and I refuse to verbally admit that I’m ignoring my best friend’s warning and betraying him all in one breath.
“Yeah, right,” Dash muses, cutting the buffet line. “You’re see-through, Creed. I’m surprised Hyde hasn’t noticed.”
So am I.
He’s too busy with babying Millie and glaring at Noah whenever he acts too friendly toward her to pay me any heed. He’d have a hissy fit if he knew I want Millie, too. As much as he respects me, as close as we are, he’d never approve.
Not with my track record of fucking up.
Dash leans in, lowering his voice now we’re surrounded by other people. “I’d love to be a fly on the wall once Hyde realizes that not one but two of his best friends are thinking about bending his little sister over the closest flat surface.”
“Unless you want to get on my shit list, mind your words,” I clip. “I love you, but my temper’s fragile today, so I’ll knock you the fuck out.”
“Riling you up is the only way to get you to spill your guts, Creed.” He grasps my shoulder hard enough that his fingers bite into the muscle. “Try not to kill Noah, alright? Or Jasper.”
“I make no promises.”