CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BLAZE
I skipped classes for two days, doing my best to rest at home. It wasn’t easy. On the third day, I said fuck it, packed my shit up, and went to campus.
Music classes weren’t nearly as fun as usual. My nose was swollen twice its size. Dark purple bruises stretched out beneath my eyes. The lingering headache from taking a baseball bat to the face was starting to wear on me. I didn’t like relying on pills to keep the pain at bay. Unfortunately, listening to a class filled with musicians play instruments at top volume sure as shit didn’t help.
Also, if one more person asked me what happened, I was going to lose my shit. My go to response had become, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
After my last class let out, I went to the cafeteria to meet Cash and Daire. The three of us were going to track down Jet and have a little chat. He’d made a bold move by trying to blackmail us. Maybe he was king shit as the leader of his campus cult but he was nothing and nobody to us. Jet had just made the worst mistake of his life so far.
Cash was already waiting in the cafeteria when I arrived. Two girls in cheerleader outfits were trying to chat him up, doing their best to flirt. Flipping their hair and batting their lashes didn’t get the reaction they wanted. His expression remained cold, entirely unimpressed. When one of them attempted to squeeze his bicep, he jerked his arm out of reach.
As soon as he spotted me, he walked away, ignoring their disappointed pouts. I understood completely. Nobody mattered now that we had Clover. She was our everything, and everybody else paled in comparison.
“Shit,” Cash laughed. “You look rough in the harsh light of day. How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been hit in the face with a baseball bat. How do you think I feel?” I didn’t share his humor. Nothing about my aching face was funny.
When Daire strolled up, obviously a little high on pain pills, I wasn’t the only one looking rough. The lump on his head had started to recede. The bruises down the side of his face were still blue and purple. Not to mention the knife wounds from Raina. We were a fucked up looking pair.
“Do you think this is really a good time to confront Jet?” Cash eyed the two of us. “He’s not going to back down without a fight, and I don’t think either of you are up for a fight right now. Probably better not to take another hit in the face any time soon.”
Daire stretched his arms over his head, cracking his neck from side to side. “I feel great. Ready to kick Jet’s ass all over campus.”
“Because you’re hopped up on pharmaceuticals,” I pointed out.
“Well, yeah. Aren’t you?” At the shake of my head, Daire added, “Your loss.”
Even rolling my eyes at him hurt. Maybe I should have taken a painkiller.
We wandered the campus, checking Jet’s usual hangouts. It came as no surprise to me that he was studying philosophy and theology. I guess a guy who ran a cult and a group named the Demons liked to keep up on that stuff. After asking around, we learned that he should be between classes right now, which meant he was most likely somewhere on campus.
We found him outside smoking pot with his sidekicks, Finn and Asher. Other people occupied a few tables and benches nearby, trying to enjoy the early fall weather before it got too cold to linger outside. Jet saw us coming, a grin spreading across his face.
“I’ve got to give you guys credit,” he said. “Your girl sure is a hottie. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve jerked off to her video.”
Anger sliced through me, infusing me with the sudden urge to kill. Daire was clearly feeling it too since he walked straight up to Jet and punched him in the face. It knocked him back into Finn who caught him.
“You are going to drop this blackmail shit, unless you want to end up with your dismembered parts distributed all over the countryside.” All fired up, Daire grabbed Jet around the throat, shoving him hard against the exterior of the building. “Do you fucking understand, asshole?”
Jet shoved Daire back, straightening his t-shirt. “Hands off, dick. You really don’t want to piss me off. Your girl will pay the price when the many perverts of the internet get an eyeful of her goods. Is that what you want?”
Cash grabbed Daire’s arm before he could make another move. “No, that’s not what we want. That’s what we came to talk about. You have to get rid of that video.”
Running a hand through his dark hair, Jet’s smile reeked of satisfaction. “Sure. After you help me with my little problem. We’ve already discussed this. I’m not interested in another scrap. I’ve stated my terms.”
“And we’re here to state ours,” I snapped, ready to take a swing at him myself. “You know if you post that video, we’ll kill you. Do you really want to make us an enemy?”
“What’s to stop us from killing you after we help you?” Daire asked, straining against Cash’s hold. “You didn’t think this through, did you?”
Jet gaze a lazy shrug. “Guess I’ll have to hold onto that video indefinitely.”
I shot Daire a dark glare. He was only making things worse.
Asher tossed his blond and blue hair off his forehead, eyeing us curiously. “What happened to you guys? Doesn’t really look like you’re up for a fight.”
Before I could answer, Daire snarled, “Trust me, I’m on enough drugs to drop a horse. I’ll beat your ass and not feel a thing. Don’t fucking try me.”
“Have you ever stopped to consider that we might make valuable allies?” Finn asked, taking a drag off the joint they’d been sharing. As a peace offering, he passed it to Daire.
Snatching the joint, Daire took a hard pull. “Jet ruined any chance of that when he took a video of Clover. How the fuck would you feel if I did that to Lyra?”
That remark stole Jet’s smile. “It would make me want to fucking kill, just like this Ryan asshole she’s been seeing. She thinks I don’t know, but I know everything she does. He has to go, and you three are going to help me. In fact, to make sure you do, I’m giving you three days. If we don’t take care of my problem by then, your girl goes live online.”
“Lyra would hate you if you did that to one of her best friends,” I pointed out, trying to make him see reason. “Wouldn’t that only work against you in the long run?”
Talking to a guy like Jet was an exercise in futility. He’d never been a friend of ours despite having exchanged small favors in the past. He was determined to rope us into murder, something I preferred to do on our terms. I didn’t think we had a choice this time.
He scoffed. “She already hates me. What difference does it make? She’s still mine. Eventually, she’ll have to accept that.”
Considering we’d claimed Clover as ours and put her in a tough position at the time, not a single one of us could argue. But because she was ours, we had to do whatever it took to protect her. Even if that meant helping Jet with murder.
Daire wasn’t quite so willing to cooperate. He flicked the remains of the joint in Jet’s face. “Fuck you and fuck your three days. We will not be blackmailed.”
To top it off, he broke away from Cash, lunging at Jet. The two of them went down, tussling on the yellowing grass. Cash and I took one look at Finn and Asher. Then it was on.
Cash went for Finn while Asher came at me. I did my best to block the hits he threw. My face couldn’t take it. Grabbing his fist, I twisted his wrist, pulling it behind his back. I wrapped my free arm around his neck, choking off his air supply.
People around us began to shout. It didn’t take campus security long to break it up. They quickly surrounded us, dragging us apart.
As they pulled Jet away, he shouted, “Three days, fuckers. Three fucking days.”
We were kicked off campus and given a warning. If we returned that day, we’d be charged with trespassing. We were also told to report to the dean’s office the following morning. Son of a bitch.
“I am going to kill that motherfucker.”
Daire raged all the way back to the house. I didn’t blame him. Jet had pissed me off too. We’d brought this on ourselves. We’d gained a reputation for taking out the trash. Although we’d never admitted to our activity, people knew. The Demons knew. Now they were cashing in.
“Let’s just do it,” I said when we got back to the house. “Then we’ll make sure that Jet knows he owes us. Anything we damn well want.”