Chapter 70 #2
By now, Rook has been shoved against a wall, each arm pinned by two of the other guys. Knox approaches and makes a fist, punching Rook in the stomach so hard that he jerks. Rook groans as his head droops.
“Stop it!” I shout, struggling against the iron of Jackson’s hold. “You jackasses! Stop it!”
“He humiliated me!” Knox shouts. “You fucking scat! You think you’re so special. So fucking full of yourself!”
“Leave him alone!” I scream, jerking my shoulders, my wrists. “You’re hurting him.”
“And you,” Knox says, glaring at me. “Is this why you rejected me? So you could spread your legs for this animal?”
Knox delivers a second punch to the stomach and then a hook to the jaw. Rook’s head snaps back, hitting the wall with an alarming crack.
I scream. I’m furious with Rook, but I also can’t bear to see him hurt.
“Jackson, let go!” I shout.
I’ve always liked Jackson, but he has far too much misplaced loyalty when it comes to his friend. Months ago, he could have easily overpowered me, but they’ve all clearly forgotten what Rook and I are capable of.
I don’t want to hurt Jackson, but he’s leaving me no choice.
It’s at that moment that several things happen at once.
Rook looks up. His nose is bleeding, but a smile spreads over his face.
“What are you grinning about, asshole?” Knox sneers as Rook wrenches his arm from Sal’s grip. His fist connects with Knox’s jaw, and he goes flying.
At the same moment, I stamp on Jackson’s foot, hard enough to crunch a toe. He howls, his grip loosening, allowing me to spin around and aim a right hook for his jaw. I connect with his cheek, and he goes stumbling against the wall.
Rook has freed himself now, and the entire scene becomes a flurry of limbs and shouts as he fights them off one by one. He’s outnumbered, but it’s clear they don’t stand a chance.
Another pair of hands seizes me from behind, but I’m ready. I grab his wrist and yank, flipping him over my shoulder and onto his back. Sal lands with a thud and a groan, and though I want to kick him in the ribs as hard as I can, I resist.
These guys were sort of my friends once. They’re just a little misguided.
“Poet, what the fuck!” he howls. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
“Please,” I scoff. “What do you think I’ve been doing for the last months of cadet training?”
Jackson helps Sal up and they stumble to their feet, both facing toward me with their stances spread. While Rook continues fighting off the rest, I have the barest moment to glance at Knox, whose face is now covered in blood from a broken nose and what appears to be a few missing teeth.
“Don’t do this,” I say to Jackson and Sal. “You can’t really want to hurt me. I know you’re both better than this.”
They are. I have to believe that. They’ve never been vindictive.
I see the hesitation in their eyes.
“Please. We have to get out of here. Please help us.”
Their gazes slide together, checking in with each other, but I don’t get a chance to find out what they’d do because a moment later, more shouts draw our attention to a trio of Extinguishers rounding the corner.
“Everyone stop!” one of them demands as Rook punches an attacker in the face. He goes flying, and my and Rook’s gazes meet. We have to get the fuck out of here.
That’s when Jackson rushes past me.
He barrels into one of the Extinguishers, knocking him over, raining punches as the other two try to draw him off.
Sal goes next.
He shoves the Extinguisher off Jackson, pinning him to the floor, and it becomes a silent signal. Suddenly, everyone switches sides, and more fighting breaks out as several Guards appear. It becomes chaos.
Shots are fired, exploding against the ceiling.
Rook grabs my hand, and we shove through the mess, just as even more Guards appear at the far end.
“Let’s go,” he says, pulling me harder as we stumble in the opposite direction.
“There!” someone shouts. “Stop them!”
We keep running, bootsteps echoing against marble.
A body slams into me, and I go flying again. Someone is on top of me. Knox. One hand grips my throat, and the other is lifted, the glint of steel reflecting off the dim corridor lights.
“I lost everything because of you!” he roars, and the blade flashes as he swings.
The scream tears out of me on instinct—sharp, panicked, familiar.
This is how it always goes.
The shouting.
The blame.
The moment where I’m supposed to shrink and make it stop.
My father’s voice echoes in my head.
Knox’s layered right on top of it.
Look what you made me do.
The blade is coming for me.
I have time—just a heartbeat—to understand something.
I am so fucking tired.
Tired of swallowing the pain and calling it peace.
Tired of being the reasonable one.
Tired of bleeding quietly so other people don’t have to feel uncom-fortable.
I’m not about to die.
Not like this.
Not for him.
The fear burns out of me, replaced by something hot and steady and absolute. Every hand that ever grabbed me too hard. Every time I was told to smile. To endure. To be grateful.
I make a fist.
And for the first time in my life, I don’t pull the punch.
My knuckles connect with his already broken nose, and the impact reverberates up my arm like thunder.
Knox howls as he’s launched backward, slamming into the wall with a sickening crack.
I scurry to my feet and stand there shaking—not from fear.
From relief.
I look over to find Rook close by, wearing a proud smile on his face. “Good girl.”
I don’t say anything—I’m not sure I even can—but can’t help the matching smile curving one corner of my mouth.
Knox is groaning, crumpled in a heap, the bloody knife lying on the floor. Rook’s expression turns into a mask of rage. He grabs Knox by the collar, pulling him up.
“You would never have been good enough for her, dickhead.”
Then he strikes, his fist connecting with Knox’s other cheek.
Knox howls before he drops to the floor with a thud.
Rook shakes out his hand as he steps away. “Fuck, that felt good.”
He turns back to me, his gaze darting over my shoulder before he shouts, “Poet! Run!”
He grips my hand as we stumble together, trying to find our balance.
We make it a few feet, and I cry out as pain bursts in my left side.
Suddenly, my legs and arms stop working.
My body freezes, and I begin to fall.