Chapter 29 – Reese #3
Any semblance of amusement slipped from Everett’s face.
“I’m not. Fuck that, I’m not sleeping with one of the professors here.
My point is, he was going to spread the rumor that I was and get me—and that professor—kicked out of here.
And ruin our lives. I’ve seen what he’s capable of.
I went to high school with that asshole, and he gets off on that kind of shit. So yeah, I faked the broken arm—”
Everett ripped the phone from my hands and threw it to the ground, stomped on it, picked it up again and threw it at the wall. When he turned around, his face was red and his eyes were wild as he stared at me with pure loathing.
He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, then opened his eyes as he exhaled through his mouth. “You were saying?”
I scoffed and shook my head, a nasty smile forming. “You do know about hard drives, right? Were you aware that you can save files in more than one place? Technology is crazy, isn’t it?”
His eye twitched as he stared at me.
I didn’t want to do this with him. There was no point; it would continue to be a circular conversation that went absolutely nowhere.
“Move,” I said, trying to go around him, but he stepped closer. I glared at him and backed into the wall. I wasn’t afraid of him, not one bit, and as much as I wanted to punch him in the face, to do something that would forever disfigure him like he’d done to Dakota, I’d made a promise to Dakota.
So I clenched my fists at my side and told him to move again as he smiled down at me like the evil piece of shit he was.
He didn’t move, and I didn’t expect him to.
He moved into my space and said innocently, “I just want to have a conversation. I’m not really sure what it is my brother sees in you, and I’d really like to figure it out.
” His eyes drifted over my port-wine stain, his lip curling a bit.
“I doubt it’s that hideous mark.” He lifted his gaze to my hair.
“Or this awful style. Help me out here, Reese. What is it, exactly, that he likes so much?”
“Are you jealous, Everett? That someone would like him? Honestly, you seem to be a little too obsessed with Dakota. Why? Inferiority complex much? Or are you in love with him or something?”
His eyes became vacant, his smile brittle, and a chill slithered down my spine.
“You know, I heard you were transferred for fighting. What do you think my father will do when he finds out you hurt his precious son? I’m talking about me, of course.
Dakota doesn’t count, and Val is…well, Val.
He’s just the afterthought. I’m the star of the show. Always have been, always will be.”
I wanted to burn that self-satisfied expression right off his face.
I wanted to grab his skull and smash it into the ground.
I wanted to fucking hurt him, this malicious bastard.
He was pure fucking evil, had done nothing but torment Dakota for years and years and I wanted him to fucking suffer for hurting him.
As much as I wanted to see Everett writhing in pain, my promise to Dakota mattered way, way more.
All I had were my words, which didn’t do much, especially when it became hard to think straight once my anger had reached its boiling point.
But I still had to try.
“If you think you can get away with all the shit you’ve done forever, then you’re not very smart.
Everything ends, Everett. Even your reign of terror.
And I’m the one who’ll be putting a stop to it.
Me. The poor little nobody with the shit stain on his face.
How does that feel? Huh? To be bested by someone like me?
” I taunted, heart hammering in my ears.
“Well, you can’t very well spread around false information if you can’t even speak, now, can you?” He said, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up.
My brows drew together in confusion. Was that a death threat? “What? Everett, just—”
“Don’t you think you should be more concerned with yourself?
” His dark, empty eyes lifted to mine. “Because once my father finds out what you’ve done, he won’t be transferring you.
No, I’m sure you’ll find the inside of a jail cell an inviting accommodation.
One you’re perhaps already familiar with. ”
What the fuck was he talking about?
“I haven’t done anything,” I snapped.
He grinned, chucked me under the chin, and said, “You’re about to.”
He stepped around me, drew his head back, and then…smashed his own face into the wall.
All I could do was stare at him, my mouth agape, as a tiny trickle of blood slid down his forehead. He smiled at me, his eyes empty, like he had no soul, and I was pretty sure he didn’t.
He was fucking insane.
“Ouch, Reese. That hurt,” he said with a fake pout, fingering the cut on his forehead. “Please don’t hurt me. Please stop.”
“You…” I stepped back, but the wall was behind me, and honestly, I was having a really hard time processing what was happening, believing that what I was seeing was real.
I jumped when he slapped his own face, and as those dark eyes locked onto mine, horror and confusion washed through me in a heavy wave.
“Please stop hurting me,” he said with a smile. I glanced left, toward the door at the other end, but he moved in front of me, blocking the path. “You’re just going to hit me and run away? Don’t be a coward.”
He reached out like he was going to touch my face, and I reacted before I could think about it. I slapped his hand away, and the surprise in his eyes quickly turned to anger.
I hadn’t anticipated any of this, and he moved so quickly I didn’t have time to recoil or stop it. He wrapped his hand around my throat and shoved me back into the wall.
Fuck me, this was definitely an extenuating circumstance.
“Here’s a little piece of advice, Mr. Walker, since you seem so clueless: don’t ever touch me.”
I laughed, though it came out as a choked, garbled sound. “You’re insane, you—” He squeezed his fingers and cut me off.
So I brought my knee up and rammed it into his balls.
I thought he’d let go, but he only gripped me harder and slammed my head into the wall.
Pain exploded through my skull, and for a long second, the whole world fell away. And then it came rushing back, along with Everett’s voice in my ear.
“That dog doesn’t deserve to have anything. Nothing. And you? Less than nothing. How dare you meddle in our business? You will never win going up against someone like me.”
I whipped my head forward, biting down on his arm.
Kept applying pressure as he let go of my throat and screamed, grabbing my hair and yanking.
Blood flooded my mouth as Everett started punching my head, one of the hits landing so hard on my ear that it knocked me off him and I went stumbling back into the wall.
My ears were ringing, head spinning, and Everett was drawing his fist back to punch me again when Evelyn came rushing up behind him—where the fuck had she come from?—and grabbed at his arm.
He pushed her away, sending her hard to the ground. “Get off me!”
There was a sharp, pained cry from Evelyn, and Jesus fucking Christ, he was a monster.
Everett turned around when he realized that it was his mom he’d pushed. “Oh, fuck. No, I’m—I’m sorry, I didn’t—God, what are you even doing in here?!”
Evelyn looked terrified, holding her hands up in front of her face. “Albert!” she wailed at the top of her lungs. “Albert!”
“Shut up!” Everett hissed, slapping a hand over her mouth.
Fuck no.
I shove off the wall and jumped onto his back with an enraged cry and tried to get him a chokehold.
“You little—” He slammed me into the wall, knocking the wind from me, then ripped my arms from around his neck and turned on me. “I’ll fucking kill you, you—”
Everett paused when the door at the far end of the room banged open and Albert stormed in.
I thought he would come this way, to save me or his wife, but he headed toward the opposite wall.
He grabbed something and ripped it from a wire, then turned on Everett, his face pale.
He was breathing hard, his eyes wide as he stalked toward his son.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” he hissed. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
A twinge in my side had me hissing in pain, and I reached up to wipe the blood off my eye.
He grabbed onto the front of Everett’s shirt. “Are you insane, you stupid bastard? Have you forgotten where you are? Who you are?”
The uncharacteristic panic in Albert’s voice was jarring. I finally managed to use the wall to sit up, breathing hard as the scene came fully into focus.
“Dad, it’s not what it—what are you talking about? He attacked me!”
Everett pointed at me as Albert held onto the front of his shirt. I glanced over at a trembling Evelyn, who looked dazed. Like she might faint any second. Was that blood on her face?
Had he hit his own mother?
“Everett!” Albert’s shout rang through the room. “The entire ballroom just heard every single word you said because the microphone was still on, you stupid fucking imbecile. You have ruined us.” Albert’s voice shook with the force of his words, a profound panic threaded in them.
Everett ignored his dad, pushing at Albert as he snapped at me. “How dare you hurt my mother!”
This jackass was still lying through his teeth, and all I could do was laugh.
“You think this is funny?” Everett ripped himself from his dad’s hold and started toward me.
“Everett, so help me god, if you—”
He ignored Albert, who yelled at him while Evelyn cried quietly off to the side.
Everyone had gone off the deep end.
I blinked as something warm and wet slid down into my eye. Fuck, that stung. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried lifting my hand to wipe it away, but then a hand was around my throat again, squeezing even harder this time, shaking me like a ragdoll.
“Everett!” Albert roared. It sounded faraway now.
I kicked him between the legs again, then clawed at his eyes. “Fuck you,” I wheezed, scraping my nails down his cheek.
“Get the fuck off him!”
Dakota?
The pressure around my throat disappeared as Everett was suddenly yanked backwards, and I sank to the floor in a boneless heap, sucking in breath after breath, coughing when it felt like tiny knives were digging into my lungs.
My head pounded viciously and all I tasted was bile as I wheezed and coughed.
And then Dakota was there.
Gentle hands were cradling me against a warm body.
Dakota.
“Reese. Hey, I got you. It’s okay. Come here. Breathe, baby. You’re okay. You’re—”
Everett was shouting again. “But he attacked me first! I told you he was violent! I told you but you didn’t listen and now look—”
Dakota’s hands disappeared, and everything was blurred through my tears. I heard him say, “You lying fuck, he wouldn’t do that! You were fucking strangling him! I’ll kill you, Everett, I swear I’ll—”
“Enough!” Albert’s voice boomed through the room.
Everett was too far gone. “So quick to defend him, huh? Do you even know what he’s been doing behind your back? Do you? I even told you what he was doing, and you’re still hanging around him. Pathetic.”
No.
I whipped my head around, then winced when the pain seemed to spear directly into my brain. With my eyes on Everett, I slid my hand up the wall to steady myself so I could stand.
That awful, cruel tone was back in Everett’s voice. “Did you not believe me? That he’s been reporting your every move back to Dad? Or did you actually think someone could like you, Dakota?” Everett’s laugh was full of pity and something darker.
“Shut up, Everett. Shut your fucking mouth right now.”
“And you’re still defending him! Wow, what loyalty—”
“That’s enough!” Albert’s voice thundered around us. He grabbed Everett’s arm and started dragging him out of the room.
Albert looked capable of murder, honestly.
My gaze slid to Dakota’s back as he watched his family fall apart.
A roaring in my ears drowned out everything around me until all the voices sounded muffled and distant.
“Dakota,” I whispered.
All I saw was Dakota’s heaving shoulders, and he wasn’t turning around, he wouldn’t look at me…
This couldn’t be real. This wasn’t happening. I was going to tell him, I was going to…I was, I was going to tell him, just…
“Not today,” I whispered, pushing to my feet. My legs were shaky, my entire body was trembling, and all I could hear was an ear-splitting ringing in my head.
I wiped the pitiful tears off my face, and the blood that kept dripping down my left eye.
I pulled my hand away, looking at all that red, and then Dakota was in front of me, gentle fingers under my chin tipping my head back, dark eyes full of heavy concern taking in my face.
I didn’t deserve any of it.
And now he knew. Now he knew, and—
I had to leave.
I had to get out of here, to get away from him, to go back to Ashbrook, pack my things, and get the fuck out of here.
I should have left before. Why had I stayed? Why hadn’t I just fucking left?
I shoved off the wall and sprinted past all of them, hoping I didn’t get lost in this fucking house as I burst out of the door.
“Reese!”
I stumbled at Dakota’s shout, and a choked sob clawed at my throat.
But I didn’t stop.
I turned down the hall and found myself in the ballroom again. There was a hushed silence as thick as tar, and the first person who saw me gasped and backed away. More followed suit, murmuring started, and I didn’t wait around to watch them all stand there and stare at me.
I ran past all the guests, stumbled out of the room, down another corridor, and somehow made it to the front hall. I was moving too fast and couldn’t stop myself before I crashed into the door. I took a deep breath, gripped the handle, and pulled the door open.
The cool air was like a slap in the face, and I almost tripped down the stairs but somehow stayed on my feet. I staggered toward the driveway, weaving my way through all the cars parked in the front roundabout, ignoring the pinch in my toes, the sharp pain in my side.
“Reese!”
No, no, no. Dakota’s shout echoed around me, the desperation in it almost enough to make me stop because I could make that go away, I could take away all his pain if I just stopped.
But I was the reason for all his hurt, I couldn’t stop.
The drive was lined with little lights that helped guide my way, and I really wasn’t sure how far I’d gone or how far I still had to go when I tripped on one of my laces that had come undone.
I fell hard, all the air rushing from my lungs as my face smacked into the gravel, tiny rocks digging into my cheek.
I groaned as more tears spilled from my eyes. I wanted to lie there in my pain and never get up. Let it swallow me whole.
I never should’ve come here.
To the manor.
To Ashbrook.
To New York.
“Reese!”
I pushed to a sitting position, able to do that much at least. My neck ached as I turned to see Dakota sprinting toward me.
I didn’t have the strength to get up and run. Not from him.