Chapter 44 #2
“Fitzek Junior,” Tony sighed, not even glancing at Troy, as he took aim again. He didn't shoot because he didn't want to look bad in front of Troy.
Troy, who was wearing black leather gloves today, put the case down on the wooden table, grabbed his father's old hunting binoculars, and smirked as he checked out Tony's results so far.
Normally, he would jump at anyone who called him that. Today, he seemed to have gotten up on the right side of the bed.
“Don't even try it, Anthony.” He lowered the binoculars. “No one can ruin my good mood today.” Calmly, he opened the case to reveal his polished rifle. “Lucas and I are training day and night, and his progress is impressive.”
Even though I couldn't stand the McMillan boy, I felt sorry for him because Troy was putting him through his debate boot camp.
“That boy will crush your candidate in the blink of an eye. And then the little Veritas bitch.”
A wire in my head exploded.
I wanted to rush forward, but Anthony was faster.
He lowered the rifle with one hand and didn't even give Troy a chance to reach for his own, grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him around, only to press him against the wall of the house with the rifle held horizontally against his chest.
“You godless bastard! Take that back!”
Something inside me wanted Anthony to smash Troy's face in until he couldn't breathe from all the blood in his nose. But we were already drawing too much attention to ourselves as soon as Quill came up.
“What's your problem today?” Troy grinned, looking back and forth between the rifle and Tony. “Looks like someone's really protective of his student.”
Good thing he obviously misunderstood.
But I wanted him to get it right. I wanted it burned into his skull what would happen if he treated Quill with such disrespect.
“Tony,” I muttered. “Let him go.”
Tony didn’t seem to like my command, because he was still staring at Troy as if he wanted to shoot him with that rifle. And if we were honest... Who among our colleagues didn't?
“Tony...”
He stepped back abruptly and strode past me with a tense look on his face.
All three of us knew that if Troy took it too far, Anthony would show his ugly side. A side he must have inherited from his father.
Troy wanted to break away from the wall with a triumphant look, but I stepped forward and pressed the bastard back against the wooden facade with my hand.
His smile faded.
Good.
I lowered my voice, stared him down, and tried to ignore Anthony's surprised look.
“If I were you.” I narrowed my eyes. “I'd be damn careful.” Oh, how I enjoyed his shock-induced paralysis. “What I say.”
Before I could do anything rash, I pushed myself away from him and stepped back to Anthony.
“Looks like someone hasn't heard the rumors yet…”
As quickly as I had shocked him, his arrogant smirk returned.
He probably used to push other kids off the swings when he was a child. In any case, it was inconceivable to me that this guy had ever not been such a sneaky jerk.
“What rumors?”
Tony sounded alarmed.
Something told me that Troy now understood that I was talking about Quill, even though that fact only partially satisfied me.
Was I being too obvious? Was I really doing her any good with this behavior, or was I just making her more of a target for Troy?
“That the Veritas girl had been fucking her way through town this summer.”
I should have punched him in the face.
But all I could do at that moment was clench my fists and tighten my jaw.
Tony threw the rifle onto the lawn. But instead of attacking Troy, he turned around and stormed off.
The Hidden Question
Ahmet Kenan Bilgic, Turgut Mavuk
Troy raised both eyebrows, watched him go, then turned back to me, looked me up and down, before letting out an amused snort. And as if he knew I posed no threat to him at that moment, he calmly began to unpack his rifle and load it.
I should follow Tony. Now. But the battle between reason and the desire for revenge was unusually fierce.
“Since when has everyone gone so overboard about her well-being?” He turned to the targets and raised his rifle. “Just because she’s the first woman who has managed to get into Maplecrest. Your cute little rebel.”
He smirked, took aim, and fired.
I didn't want to know if he had scored a hit. His arrogant smile was answer enough.
“Do you know what they did to rebels in Germany in the early 1940s?”
He eyed me as if considering whether I was worth his time. He certainly wasn't worth mine.
“You can have conversations like that with your father,” I growled. “Spare me your Nazi ideology.”
I relaxed my hands, ready to leave, but Troy wasn't ready to leave me alone.
“You still think I'm a cheap copy of my father.”
I stopped and turned back to him.
His expression was serious now.
The little hurt boy who hadn't gotten enough attention from Daddy.
“But it's Joseph. You all forget that he once had a mentor too, and he’s still kissing his ass.”
Until today, I had been firmly convinced that the last thing I wanted was to agree with Troy. That had changed at the beginning of this month. And I didn't like the fact that I was finding more and more truth in his words about Joseph.
“And you can tell me a lot of things, Davian, but this girl?” He shook his head before taking aim at the target again.
“She doesn't fit into either Father's or Joseph's concept.” He fired and lowered his gun.
“If Lucas didn't kick her out of the debates, you'd sooner or later get into trouble with the two of them. And we both know that you run away from conflict like the little orphan boy you still are deep down inside.”
Back then, I’d let my fists do the talking over all those orphan remarks. Today, I was more mature, my walls against him more stable.
“You can't provoke me anymore.”
“Oh no?” He laughed again, amused. “Strange that every time I talk about the Veritas girl, your jawbones say something else.”
Something in my stomach tightened, caught out.
Troy lowered his weapon, stepped closer, watching me intently.
“I certainly hope our exemplary prodigy hasn’t become too protective. Of his female student.”
Fuck this man.
He was an asshole. A damn attentive one. When he wanted to ruin people, he left no stone unturned. And right now, he was standing in front of a pretty big invisible stone that he could either step past by chance or trip over if I wasn't careful about what I did and said.
“I'll be keeping an eye on you.” He tapped his rifle barrel against my chest. Twice. “On both of you.”
Finally, he returned to continue shooting, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
This time, I didn't hesitate. I turned around, grabbed Tony's rifle, and put it in its case before heading to the parking lot, where Tony was already waiting in his car, staring into the void.
Would he ever figure out that I had stolen his pistol back then?
Wanting to protect you feels like
I'm a paper bird trying to carry
an open inkwell around with me,
while the paper world attempts to
banish every last drop of ink.
– Leaking Batteries Diary