Page 26 of Vicious Butterfly
“Huh, right on time. At least one of you listens. Remember, protect my ass. The nicer you are to me, the nicer I am to him.”
“What the fuck?” But Coach blows his whistle. I take a long look at Griff. He’s pulled his book out, just studying, totally fine, but he’s here because Rowan told him to be. I don’t fucking like that.
The drills today are just as murderous as yesterday. Zero reprieve. At least once the season starts, there’ll be less of this. Fewer practices altogether. I push through if only to show Jarvis that I don’t back down.
Becks stares at me for so long, Coach snaps at him. Bet he’s still thinking about how he’s getting me to join his hockey fight club. Kane watches me too, amused. He knows something’s up, but I doubt he cares past what good it will do him. He’s so fucking self-involved sometimes.
We’re about to start the scrimmage—thank fucking God drills are over—when I catch movement on the bench. My eyes snap up; it’s Wren and Scout in uniform, book bags slung over their shoulders.
The cavalry has fucking arrived.
Griff’s smile could span the length of a hockey rink. Don’t think I’ve seen him smile like that in a long time. There are high-fives as greetings. My heart clenches. They have something just for him, so he doesn’t have to speak.
“Looks like I spoke too soon about him behaving,” a low voice growls beside me. “He’s gonna get it when I have him alone. I heard him moaning in his sleep last night. Was hot. Maybe I’ll bend him over, make him?—”
I see fucking red.
And then red sprays across the ice.
My jaw throbs. Icing it does shit at this point except for aggravating the fuck outta my skin. I ripped Rowan’s helmet off and cracked his nose, but he’s got a hell of a left paw. I’m still plotting all the ways I can dispose of Jarvis junior’s body when Jarvis senior enters the long corridor that eventually leads to his office. I’m in one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs outside his door.
I’m too slow to get to my feet, which isn’t going to help me. “Sir,” I say, gaze focused straight ahead. The collar of my shirt chokes me, so I take a slow breath, clawing at reality to keep my mind here and out of the tank. I hold the now lukewarm ice pack by my side, ignoring the ache that crawls all the way up to my right eye. In addition to boxing the physical pain, I have to not think about Griff right now.
They let him go with Rowan. Once Rowan’s nose stopped bleeding and the on-site medic patched up his face, Rowan was free to go. He took my brother, acting like he thinks Griff’s his fucking pet, and I was sent here.
Major Jarvis has his hat tucked under his arm, the gold buttons on his jacket glinting in the dim light of the corridor. His face is all sharp stone. His eyes an abyss, threatening to swallow me whole.
“In,” his deep voice says. “Sit.”
I’m invited to sit down? That’s usually reserved for casual conversations, and there’s no fucking way this is gonna be that. Not after attempting to turn his son’s face into hamburger meat. I have to say, though, it was some of my finest work.
Approaching with caution, I sit, waiting for the trap to spring. Because this is a trap, I just don’t know what kind of trap it is.
Major Jarvis sets his hat down on his desk, and then sets about rearranging his items, pulling out an iPad, and setting it up so that I have a full view of the screen.
I’m not supposed to speak to an officer unless I have permission or have been addressed, but the rising anxiety wins.
“Sir—”
“Quiet, cadet.”
I place the ice pack on my face again for something to do, but I track all of his movements. There was a time when this kind of shit didn’t intimidate me. But that was when I had some jurisdiction over my own life. Now, I’m at the suffocating mercy of others.
Finally, he perches on the edge of his desk, resting his palms behind him on the surface of the cherry mahogany.
“You can be expelled for what you did, cadet.”
Do I want to be at this college? No. That news should be cause for celebration. But I’ve already been warned that there are worse places than North Point. Father won’t hesitate to send me to them. And with Griff here, it makes staying at North Point extra imperative.
“Sir, he threatened to fuck my brother without consent, sir,” I say with all the underlying menace bubbling within me.
He gives a curt nod. “He told me.”
Well, that’s kind of a fucking shock. “Then we should be done here, sir.”
He gives a longif onlykind of sigh, licking his lips while peering at me as if he’s trying to read my next move.
“He deserved what he got. He’s lucky he still has a face,” I say, dispensing with protocol. Fuck that and fuck him. Clearly,his son’s getting preferential treatment. I grit my teeth. “You can’t make me sorry.”
