by Lannah Smith
"Do that and I'll make sure the windows stay locked forever," Leon called over his shoulder as he walked to the door.
John muttered a curse at him. Not that he knew about Terry, he was always trying to get a rise out of him. It would have been fine if they were alone. But Skull was here. No matter how much of a numbskull he was, Skull was not that dumb and John knew the moron would be shoveling shit at him about it soon.
Skull was glowering at him and he raised a brow.
"What?"
"Is that a new girl?"
It wasn't the question that stunned John so hard he'd lost the ability to speak for a moment. It was how Skull said it, like he hated the fact he had a new girl.
"Why are you asking?" he said with incredulity when he finally found his voice.
Skull stared at him for a few seconds. Then he shook his head and said, "Nothing. You can go home now."
"I will." Hesitantly, John knifed out of the couch and tugged on his jacket. "But I'll call the main house first and ask your grandparents to send someone."
"I'm not going anywhere, dickhead. Just go. I'm sick of your face."
John rolled his eyes. "Whatever, numbskull. I'll see you tomorrow."
Skull waved him off and John gave him a suspicious glance before he strode out of the house and straight outside where he walked to his truck. Wondering what the hell was Skull's problem this time, he yanked the door open and folded inside the truck. His cell phone rang just as he closed the door and he answered it with a sigh.
"What?" he grumbled, still distracted by Skull's weird behavior.
"He's back again, young master."
John stopped cold and all thoughts of Skull fled away.
"Who?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.
The reply wasn't long time coming.
"Nick Gage."
Chapter 28
"Now why am I not surprised that you're here?"
He stood leaning against the frame of the open door with his arms crossed, staring down at John with one of his brows raised. John stared back at the man who looked eerily like Leon, but older.
"Where's Leon?" he asked.
"Asleep. And you should be too. It's past midnight and you've got school later."
He wasn't going to let him in, John realized grimly.
Straight, lean, with strong features and good looks that only enhanced with age, this was Nick Gage. He was the estranged father of Leon, who was undeniably the spitting image of him. He was also one of the reasons why Leon turned out the way he was now.
Leon's father continued to stare at him. John wasn't buying his crap about Leon being asleep. But he wasn't going to force himself into the house. So he turned to leave and get away from him.
"I saw her," John heard him say.
Setting his anger aside, he returned his gaze to Leon's father and asked in a polite tone though it killed him to do so, "What?"
"My son's girlfriend."
John felt his jaw get hard. "When?"
"Yesterday. In the parking lot of the school."
"Did you approach her?"
Nick shook his head. "I couldn't. I would have introduced myself but Leon arrived and well, I thought another time maybe."
"Leon will never forgive you if you had done that."
Nick ignored him and kept going. "I understand she's Leon's first girlfriend. He did well. She's beautiful."
"Leon will never forgive me if he hears us talking about him like two gossipy chicks."
"Alright." Nick pushed away from the door, took a step forward and let it close behind him. Leaning slightly forward, he said in a low, ominous tone, "Let's talk about Pete Ward instead."
John's body went alert.
"Let's talk about your recent activities with my son."
"I take it that you already know?" John hedged, successfully fighting back the urge to flee.
Fuck, but Leon's father scared the crap out of him.
He did when John was a child and he still did now.
Nick was one of the few people who didn't give a fuck about status or reputations. He certainly didn't give a fuck if the other person was filthy rich, he'd still say what was on his mind. He was also one of the few people John's father respected and trusted. And one of the few people John was actually afraid of.
"Why'd you think I came back last Christmas?" Nick asked, raising another dark brow again.
"Oh," John unwisely stated.
Nick took a step into him, getting chest to chest, nose to nose, forcing John to press himself back into the wooden porch railing. "Don't oh me, you stupid brat."
Leaning back as far as he could from the completely pissed off adult, John reasoned, "R-remember your cute future daughter-in-law? Pete Ward was going after her."
Nick blinked and leaned back from him. "What?"
John hurriedly rushed on, "He said Sophia was going to his prize for all his hard work. He was going to take her away from Leon."
Nick's expression looked like he was about to explode. "Don't play with me, kid. You all know you didn't have to get into this mess. You could have left it to the police, to James, to me. This mess you've guys landed yourself into wasn't something of trivial. What you've done was dangerous, John"
"I know," John muttered. He'd already had this conversation with James. And he hated having to be scolded like this again.
"You know who you're up against right?"
His temper flared but he quickly put a lid on it. "I know," he repeated in a whisper.
"They're no ordinary people. They're powerful as well as loaded. And they've got influential connections in all kinds of unsavoury places."
"I know who they are, sir," John growled. "And I've taken care of it. Why'd you think there were no blowbacks?"
"Why do you think there were no blowbacks?" Nick repeated sarcastically. Taking his cell phone from the pocket of his sweatpants, Nick opened his contacts and showed him a number. "Because he called me."
Feeling his blood heat and his palms itch, John stared at the number.
Son of bitch!
Nick pocketed the phone. "I don't want this to happen again," he warned.
Actually it did. Rohan got them to beat somebody up. Almost killed him too. But since Nick didn't mention it, then he probably didn't know.
Lucky, John thought sourly.
"Make sure this doesn't happen again."
John shook his head. "I can't."
Nick's eyes hardened. "What do you mean you can't?"
His temper, already at the surface, boiled over.
John held his eyes when he bit out, "Not until you fix your son."
He saw it, the flinch, the quick inhale of breath, the pain that flashed in Nick's eyes. And John immediately regretted losing his temper.
Nick was a good man, a loving father, a devoted husband. He was the kind of man John wished his own father was, warm, caring and affectionate.
Fuck, but it was entirely fucked up how a man's single mistake could ruin his and his family's life forever.
It was entirely fucked up how one man's weakness could destroy his chance at happiness forever.
"I'm going home," John said quietly. "I'll see Leon later instead in school."
Without looking at him, knowing how much grief he'd inadvertently caused him, John took a step past him and left the house.
The classroom was lively when I entered the room.
It was still quite early but there were already more than a few of my classmates in the room. Hannah and Sophia had already arrived and seeing them together didn't irritate me anymore. I must have gotten used to seeing them together.
The people in school had also gotten used to seeing the three of us together. Given Haru's permission, I'd done what I could to get closer to Sophia. But still , it unnerved me how this 'friendship' with Sophia hadn't create any negative effects on my person. Was all that worry about my reputation all for nothing? Or had Haru done something that made the school body easily accept
the fact that the school's princess had befriended the school bully's outcast girlfriend?
I'd never know. Haru always worked in mysterious ways.
"Why are you guys so chirpy?" I asked the two as I sat down.
Sophia was sitting on Hannah's chair. Hannah was sitting on her desk. She was smirking down at Sophia, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Sophia's going to be eaten alive tomorrow," Hannah declared.
"No, I'm not," Sophia protested with a scowl.
"Fine." Hannah turned to me and said, "She's going to be murdered tomorrow instead."
"Hannah!"
"Sacrificed at the altar?"
I frowned. "What are you both talking about?"
Sophia let out a long suffering sigh and explained quietly, "Leon's taking me to John's house tomorrow. He's going to introduce me to all of his friends."
I flinched at the quick lance of jealousy that pierced through me.
"Are you Catholic?" I said, masking the pain as quickly as it came. "Because you probably should start saying your prayers."
Hannah burst into giggles. Sophia groaned and covered her face.
"You're both horrible," she whined. "They're probably good guys."
"Keyword is probably," Hannah piped up.
"Go back to your seat, Sophia," I muttered. I couldn't take talking about this anymore. "The teacher's going to arrive anytime soon."
"Tell Hannah to get her feet off the side of the chair first."
"Hannah, let her go."
Hannah rolled her eyes and lifted her legs out of the way. Sophia immediately scooted off the chair and went back to hers. While Hannah went down her desk and slid into her chair, I busied myself preparing for class.
Dang, but I couldn't believe I was jealous of Sophia.
So what if she was going to John's house? I couldn't help but thought bitterly. So what if she was going to be introduced to everyone? This wasn't a competition.
And John and I were over.
Over.
This wasn't supposed to be something to agonize about.
The screen of my phone lit up as I was putting it inside my bag and I looked at it. It was a message from Haru, telling me he was going to be in the US tomorrow and that we were going to have dinner together. Now this was something to agonize about and this further ruined my mood.
I squeezed my phone tight.
Dinner huh?
Just the two of us?
What the heck was he planning this time?
These questions badgered at me all throughout the morning. While Hannah and Sophia went to lunch, I went to the ladies' room to compose myself.
My hands were clenched into fists and I was trying to relax them. But the mere thought of seeing Haru had sent me to a panic and I was desperately trying to focus on not losing my composure. Ever since that situation with our mother, Haru's treatment of me had gone even more unpleasant.
And injuring my hands again was the last thing Haru would want.
I shouldn't make him angry anymore.
It took effort but I managed to calm down. I went out of the ladies' room, taking deep, calming breaths. The hall was quiet, all the students must have gone out to eat but there was a lone figure standing by the window. His hood was up, concealing his face from the sides, but I'd know that stance and that dirty blond hair anywhere.
It was Rohan.
Trying not to stare, I focused on walking and getting to the cafeteria soon. Rohan was looking at his cell phone but when he heard my footsteps, he looked up and slid his gaze to me.
He looked startled.
I was too.
His face was horribly bruised. There were bandages on his face and neck. He didn't look fine, he looked far from fine so what was he doing here in school?
Rohan suddenly smirked.
And just when I was about to pass him, he blocked my way.
"How's life, Evans?" he asked with a tone of contempt. "Better yet, how's the love life?"
I stopped myself from swallowing, stopped myself from letting my fear show. With my back ramrod straight, chin up, I stared at him.
John couldn't have possibly told him?
No.
John wasn't like that. I refused to believe he'd tattle. He'd kept our secrets all these years after all. But Rohan was smart. The smartest even of his year. He probably found out on his own.
Still, this brat, this freshman brat clearly needs to know his place and to respect his elders.
I smiled and took a step closer to him. His cocky grin disappeared.
Tilting my head to the side, I asked softly, "What's it to you, kid?"
His eyes went glacial as they stared at me. "Don't call me kid."
"And don't talk familiarly with me," I replied, still in a soft but threatening voice. "We're not friends."
He stared at me for a long moment.
Then his hands were on my shoulders and he pushed me roughly against the wall.
"But what if I want to be more familiar with you?" he whispered, his lips almost touching mine. "And with your body?"
I started laughing.
I laughed so loud and so hard Rohan dropped his hands back to his sides and took a quick step back.
"Thanks," I muttered, wiping at the corner of my eyes. "I haven't laughed in so long. You have just made my crappy day infinitely better. I owe you one, kid."
Disbelief colored his face and he couldn't speak.
I patted his shoulder. "Didn't you just come out of the hospital? You take it easy today, alright?"
Pushing him back, I turned to walk away from this insolent freshman. He may be a friend of Gage, he may scare the rest of the school but I was having none of his crap.
If he wasn't John's friend, I would have done something to teach this brat a lesson and...
"And how did you know that?" his voice reached me just before I rounded the corner.
My footsteps faltered to a stop.
"No one knows I went to the hospital."
For a moment, I froze.
"The teachers were told I was down with the flu and resting at home."
I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath.
"Did John tell you?"
Dang it, but I shouldn't have let my mouth run. I shouldn't have let him irritate the heck out of me.
Opening my eyes, I turned around and looked at him. Regardless of what he knew and what he planned to do with that information, I was calm, assured and ice cold.
Rohan was grinning widely at me. "He did, didn't he?"
"I suggest you mind your own business, Rohan," I spoke, enunciating each word very clearly so there was plenty of time for the icicles to form on every one of them.
He raised his brow. "And if I don't?"
A smile flitted across my lips. "That's up to you isn't it? I'm not making threats if that's what you mean. Still, I do suggest you do mind your own business."
Saying that, I walked around the corner into the hall that lead to the cafeteria.
All the while cursing John for not being a better actor that I thought he would be.
◆◆◆
Someone knocked on his bedroom door and John looked at it. He'd just gone out of the shower and was starting to get dressed. His friends were coming over and it was Sophia's first time to meet Rohan and Skull. It was going to be amusing, she and them under the same roof and Leon probably ending up beating them all up for being idiots, but still this was a good sign. Leon was taking their relationship seriously if he was letting Sophia meet them.
And John was fucking thrilled.
Skull was psyched at the idea of finally meeting her. Rohan wasn't. It was irritating, how he didn't care much about Sophia, but the brat had better be used to her soon.
"Young master?" a voice called out the door
And John's mood immediately soured.
Because here was yet another irritating guy.
"I already told you to just call me by my name, Vincent," he said
in a loud voice as he dropped the towel from his waist and pulled on a pair of boxers. "And don't come in. I'm still pissed at you."
