Chapter 24

CHAPTER24

December

“Look, I don’t want to hurt you,” Chloe began, only to slowly exhale. That was followed by shaking her head and admitting, “You know what? That’s a lie because I do want to hurt you. In fact, I would love nothing more than to grab that tray and beat the hell out of you with it until every teacher in this school was forced to come together in order to pry it from my hands.”

“I see,” Cole murmured, blinking up at the teenage girl who was visibly struggling not to beat the hell out of him as he pointed to his empty cup. “That cup’s not going to refill itself.”

When Chloe’s gaze flickered to his tray, Sebastian and Jonathan cleared their throats and shoved their chairs back, knowing better than to get between a Bradford and whatever female he’d pissed off. Sebastian watched as Chloe visibly struggled with the need to beat the hell out of Cole while she reached over and snatched the cup off his tray. He watched as Chloe’s gaze flickered to the tray one last time before she forced herself to turn around and made her way back to the table set up near the lunch line offering a selection of drinks to celebrate the start of Christmas break.

“She adores me,” Cole said with a satisfied sigh, drawing Sebastian’s attention to find his cousin watching Chloe with a predatory gleam in his eye, the same one that Sebastian’s father got whenever he looked at his mother.

“This really is going to be the best year ever,” Jonathan murmured as he pulled his chair closer and dug into the turkey dinner he’d grabbed.

“You want to tell us why Chloe has been at your beck and call for the last three months?” Sebastian asked as Braxton dropped down in the chair across from him, pulled his iPad out of his bag, and promptly ignored them like he did every day.

After what happened last year with his father, Braxton seemed more relaxed, smiled more, and spent every chance he got at Uncle Jason and Aunt Haley’s house only to stop coming by right around the time that his father stopped showing up to board meetings and no one knew why. Since school started, Braxton had barely acknowledged their existence and when he did, it was usually only to glare at Mikey, which was understandable considering how much the little pain in the ass loved to torment them.

“She hasn’t been at my beck and call,” Cole said as he focused on the lunch that Chloe had been forced to abandon so that she could fetch a glass of apple cider for him.

“What would you call it?” Sebastian asked while Cole helped himself to the roll that Chloe buttered.

“Being given free rein to adore me,” Cole said with a satisfied sigh as Chloe slammed the cup of apple cider on the table in front of him, the murderous rage in her eyes only intensifying as she reached over and snatched the roll out of Cole’s hand just as he went to take a bite. Keeping her gaze locked on Cole, Chloe took a huge bite and released an overexaggerated moan as she sat back down, leaving Cole to narrow his eyes on the move.

“Are you sure that you really want to do that?” Cole asked as Chloe went to take another bite.

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life,” Chloe said, and with that, she finished off the roll in one bite.

Slowly nodding, Cole kept his gaze locked on her as he picked up the cup of apple cider that she’d just refilled and finished it off in one gulp. When he was done, Cole placed the empty cup back on the table and shoved it in her direction. Without a word, Chloe snatched the empty cup off the table as she stood up and made her way back to the beverage table while Cole watched her go, his lips pulling back up into that predatory smile and-

“When are we going to talk about that?” Jonathan murmured, sounding thoughtful as he gestured lazily in Chloe’s direction with a forkful of mashed potatoes.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Cole said, shrugging it off as he helped himself to a bite of turkey off Chloe’s plate.

“Normally, I’d take that as my cue to torment you, but right now, I’m wondering about something else,” Jonathan drawled with a pointed look that had Sebastian frowning as he followed his brother’s gaze and-

“This is becoming painful to watch,” Cole said as they watched Nicole and her entourage step in front of Mikey to block her from getting in line. Even from here, Sebastian could see the taunting smile on Nicole’s face as she tore into Mikey, knowing that she wouldn’t do anything about it.

Not unless she wanted to risk her scholarship and there was nothing in this world that would make Mikey do anything to risk her spot on the team. Mikey loved baseball more than anything, which was why, for the past three months, she’d been biting her lip whenever Nicole and her band of airheads came for her. She simply shrugged it off and moved on, hoping that Nicole and her friends grew bored, but so far, the only thing that it did was set up a challenge that Nicole and her friends happily accepted.

“She’s going to snap soon,” Braxton said as Sebastian stood up before that could happen, only to go still when he spotted Uncle Jason stepping between Mikey and the girls and gestured for her to join him in line.

“Yes, she is,” Sebastian murmured softly as he sat down, watching as Uncle Jason followed Mikey in line and began grabbing items for her and placing them on her tray.

“You know what else she’s going to do?” Jonathan asked, sounding thoughtful.

“Look the other way when I finally snap and shove you in front of oncoming traffic?” Sebastian asked as he shifted his gaze from Mikey as she made her way through the line to the teenage girls determined to make her life a living hell.

“Probably,” Jonathan murmured as he took in the way that Nicole watched Mikey’s every move before glancing back at Mikey as she took her time selecting a slice of pie only to have Uncle Jason place two slices of pumpkin pie on her tray. “But I was thinking that she was going to start wondering why you look like you’re going to be sick every time that you look at her.”

Because he had no idea how he was supposed to talk to her anymore, which was absolutely killing him since Mikey was the one person that he could talk to about absolutely anything. But he couldn’t talk to her about this and god, he’d tried. For the past three months, he’d struggled to come up with the words that would make this easier, but every time he opened his mouth to tell her how he felt…

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing came out, leaving him standing there, staring helplessly at her as he struggled not to panic, while Mikey would simply stand there, blinking up at him as she slowly nodded and mumbled, “Good talk,” before she went back to doing whatever it was that she’d been doing. He just…

He just needed more time.

* * *

“Stay out of trouble, Miss Campbell,”Uncle Jason drawled as Mikey dropped down in her chair, only to sigh a few seconds later when he plucked a slice of pumpkin pie off her tray and made his way to the teacher’s table.

That was followed by Jonathan and Cole helping themselves to the other slice of pie, her roll, a bite of her cranberry sauce, and her chocolate milk. When they were done, Mikey grabbed her fork and took a bite of mashed potatoes, absently noting that it wasn’t as good as her mother’s while she watched Chloe slam a cup of apple cider on the table in front of Cole with a look that dared him to say something about it.

That was followed by Chloe dropping down in her chair, grabbing her fork and-

Mikey watched as Chloe tightened her hand around the fork as her eyes narrowed on the teenage boy who was clearly enjoying screwing with her head when he finished off the cup of cider and shoved it back in front of her with an absently murmured, “Thanks.”

Wondering just how long it would take before Chloe snapped, Mikey took another bite of mashed potatoes as she watched Chloe snatch the empty cup off the table, shove her chair back and storm off. That probably wasn’t going to end well, Mikey thought as she glanced back at Cole to find him watching Chloe with a look in his eye that had her wondering why he was trying to piss off the girl who he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off.

“You might want to rethink whatever you’re up to,” Mikey said, taking another bite as she glanced at Sebastian and once again found him staring helplessly at her.

She could handle the glaring, but this whole thing with him staring at her, looking like he was going to be sick at any moment was really starting to concern her. She considered asking him what was wrong only to decide against it when she remembered what happened the last time that she made that mistake.

The incoherent muttering and panicked look that he got in his eye before she was forced to hunt down a cupcake and shove it down his throat to calm him down had unnerved her a bit there. After that, Mikey decided that perhaps it was in her best interest to let him tell her whatever it was that he needed to tell her when he was ready.

“She adores me,” Cole said as she shifted her attention to Braxton, noting that he was once again ignoring her. Wondering why the teenage boys in her life seemed to go out of their way to make everything more difficult than it needed to be, Mikey opened her mouth only to end up frowning when she caught the look on Jonathan’s face as his gaze shifted between her and Sebastian.

Wondering about that, Mikey glanced at Sebastian to find him glaring at his brother and mouthing, “I will kill you,” as his grip tightened around his tray until the backs of his knuckles turned white. She should probably be concerned about that, but at the moment, she had other things on her mind, like the teenage boy who had been avoiding her.

With that, Mikey shifted her attention back to Braxton and simply stared at him until he finally accepted the fact that they were stuck together. For a moment, Braxton didn’t say anything as he ate, but that muscle ticking away in his jaw told her everything that she needed to know.

He was finally about to break.

It had taken a few months, but that was fine because she knew sooner or later that he would finally break and now…

“God, you’re a pain in my ass,” Braxton bit out as he finished off his chocolate milk.

“A pain in the ass that needs an A on her science project,” Mikey said, nodding in agreement as she gestured with a forkful of turkey for him to get on with it.

“We can do this over email,” Braxton said, shrugging it off.

“How exactly are we supposed to do a science project that we have yet to decide over email?” Mikey asked, blinking at the stubborn teenage boy who seemed to be going out of his way to avoid doing this project for some reason.

“Fine. Then, we’ll do it at your house,” Braxton muttered with a heavy sigh as he ripped his roll in half and took a bite.

“You want to do a science project at my house where four little boys under the age of three, two of them making it their life’s purpose to get into everything, roam free? That’s really where you want to do something that will most likely involve wires and other shiny objects?” Mikey asked, blinking at Braxton as his eyes narrowed dangerously on her.

“Then, we can do it here after school,” Braxton bit out.

“Why can’t we do this at your house?” Mikey asked.

“That’s not really an option,” Braxton said, shaking his head as he focused back on his lunch.

“Because the very thought of a peasant stepping foot in your mansion is too much for you to handle?” Mikey asked, blinking at him.

“Something like that,” Braxton muttered as he took a bite of his roll and-

“So, we’ve been wondering about something,” came the announcement that had Mikey biting back a sigh as she glanced up to find her fan club coming to make her life a living hell.

Again.

“Why you can’t seem to stay away?” Mikey asked as her gaze flickered to Jonathan just as he was about to open his mouth and make things worse for her. When he saw the look on her face, he reluctantly closed his mouth and grumbled as he focused back on his food, which, at the moment, she truly appreciated.

For the past three months, Nicole and her entourage had been doing whatever they could to get her to do something stupid to get her back on probation. They mocked her whenever they saw her, tried to trip her when she was in the hallway, taunted her whenever they didn’t think a teacher was looking, somehow managed to dump a bottle of red paint on her head during English class, stole her bag during a school assembly and filled it with rotten eggs before shoving it in her locker and placing a different lock on it so that she couldn’t get inside, and did whatever they could just to see how far they could push her and Mikey let them.

She did whatever it took to stay out of trouble and kept her grades up so that absolutely nothing stood in her way of getting on the team. That meant getting up early every morning so that Uncle Jason and Reese could destroy her will to live, running until one of them was forced to carry her home while she gasped for air, followed by doing pushups until her arms gave out and crunches until she thought that she was going to be sick.

That was followed by doing her best to avoid her fan club at school, struggling to keep up with her classes, and doing everything that she could to stay out of trouble before she went home and put her supervisory skills to work, played with her brothers, and struggled through four hours of soul-crushing homework. When she was done, Mikey went outside, pulled her pitching target out of the garage and threw two hundred pitches while she forced herself to ignore the pain tearing through her arm and the exhaustion threatening to drop her to her knees.

Once she was done, Mikey picked up all the balls and dragged the pitching target back into the garage before she headed inside to ice her shoulder, check on her baby brothers, take a shower, and pass out before doing it all over again the next day. She was exhausted, but she knew that it would all be worth it when she finally stepped onto the pitcher’s mound.

“No, we’ve actually been wondering what your scholarship is for,” Nicole said with that smug little smile that annoyed the hell out of her.

“We already know that it’s not an academic scholarship,” Heather said with a pitying look that turned mocking as she watched Chloe sit down and shove another cup of apple cider in front of Cole.

“Then again…” Nicole began as her gaze shifted to Chloe. “Maybe you really are just another charity case.”

“Leave her alone,” Cole said evenly, all signs of humor gone as he picked up the cup of cider and took a sip.

“Why exactly do you care?” Sebastian asked, looking just as pissed as Cole.

“Why wouldn’t we care about how our parents’ hard-earned money was being spent?” Nicole asked.

“We just want to make sure that they’re getting their money’s worth,” Heather added with a helpless shrug while Mikey sat there waiting for them to get to the real reason that they were doing this.

“We also wanted to know if we should organize a food drive to help you,” Nicole said as her gaze flickered to Chloe before adding, “For both of you.” Chloe opened her mouth to say something, only to snap it shut and shake her head in disgust as she grabbed her bag and headed for the doors.

“Real nice,” Cole bit out as he shoved his chair back and went after her.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Braxton demanded.

Blinking innocently, Nicole said, “What are you talking about? We’re just trying to help those that are less fortunate than us.”

“Maybe we should do a clothing drive, too,” Heather added with a pointed look at Mikey while she sat there, counting to ten in her head as she slowly exhaled, reminding herself of everything that she had to lose if she said any of the things that she wanted to say at the moment. She-

“She got a scholarship to play baseball. So, leave her alone.”

-really wished that Braxton hadn’t said that, Mikey thought, feeling her stomach drop as she took in the stunned expressions on Nicole and Heather’s faces before they turned calculating.

“Baseball?” Nicole murmured, her lips twitching before she cleared her throat and stepped away with Heather by her side. “Interesting.”

“Why did you just tell them that?” Mikey mumbled weakly as she watched them walk away.

“I was hoping it would shut them up,” Braxton said, swallowing hard as they shared a look.

“I think your plan backfired,” Sebastian drawled while Mikey sat there, feeling her stomach turn as she thought about all the new ways that they were going to try to make her life a living hell now.