Chapter 44

CHAPTER44

June

“They really seem determined to make your life a living hell,” Braxton murmured conversationally while Mikey was forced to sit there, watching as the teenage girls that had tried to destroy her will to live all looked up at her and then-

“That can’t be good,” Mikey mumbled weakly when they followed that up by laughing before they all glanced back down at Nicole’s phone.

For the past three months, they’d taunted her every chance they got and when they weren’t doing that, they were doing everything within their power to get her kicked off the team. It never worked, but not from a lack of trying. She’d quickly learned not to change in the girls’ locker room for practice, opting to change in one of the two dozen girls’ bathrooms at Latin Scribe High School instead, and when her fan club figured out what she was doing, Mikey started changing in the equipment shed until that ended badly for her.

After that, she’d played it by ear.

She’d thought, hoped really, with the season over now that they would have moved on, but unfortunately for her, they seemed to be more determined than ever. They-

Had nothing on the teenage boy getting in line.

He didn’t need to do anything to destroy her will to live, not when he could simply stand there screwing with her head and there was no doubt in her mind that he was trying to screw with her head right now. For the past few months, the sick bastard watching her every move had been taking great pleasure in tormenting her, something that she would never forgive him for.

In her defense, Mikey thought that Sebastian was kidding when he said that he was going to make her wait to find out what he had planned, but if anything, she’d underestimated just how evil he really was.

That was her fault.

She’d always assumed that Jonathan was the evil brother, but she’d been wrong.

God, had she been wrong.

For the rest of the camping trip, he’d watched her with that gleam in his eye that could only be described as pure evil. He didn’t say anything, but then again, he didn’t need to, not when he had that damn gleam. God, she missed the days when he looked like he was going to be sick when he looked at her, Mikey thought with a heartfelt sigh as she…

Did he just wink at her?

That sick bastard, Mikey thought, shaking her head in wonder. She never should have let him know that she was curious about whatever he had planned. It had been a mistake, one that she was still paying for. She never should have asked what he had planned, never should have glared the first time that he toyed with her emotions and given him something to torment her with.

Slowly exhaling, Mikey-

“What the hell…” Braxton said, drawing her attention to find him frowning down at his phone seconds before a loud murmur took over the large dining hall.

Frowning, Mikey glanced up to find everyone sitting at the table next to them staring down at their phones. Louder murmurs drew Mikey’s attention to the fact that everyone was staring down at their phones. She watched as they shook their heads in wonder, laughed, and-

Looked at her.

“Oh, that can’t be good,” Mikey said as a loud chime drew her attention to her phone. Not really sure this was a good idea, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and felt her stomach drop when she saw the message waiting for her.

“Mikey, don’t,” Braxton said, reaching over to stop her when she opened the video featuring a screenshot of her face.

She watched as that fateful day in the cafeteria played out from beginning to end. The way they watched her when she was in line, the way they laughed as they rushed to get in place and the way that they smiled when that tray was dumped on top of her head. That was followed by all the times that they made her life a living hell afterwards knowing that there was absolutely nothing that she could do about it.

She watched as red paint was poured on her head, how the things they stole from her bag were dumped in the toilet, the way they worked together to trip her in the hallways, the way they went out of their way to make her life a living hell, the day of tryouts when they stole her clothes and dumped them in the pool before locking her inside, only to have all of that followed by the times that she struck out at plate, the way that her legs gave out at practice and landed face-first on the ground, all the times that they tried to catch her changing for practice, and-

Ended with one of the video clips of her crying that made its way online last year after Sebastian was caught breaking into her school.

“What do you think of your parting gift?” came the question that had Mikey swallowing hard as she looked up to find her fan club watching her with matching smirks.

“I probably would have been fine with chocolate,” Mikey said as she turned her phone off and placed it back in her bag.

“We wanted to make sure that you had something to remember us by next year when you’re back where you belong,” Nicole said with a syrupy sweet smile.

“Oh, and where would that be?” Mikey asked, grabbing her bag as she stood up.

“Anywhere but here.”

“Are you going to cry?” Heather asked in a mocking tone that had her friends laughing.

“I mean, I don’t want to rule anything out,” Mikey said with a heavy sigh, deciding that she was definitely coming back next year just to piss them off.

“You know, we found out a lot about you over the past year,” Nicole said off-handedly.

“Don’t care,” Mikey said, forcing the words out as she moved to leave, deciding that she’d had enough for one day.

“Then, you don’t what to know what we found out about your mother? Or maybe we should talk about your father. Can you imagine how embarrassed he’d be if he knew how much of a loser you were. Thank God he’s dead, right?”

* * *

“What the hell are you doing?”Jonathan asked as he joined him in line.

“Enjoying the last day of school,” Sebastian said dryly as he watched Mikey swallow nervously as she watched him.

“That, and you seem to be enjoying tormenting Mikey,” Jonathan pointed out as he reached around him and helped himself to a tray.

“What did I tell you?” Sebastian asked, watching as Mikey narrowed her eyes on him.

There was a slight pause, and then, Jonathan was clearing his throat as he said, “That you would smother me in my sleep if I did anything to piss you off today.”

“Then, you know what to expect tonight,” Sebastian murmured absently as he shot Mikey a wink before he reluctantly grabbed a tray and moved up in line and out of sight of the teenage girl who was on the verge of beating the shit out of him with her tray.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re up to?” Jonathan asked as he helped himself to a burger.

“I’m enjoying having the little brat at my mercy for once,” Sebastian said, unable to help but smile as he thought about the last few months.

She was just so goddamn adorable when she was pissed and she was definitely pissed. Her glare said it all. Since he’d refused to tell her what he had planned, she’d been glaring her adorable little ass off at him every chance she got. She’d been trying everything that she could think of to get him to talk from glares to muttering and everything in between.

He’d lost count of how many times he woke up in the middle of the night to find her standing next to his bed with a flashlight pointed at her face as she did her best to scare him into talking. That was always followed by grumbling as she shoved him over and joined him before placing her cold feet over his and tearing a grunt from him so that she could try to intimidate him in comfort. When that didn’t work, she would move on to trying to trick him into talking, which normally ended with her calling him a sick bastard as she stormed off, only to come back, grumble something incoherently and steal his sweatshirt.

She’d also tried bribing him with food, hoping that her mother’s cupcakes would be enough to entice him into talking and when it wasn’t, she usually followed that up by tackling him so that she could shove the aforementioned cupcake down his throat as she screamed, “Talk, you son of a bitch! Talk!” which normally ended with him laughing his ass off and the little brat taking that as a challenge.

Sebastian would be lying if he said that he hadn’t enjoyed the last few months, tormenting the little brat while he bought himself more time. God, he loved it when she-

“Oh, crap…” Jonathan muttered, drawing his attention to find his brother looking down at his phone.

A soft chime had Sebastian pulling out his phone and-

Moving his ass when he saw what was waiting for him. He shoved past students glued to their phones, back out into the dining hall just in time to see Mikey, who normally never let anything get to her, pull her fist back and-

Had his stomach dropping when he heard the unmistakable sound of Nicole’s nose breaking seconds before blood began gushing down her face.

“Don’t you ever talk about my father again,” Mikey bit out, ignoring Nicole’s screams as she struggled to stop the flow of blood pouring out of her nose as she snatched her bag off the floor and headed for the door.

Never taking his eyes off Mikey, Sebastian pushed his way through the crowd forming around Nicole and headed for the doors. Before she reached the headmaster’s office, Sebastian was there, taking her hand in his and leading her to the chairs where she dropped down without a word.

For the next hour, Sebastian sat with her, absently running his thumb over the back of her trembling hand as they stared straight ahead, listening to Nicole’s screams, the headmaster’s muffled shouting, and Nicole’s mother threatening to press charges, followed by Uncle Jason letting her know exactly what her daughter had been up to for the past year followed by promises of calling Uncle Garrett and making sure that her daughter paid for what she put Mikey through. When the headmaster finally emerged from his office sometime later, Sebastian entwined his fingers with hers and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, letting her know that everything would be okay.

“Mikey,” the headmaster began as he pulled a chair closer and sat down, “We have a very strict rule about fighting but given the circumstance…” Shaking his head, he slowly exhaled as he continued, “I’m sorry about what she said about your father, Mikey. There’s no excuse for that and after watching the video, it’s become painfully clear that she’s enjoyed making your life a living hell this year. It never should have happened, and for that, you have my deepest apologies.”

When Mikey didn’t say anything, Sebastian asked, “What’s going to happen to Mikey?”

Shaking his head, the headmaster said, “Normally, we’d be having a talk about suspension or even expulsion for fighting, but in this case, I believe that you’ve been through enough.”

“And Nicole?” Mikey asked quietly.

“Will never walk the halls of Latin Scribe High School again.”