Chapter Eight

Jensen

I glance between the two of them. I know that it's not very far between our houses, but it was long enough.

When it's clear that Luc isn't going to say anything, I explain, "My dad says he ran into Luc's dad at the hospital, and he said he'd gotten into a car accident or something. He had four broken bones. Sounds like it was pretty bad."

Luc shrugs, "It must've happened last night. No one was home this morning." He then looks back at me with concern, "Is your dad okay?"

I smile, "Yeah, he's good. He just had to pick up a prescription."

"Good," he smiles, before his expression becomes dark. "At least I'll get a bit of a reprieve if he's been in an accident."

Something about his reaction seems off, but I know that he'd tell us if he wanted to so I decide to let it drop.

"Dude, is your face bruised?" I ask as soon as I spot the dark mark on his chin.

"Yeah, I ran into some trouble last night," he explains, "I needed to get out and went for a walk; some fucker thought he could mug me and caught me on a bad night."

I chuckle; yeah, I almost feel sorry for whatever fucker thought it was a good idea to try and rob Luc, especially after he's just got into it with his dad; he's always a bit more stabby after that.

"He still alive?" Trick asks as he glances down at Luc's bruised knuckles.

"Yeah, he's alive; he even walked away," Luc chuckles.

"Good," Trick smirks.

When I realize that we're nearly at school, I ask, "Are we not getting Rafe and Riot?"

"Nah, Rafe's driving them in today, and Cash said he'd pick up coffee on the way in."

"Thank fuck," Luc mutters, "I didn't get a cup this morning, and I feel a bit like a zombie."

We park in our regular spaces, finding Cash already there and waiting for us. Luc practically snatches the coffee from his hands and then looks at him sheepishly, which just makes him laugh.

"Rough night?" he asks him concerned.

Luc shrugs, "Didn't get much sleep."

"I heard about your dad," Cash replies, somewhat cautiously. We all know how he feels about his father, and quite honestly, I don't blame him in the slightest.

Luc sighs, "Yeah, he's still alive, unfortunately."

That darkness that I'm so familiar with flashes through his eyes, and I realize just how much he hates his dad.

"Is everything set for tomorrow?" Riot asks, sensing that Luc wants to change the subject.

"Yeah, it's all good to go," Trick replies and then looks at Luc, "Tomlinson has got more of their guys going through the crowd as well, making sure that nothing kicks off."

"Good," Luc replies, "did you get a list of names off them? It might be a good idea to double-check the names so we don't put any of our guys on crowd duty with them if they're known to have an issue with someone that's just asking for extra shit that we don't need."

"Yeah, I did," Cash replies, "I'm already working on the list to make sure that everyone gets on, or as well as they usually do. I need you guys to look over it just in case I've not heard of a conflict somewhere."

"I doubt that you wouldn't know," I grin. "You know everything about everyone. It's why you're so good at what you do."

"I have to be," Cash says with a shrug.

"We can look over it at lunch." Trick replies.

We're parked where we usually park, which is closest to the exit, so we can leave in a hurry if we have to; it's because of this that I notice the unfamiliar truck pull up and park on the curb outside the gates. I watch as a guy I don't recognize jumps out, slams the door, and then storms around the other side of the truck. He forcibly pulls the door open, reaches in, and grabs hold of a girl's arm hard enough to leave a bruise. The girl looks terrified, and I've pushed off the side of Trick's truck and made my way over to them before I even made the conscious effort to do so.

All of the guys following me having seen what I have.

"Everything okay over here?" I ask as soon as we're close enough.

He glares over his shoulder at me before he spins around and tucks the girl under his arm, forcibly holding her in place.

"Everything is fine," he sneers.

"We weren't asking you, asshole," Trick snaps.

Realization flashes on the guy's face, "You must be the so-called leaders; you don't look like much."

"And you must be Ryan, the dickhead that's fighting Jensen tomorrow," Cash replies coldly, taking a sip of his coffee and giving us all the information that we need.

So, this is the fucker stupid enough to go up against me, I suppose I should be grateful, no one else will fight me anymore and with Atlas gone I'm not going to get a good fight unless we're on a job and even then it's not a guarantee .

The guy grins proudly, stupidly thinking that it's a good thing that we know who he is, "Yeah, I just wanted to get a good look at the guy dumb enough to fight me."

The crowd that's gathered around us bursts out laughing, and the smug smile on the guy's face drops momentarily.

Smiling, Trick ignores the guy completely as he says to us, "We need to end this as quickly and quietly as we can. We don't need it to go to shit just because of some idiot."

The guy's expression fills with anger as his hand grips the girl even tighter; I cannot stand men who do not treat women with the respect that they deserve.

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking about!" Ryan exclaims angrily.

Once again, Trick ignores the idiot and refocuses on the girl, who, now that I'm closer, only looks about thirteen, "Are you okay?"

She quickly shakes her head once, looking absolutely terrified, and Ryan pushes her away quicker than any of us can get to her, making her land on the floor with a hard thump, crying out in pain. Riot rushes over to her to check on her and help her stand back up.

The guy bursts out laughing.

I start to step forward; when I catch sight of Cash's expression, it's gone completely blank; that is never a good thing for the person who caused it.

The guy sees the look on Cash's face and smirks; as he opens his mouth to say something else, Cash's fist whips out, cracking him in the face and making blood spurt, and the fucker drops to the floor like a bag of rocks, knocked out cold. Cash's expression is still blank as he takes a sip of his coffee as if nothing happened.

The crowd makes noises of disappointment; all of them are no doubt hoping to see a proper fight.

"Alright, shows over, everyone fuck off," Cash announces, completely calm and unruffled despite the fact he just dropped a pretty big fucker in one hit.

Everyone starts to grumble but does as they're told and heads back into class, leaving us standing with a knocked-out guy and a terrified girl. At least if the cops showed up now, it would be pretty easy to explain it, although with us involved, they're likely to question it more than they would otherwise, and then they'd watch us more closely for the next couple of weeks and that would fuck up the fight at the Pit tomorrow night.

"What's your name?" Riot asks the girl.

She just watches him, absolutely terrified, and he sort of looks at a loss for what he's going to do next.

"Maybe I can help?" a girl with bright blond hair and a pixie cut asks.

"And you are?" I ask, curious since she's the only one who hasn't followed Trick's order blindly. She also doesn't look bothered by anything that she's just seen, either.

She smirks, "Rylie." Shrugging her shoulders, she adds, "Look, I know that if I were in her shoes, I'd much rather talk to a girl than a group of giant guys. Especially considering that it was a guy who just hurt her."

I share a look with the others, she makes a good fucking point.

Cash smiles. "Good point; try and find out her name so we can get someone she trusts to come and get her."

Rylie nods, "Got it." She crouches down next to the girl as Riot moves away and asks gently, "Hey, sweetie, it's okay; you're safe now. Can you tell me your name?"

She sniffles and looks at her with tears running down her face as she replies, "Rose, Rose Under."

"Good, girl," Rylie replies with a smile and then opens her arms. The girl immediately hugs her, and the tears start to fall again.