14

I was one of the last people to catch a shower Monday after training because Coach Dunham wanted to have a talk about my partner choices. I basically listened to the whole thing and his sexism and blinked at him.

“So, you’re blaming me that the class has an odd number of women in it?” I asked him. “I’ll get right on recruiting another female to join the university late. Do I contact the admissions board or a dean?”

Needless to say, steam about came out of his ears as he barked at me to hit the showers, his assistants looking like they were going to burst out laughing. Well, what did he want me to do? I’d wanted to be paired with a woman too, but I’d missed my chance because he’d let a bunch of men corner and bully me. The asshole only needed to look in the mirror as to why I was paired up with a guy.

I heard someone grunt and muffled yelling as I stepped out of the building, glancing around and realizing it came from my left. I walked the path and turned the corner around to the back side of the rec center.

Only to walk up on three guys kicking the shit out of someone.

“ Freeze ,” I shouted in Latin, putting magic and intent behind the word to activate a spell. Or so I hoped. I sighed in relief when the knee heading for the victim’s face froze, all of them did.

Even the victim. Whoops.

I hurried to pull out my phone and tapped to call campus security. “I’m behind the rec center and I need to report three guys beating on one.”

“Are you safe?” the guard asked as I stared at what I’d done.

“Yes, I froze them, but he needs a healer. I can’t see his face, but there’s blood on the ground and his shirt’s torn. I sort of froze him too.”

“That’s not bad if he’s injured as he’s not in pain either,” he comforted. “We’ll alert a healer to an emergency and a team will circle to your location. Stay on the line until they do.”

“Yes, thank you,” I whispered, glad they were taking this seriously. I blinked and a team of four guards was standing ten feet from me. “They’ve arrived. It’s the right location.”

“Good. Thank you for reporting it. The healer should be there soon.”

I thanked him again and hung up, meeting Link’s gaze.

He sighed. “How did I know it would involve you?”

I blinked at him. “It didn’t. I came out of the rec center and heard it. Should I have kept walking?”

The withering look he gave me said lots he didn’t voice. “You did this?”

I nodded. “I froze them. I wasn’t sure what else to do so they didn’t hurt him more.”

“Do you know him?” another guard asked.

“Maybe, I didn’t get any closer than right here,” I answered, pointing to my feet as if that helped. I was at least thirty feet away, and clearly they hadn’t seen me yet.

“Okay, you can unfreeze them,” he said.

“Wait,” Link cut in, probably seeing on my face I had no idea how to do it. He went over to the group. “I know you can all hear me so pay attention. I’m going to pull off her magic, and I suggest you stand down and don’t try for one last hit or I’ll add extra charges in.” He gave them a few moments to let that sink in and held out his hand to them, muttering something and pulling the magic off.

The guy holding the victim’s hair let go and lowered his knee, focused on me instead. “You just have to meddle in everything, you stupid bitch.”

“You,” I growled, able to see his face better now that he wasn’t looking down. “Of course , it’s you. Are you just the fucking bully of our class?”

“You know this guy?” Link asked.

“Not his name or anything, but he’s the one who keeps starting shit with me about being a princess who only gets exercise on her back or knees. He led the mob harassing me in training that I was… Lies the Haddocks were pushing. In Wyatt’s class too. He’s the douche who didn’t name his familiar.” I recognized the other two now too. “Those are his lackeys who laugh at whatever he says.”

“And this guy?” the guard asked as he squatted next to the victim.

I gasped when I could see his face and raced to him. “Nigel, fuck, I didn’t know it was you. Oh shit, shit, shit! ” I dove to kneel next to him and reached to touch his busted-up face but remembered how it had to hurt at the last moment. “They said a healer is coming.”

“We need to take pictures for evidence before they help him,” Link muttered as he slid his arm around me and pulled me to my feet.

“Leave her alone,” Nigel mumbled, spitting blood on the ground as he tried to grab my wrist.

“It’s okay, Nigel. I know him. Don’t worry about me.” Still, I moved away from Link so he didn’t get upset.

“Had to protect you,” he slurred, wobbling from where he sat on his feet.

“Me?” I gasped.

“This was about Bevin?” Link asked.

“Well, I know who needs help,” a woman said from behind us, rushing over to Nigel. “Hurry and take your pictures. He’s in bad shape if slurring.”

“Yes, ma’am,” one of the guards replied, already with his phone out and taking pictures.

They were done in under a minute, and she helped Nigel while they took pictures of the three assholes to show they had bruised fists or Nigel’s blood on their clothes. Good.

“They set this all up,” one of the lackeys accused. “We weren’t beating him up. She moved us into position after doing it and froze us that way.”

“Right, so those will be there for what?” I drawled as I pointed to the security camera right on the building.

He smirked at me. “I bet you disabled them.”

Oh cute. I smirked right back as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Did you also think to disable the ones inside that showed me being held back by Coach Dunham or walking out the other door right before I called it in? No, I bet not.”

“But they did take down that camera,” one of the guards confirmed as he held his phone to his ear. “Look at inside the center and at the exit to confirm what she’s saying and that’s enough to take these guys in for questioning.”

I winced as a thought hit me. “Um…”

“What?” Link asked.

“I don’t want to throw around anything but…”

“Tell me where your head is, and we know you’re not making accusations,” he promised, his tone gentler.

“Coach Dunham didn’t do anything when these guys were all hassling me before, and now he kept me after to lecture me and they go after Nigel who saved me that time? That sounds…” I shrugged.

“You’re not wrong. We’ll talk to him.”

“Yeah, your story is shit,” the guard on the phone told that jackass. “We’ve got video of you guys following the victim before the cameras go out and she’s inside.” He moved closer and muttered something under his breath. “Why did you attack him?”

The guy answered against his will, the guard doing the same thing Wyatt had done to Gregg to get him to confess. “He gets in our way so we can’t partner up with that fucking bitch. He’s always there immediately to protect her the moment she steps out of the locker room and we can’t get to her in class. It’s a perfect excuse to kick her ass.”

“Why don’t you have a female partner?” Link asked me.

“Odd number of women in the class,” I sighed, running my fingers through my still-wet hair. “That’s why I was kept after. I mean, Coach has a problem with who I’ve paired up with, but what am I supposed to do that there’s not more women?” I glanced between Nigel and the other guys. “You don’t think Coach Dunham was helping them get to me, do you?”

“No, I fucking was not,” Coach Dunham barked from behind me.

“She was clear it wasn’t an accusation,” Link said easily as he slid between me and Coach who was storming towards us with his assistants hot on his heels. “She thought you keeping her after might have been the timing they picked to jump this guy.”

That wasn’t what I actually said or implied, but it was nice he could dial back the situation as Coach looked a bit less like a bull about to knock us all over.

“I have nothing to do with these little fuckers,” he stated clearly. “Clearly, there’s a problem with Millen pairing with a guy—”

“They jumped him because Nigel protects me from being paired with any of them who were looking for an excuse to beat me just like they tried to sexually assault me before while you stood there and watched the show with your assistants, so don’t put this back on me or Nigel who’s the victim,” I snapped. “All the other women paired up while they were hassling me. So, I’m paired with a man? So what?”

“He should be working with someone who will challenge him, not bothering with your pampered ass and chasing after your tail that apparently anyone can have,” Coach shouted.

“Hey, over the line,” the guard who had been talking on the phone before yelled.

“ Way over the line,” Link agreed, his voice ice-cold.

“And no one in class is at the level to challenge me, but at least I can help her when you’d just leave her to be bullied and ganged up on by a group of men,” Nigel added.

“Are you okay?” I worried, hurrying over to him now that the healer was done.

“He’s got a concussion, but you found and froze them before they did too much damage,” the healer answered for him. “Well done, Ms. Millen. That was quick thinking.”

“Thank you, and thank you for helping him,” I muttered as I squatted in front of Nigel. “Does he need someone to stay with him? You wake someone with a concussion every two hours, right?”

“Yes, but we’ll handle it at the clinic. He’ll be staying there tonight.”

“Of course, thank you.” I reached out and barely ran my fingertips over his healing face. “Can I bring your familiar to you? What about food?”

“Food would be great, but my familiar is in the housing and he tends to scare people.” He moved his face against my hand. “I’m glad you’re safe. Thanks for the save.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m so sorry they hurt you because of me.”

He shook his head. “It was my fault. I was distracted and they got the drop on me.”

“It’s never the victim’s fault,” I gently chastised. “Let’s get you to the clinic and I’ll order whatever food you want.”

“The cafeteria’s fine.”

“Hey, let me spoil you to thank you.”

He seemed to think about it a moment and gave a slight shrug, wincing when it seemed to hurt. “Yeah, thanks.”

The guards helped him to stand and set up the circle that would take him to the clinic, promising to see him soon to take his statement.

“I’ll be there in a bit,” I added.

“Promise?” he asked, looking oddly vulnerable for such a big guy.

“Promise.” I let out a shaky breath when he was gone before turning to the guard who had been questioning them. “Can you ask if this has anything to do with the Haddocks? The rumors his family spread about me were what started their bullying. The High Council—”

“You bothered the High Council because of rumors you’re a sl—easy?” Coach bitched.

“Hey, back off,” Link warned.

“No, Gregg was one of my best players, and she got him locked up because she couldn’t keep her legs closed and then cried rape.”

I saw Wyatt before Coach did, but luckily so did Link, getting in Wyatt’s way and shoving him away from the man.

“Don’t,” I begged when Wyatt seemed like he was still going for Coach. “Please don’t. It won’t help.”

“Jesus, who isn’t under your siren’s song and chasing your—” Coach started to say.

“Finish that sentence and I will flatten you,” Wyatt snarled. “She was the victim , you jackass. I was there. I tracked Haddock carrying a high-level negative potion. He drugged her to try and take her purity so he could force her to mate. That’s the kind of person your star player is. He was convicted. Whatever his parents told you was bullshit. He’s in prison for years .”

The anger and outrage slowly drained out of Coach’s expression. “What?”

“Yeah, so nice you listened to the school’s stance or checked into the report security thoroughly completed before it was handed over to the High Council,” Link mocked. “He confessed. To all of it. He got fifteen years for sexual assault, possession of an illegal potion, and using it on one of our people. He got an additional ten years for attempting to forcibly take a witch’s purity.”

“And it can’t be overturned no matter how much his parents are trying to slander Ms. Millen until she recants her statement,” Wyatt added. “They’ve been slapped with a suit for fraud, slander, and more the High Council is investigating as they were telling people Ms. Millen was mating and the ceremony set for winter. I don’t care if Gregg was your best friend, you don’t just blindly listen to him.

“Your job is to protect your students. All of them. Even the female ones you look down your nose at. You didn’t even bother to ask the administration what they knew and believed whatever crap that family fed you. Are you a total idiot or what? And you just let men badger her in your class because of what you think you knew? That’s unacceptable as a teacher here.”

“They weren’t just rumors or what I heard from them,” Coach snapped. “She was disowned over it all. We know she was a Shaw, but they tossed her—”

“You’re still mistaken,” I interjected, tired of this topic and it still being a thing. “And my business isn’t your business or for you to judge. Your job is to teach and provide a safe learning environment. Instead, you let your personal feelings get in the way, didn’t stop when men of your class ganged up on a woman, and then they took that cue you didn’t care and kicked the crap out of Nigel for protecting me.”

“Plus, I’m not a fan of what I heard you say about a student here, Coach Dunham,” a man said from my left. I turned and blinked at the very large man. Wow.

Then I remembered where I knew his face from. Orientation. He was the headmaster.

Shit.

“I was already coming to have a chat with you as a female student reported to my office you were lecturing Ms. Millen about using your class to cheat on her boyfriends and flaunt her body to lure in your students.” He did a double take when he glanced at me and my jaw was hanging open. “You disagree, Ms. Millen?”

I closed my mouth but then opened it and tried again, blowing out a harsh breath. “I’m not sure. I didn’t understand all he was saying. I caught lots of the sexist parts, but I have no idea why calling my hair a honey nest was needed. My hair’s not really honey blonde but whatever.” I frowned when several people winced.

“Did he say honey nest or honey trap? ” Wyatt muttered.

I snapped my fingers. “Yeah, that, honey trap.” I sighed when most of the men shot Coach a dirty look. “So, it’s an insult I missed. Got it. There were several like that that went over my head.” I pulled out my phone and connected with Jasmine before anyone else changed the topic or I forgot. “Hey, did we decide what we’re doing about the Haddocks? There was shit with Dunham and now I’m a honey trap?”

“What?” she snarled loud enough that I had to pull the phone from my ear. “I’ll be right there.”

I blinked at the phone when she hung up. “Oh, so it’s that bad that my unshakable attorney is seriously pissed. Got it.” I glanced over at Coach. “What were you saying about me needing a dog familiar because I got too sweaty in class?”

“You implied your own student was a bitch in heat?” Wyatt growled. “What is wrong with you?”

I totally missed how what I said even got to that, but there was some sort of nonverbal interaction there between the men. Oh boy.

“This is going to be a long chat,” the headmaster seethed. “My office.”

“I’ll be joining that meeting,” Jasmine said as she circled in with a guard who brought her from the entrance station. She glanced at me. “You okay?”

I nodded, sighing. “Just tired of the drama and this crap. It’s my fault I let myself be drugged or it’s all a lie and I can’t keep my legs closed and cried rape so I’m a slut. I mean, for the love of… He was caught. He confessed. He was convicted and sentenced . Why is this still up in the air?”

“I’ve been working all day to make sure it ends and soon, I promise.” She turned her gaze on the headmaster. “And I believe we now have an ally to make this happen as he would do lots to keep word of this unfortunate incident quiet that I don’t even fully know about yet.”

He cleared his throat. “Yes, let’s discuss this in my office.”

I snapped my fingers again. “What’s a rundi? I get the crack about Paris Hilton now that I know he was calling me names, not I was a princess who visited the Hilton on her trips to Paris and other places, but I didn’t know that term.”

Link moved seriously fast and blocked Wyatt from going for Coach again.

“You’re a fucking asshole,” one of the guards who hadn’t spoken yet yelled at Coach. “She’s one of the nicest and sweetest students we have here, thanking us for our help and buying all the security Fortunate Cookies when we did our jobs. And you’re calling her a whore because guys chase her? They flirt with her . She sits alone and reads or watches the birds. They find her. Some harass her. You’re an asshole.”

“He is, but he’s an asshole who’s going to go on the record on what he was told and by who or I’m going to include him in the slander claim along with the fraud one already filed against the Haddocks,” Jasmine purred.

“Well, you have fun with that. I have to get to the infirmary to check on the guy who got his ass kicked because he keeps standing up for me.”

She patted my shoulder. “I’ll stop by there before I leave and see if there’s anything we can do for him.”

“Thanks.”

She winked at me. “It’s what you pay me the big bucks for.”

I let out a heavy sigh when she walked off with the headmaster, coach, and his assistants. The guards took the other guys into custody and circled back to the security office, leaving Wyatt, Link, and I standing there. Thankfully we were far enough on the other side of campus that we didn’t draw a crowd after classes.

“Thanks for the backup,” I mumbled to both of them.

“You okay?” Wyatt asked gently.

“No, no, I’m not,” I whispered. “I’d really like to have one day be about nothing other than classes and school instead of all this other shit, but I don’t know how to fix that. I don’t know anything , not even when a teacher was calling me bad names as I just stood there like a fucking idiot and took it.” I was so disappointed in myself that I needed help once again and was lost like always.

“Most wouldn’t think a teacher would do that, so it’s not on you,” Link comforted.

“And yet you all got it. I’m so na?ve it’s dangerous. I’m chum in the water they kept fucking throwing sharks at in the hope I get bitten badly enough that I stop fighting.” I shook my head and walked off, ignoring when they both tried to talk to me. I was exhausted, and I felt horrible I dragged someone else into my mess just because he was nice.

Which was why the moment I saw him lying in the private room at the clinic recovering I broke down crying. I blubbered apologies as I begged his forgiveness for taking a beating because of me.

“Better?” he whispered when I was done. “I’m more worried about you than I am me, Bevin. What’s going on?”

I wiped under my eyes. “Rethinking if I’m cut out to make it here or survive the waters ahead of me. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just dropped off the map.” I shook my head. “Sorry, this isn’t about me. I came to check on you.”

He gave me a soft smile I wouldn’t ever have thought to get from him. “They gave me a pain potion and I’m right as rain. I’ll be fully healed by morning. How are you so pretty even when you’re a sobbing mess? I hate you’re hurting, but I’m so happy you really came to visit me.” He chuckled when I stared at him but then winced. “You had no idea I liked you, huh?”

“No, and I don’t get it,” I mumbled. “Is Coach right and I have some siren’s song? There are other attractive women on campus and—”

“Coach is a fucking prick,” he grumbled. “And there are other attractive women on campus but none as smart and nice as you. You’re so sweet sometimes my teeth hurt after being around you. I love that. Pretty witches aren’t as nice as you are, Bev. That’s why guys like you besides the assholes who just want you and think you’re na?ve. You’re not. You’re just not as jaded as the rest of us. It’s nice.”

I wasn’t sure what I would have replied, but a soft snore escaped his lips, so I didn’t have to. I sighed and decided to pretend like I never heard any of it. It wasn’t fair to hold what he said doped up on a pain potion against him.

I thought that was fair.