Page 24 of The Golden Boys
“I bet she knew and helped him cover it up.”
“Psycho probably runs in the family.”
The ugly whispers hit me from all directions, but I don’t bother trying to pinpoint who said what. It doesn’t really matter. Everyone’s thinking the same thing. I can feel it.
My eyes sting with tears, but they’re not steeped in sadness. These areangrytears.
Practically panting, I pull down the pages I can reach, but there are so, so many. Hundreds, maybe a thousand or more. There’s no doubt in my mind who’s behind this, and I can’t help but to think of all the trouble he’d gone through just to humiliate me.
The research to discover who my brother is and what he’d done, the work of spreading the info he found to the masses.
When the onlooker’s gazes suddenly shift toward the end of the corridor, my head whips that way, too, finding the Golden boys standing there, so satisfied with what they’ve done. They’ve doubled back just to witness this moment. I mean, of course they’d want to see the fruits of their labor, right?
Before I can think about what I’ll do when I get to them, I’m already storming in their direction. West doesn’t flinch, just smiles at me like he’s proud of this. Proud he’s just let the entire school in on my deepest, darkest secret.
This blight had been the fuel that lit the fire, which eventually led to the fight that nearly cost me my chance of admission here. The wrong girl said the wrong thing about this situation, and I lost it.
Completely.
My consolation prize for beating her bloody was a fractured knuckle and a late-term expulsion.
No one knows better than me that my family is screwed up, but that doesn’t give people the right to point that shit out.
Or … create an entire exposé, for the express purpose of humiliating me today.
I’m nearly to him now, and I have every intention to wipe that smug grin clean off him, but a familiar face pokes her head out of the counselling office, creating a barrier between West and me.
“Ms. Riley? My office, please.” Her timing is impeccable, but then I wonder if that isn’t the point. Perhaps Dr. Pryor is trying to save me from myself.
I halt, taking longer to do as she’s asked, but I remind myself why I’m here, why I’m letting this pissant get away with this crap.
If doing it for yourself isn’t enough, do it for Scar.
“Ms. Riley?” Dr. Pryor steps out of the doorframe completely, volleying a look between me and the guys, then stares me down as she crosses both arms over her chest. The glare she shoots me next is stern, and I know she isn’t playing.
Casting West a look that could kill, I brush by Dr. Pryor rougher than I mean to, and pass through the small waiting area before dropping down in the seat across from her desk. She rounds the corner of it, still giving me a look, and then takes her seat, too.
She pushes the length of dark dreadlocks over the shoulder of her gray blazer. She’s always super stern, but has also made more than one exception for me, so I like her well enough.
Rage burns through my veins at warp speed, which is precisely the reason my knee is bouncing like crazy. More than anything, I want to tear West’s eyes right out of the sockets. That’s about the only thing that will settle me.
“Mind telling me what this is all about?”
“Short version?” I snap. “That prick, W—”
I can’t get his name out. Not because I care about protecting him, but because of what I suspect about the way things run around here. If West or his family have enough pull, whatever I say will only make things worse.
Dr. Pryor’s brow quirks. “It looked like you were ready to pounce on West Golden a moment ago. Do I need to have him step in here to get some answers?”
Despite wanting to snitch on that tool more than I want my next breath, I suppress it all.
“No, ma’am,” I mumble under my breath.
The way Dr. Pryor purses her lips tightly suggests she’s unamused, but I’m not forced to say more than that.
“I’ve reviewed the surveillance content from earlier this morning. Looks like a group of ten slipped in wearing dark hoodies and plastered their paraphernalia all over the place. They were a little on the small side, so my guess is that the culprits are either a group of girls, or perhaps just underclassmen.”
That bastard is smart. He and his boys are larger than life, which means anyone who saw the footage would immediately know who was behind this. So, he used his status here to his advantage, coaxingothersinto doing his dirty work.