Page 90 of Finding a Melody

“No. It’s fine. I handled it.”

“Cadence, what did they do?”

“Nothing. They were only trying to feed their curious minds. Come on, let’s go. I’m already running late as it is.” I grabbed his hand and tugged him with me.

He didn’t say anything until I got to my locker to grab the rest of my things. “What really happened in there?”

The softness in his voice threw me off. Bryan never talked in a soft way. He was abrupt, to the point, and basically rude with how he spoke.

I sighed, knowing Paxon and Justin had made a good point earlier. I needed to be more upfront with them all. “The girls were trying to get more information to feed the rumors with. They wanted to know who I was dating. Isabelle approached me, and the others gathered, hoping to watch an entertaining show.”

“Isabelle Rogers?”

I shrugged. I didn’t know everyone and Isabelle had never been in any of my classes. I never talked to her before.

“Short blond hair. Brown eyes. About your height?”

“Sounds like her.”

Bryan nodded. “She’s definitely someone who loves to spread rumors. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s one of the ones who fueled all the rumors around you. She had a huge crush on Seth before he graduated. He wanted nothing to do with her since the beginning.” He rubbed his jaw. “I can see why she’s confronting you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Seth, but also Toby.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What about Toby?”

Bryan seemed to realize what he just let slip and grimaced.

“Too late, Bryan. Spill.”

“You should ask Toby.”

I sighed. “Just tell me the bare bones. Then I can judge if it’s something worth talking to him about.”

“Isabelle and Toby had a fling last year. She used him to get closer to Seth.”

“Oh.” I blinked. “Oh. Wow.”

It was like Bryan was trying to pick apart my reaction with the way he stared at me. Frankly, I wasn’t sure what my reaction was, but I knew the information didn’t sit well with me.

“Did she hurt him?” I finally asked.

That didn’t seem to be the reaction Bryan was looking for by the surprise he showed.

“No. Toby has only ever been casual with others. Once he found out what she really was up to, he dumped her. She’s basically blacklisted in our group now. There are some that like trying to get close to one of us in order to gain access to another.”

I nodded. “Okay. I thought I needed to go back into the locker room and punch her in the face. I’d break my hand doing it, but it’d be worth it. That’s a disgusting thing to do.”

Bryan let out a snort and then chuckled. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. “Amazing. That’s amazing. And I don’t think anyone would fault you if you did such a thing. Though before we let you loose on the female population, we’d probably need to make sure you know how to properly throw a punch. I think Justin had taken some self-defense classes in the past.”

“Justin knows how to fight?” That was news to me.

Bryan seemed to think about his words as he spoke a little more cautiously. “Laura wanted Justin to feel strong and in control after what happened to him. So she made sure he knew how to defend himself. He goes back for refresher courses every few months.”

I frowned thinking about that. I thought I got it. Justin was in a position of vulnerability dealing with his father’s physical abuse. A powerful man held power over Justin, hurt him whenever he wanted to, leaving Justin completely defenseless.

“Maybe I should learn,” I mumbled as I closed my locker.