Page 96 of Her Brother's Keeper

“I’m really sorry, Luke, but nothing you could possibly say could fix things between us.”

“I know,” he said rushing up to me. I backed up out of habit and slid sideways, along the bathroom door until I was stuck, backed up against the side of the lockers; Luke invading my personal space.

“I know there’s nothing I could say or do to fix things. I was an asshole. I was trying to impress my dad, and it was wrong, but, Maren,” I yipped when I tried to side step him and he grabbed me by my shoulders to bring me back in line with his gaze.

“Maren,no, youhaveto listen to me!” he grated and gave me a rough shake.

All I could think was,oh my god, he’s lost it.

“Okay! Okay, Lucas, I’m listening.”

“Okay, okay, sorry, I’m sorry,” he said rubbing up and down my arms, but it hurt with the intensity of his grip. It wasn’t at all like when Nox touched me to comfort me.

“I’m listening,” I said, swallowing hard, afraid.

Luke leaned in and whispered harshly, “He’s bad news, Maren. He hurts people. Hisclubhurts people and you need to get away from him.”

“Nox isn’t like that, Luke. I promise,” I stammered. When he’d breathed on me, I could smell it, the alcohol on his breath.

“Heislike that, Maren!” he whisper-shouted. He placed his hands on the side of my neck, stroking my jawline with his thumbs. I’d used to love when he’d called me his girl, when he’d stroke along my jaw and pull me in for a kiss. Now I strained backward away from him.

“Luke, let me go, please, you’re starting to scare me.”

“He came to our house, him and two of his buddies; they hurt my dad; you have to believe me. You’d be much better off with me, you should come back.”

“I-I don’t think so, I can’t do that,” I said, tears slipping free. I took a deep breath to scream and hesqueezed, my air was cut off and I felt my eyes go wide as he tried to get me to be quiet.

“Shh, shh, shh, I’m not going to hurt you, Maren. Not like you hurt me. You hurt me when you broke up with me, you know that right? It’s okay, though, I forgive you.”

I clawed at Luke’s hands and wrists, trying to get him to let me go, but he was too drunk to realize he was even hurting me. I choked and tried to get air, starbursts of color and light that wasn’t really there going off in my vision.

A blur of crimson and suddenly I could breathe, my hearing tuned into shouting. Hands on my shoulders propping me up; I screamed or tried to, but I was too busy sucking in much-needed air. I blinked and looked up to Mr. Hunter, and over to Nox, who was kneeing Lucas in the face, a good portion of the student body gathered in the doorway to the gym behind us.

Luke was down, Mrs. Cox leaning over him and shouting at the students to go back in the cafeteria while Mr. Hunter was trying to take me towards the offices. I reached for Nox who pulled me into his arms and away from Mr. Hunter and it was the only place I wanted to be.

I sobbed, and he held me; safety, warmth, and comfort wrapping around me tight. Nox made soothing sounds and put us in motion. We followed Mr. Hunter down the hall and left Lucas behind.

I hoped I would never see him again.

Chapter 35

Nox

I was pretty much hating every minute of this prom thing, but I’d promised Maren and she was so happy that it almost made it worth it. I had been talking to her geeky friends for a minute and was beginning to wonder what was up. She was taking way longer than was typical of her, and I was half worried one of the bitches that had kept it up with the bullying and bullshit had cornered her in the bathroom. After five minutes more, I decided to find out.

“Mr. Fisher, what seems to be the problem?” her vice principal, Hunter, fell into step beside me.

“Maren’s been in the restroom a little too long for my liking, I figured I’d go check on her.”

“Well, yes, I could understand your concern, but it being theladiesroom,” he waved Ms. Cox over to us.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

“Yeah, a big problem,” I said, filled with pure fucking rage at the flip of a switch.

Her fuck nugget ex-boy-toy had her up against the lockers and was choking the living shit out of her.

“Hey!” I shouted and reached in, pulling him off of her. Mr. Hunter went for Maren while Ms. Cox stood off to the side shrieking about god.

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