Page 39 of House of Pain
Matias threw another punch, and Blaze’s skull rang with the impact. But Blaze wasn’t going to give in, and he managed to swing a punch back, sending Matias onto his side.
Blaze rolled over Matias, straddling his body as he swung one punch after another, cracking Matias’s nose.
“Blaze, STOP.” Andro’s voice was somewhere in the distance as someone’s hand wrapped around his neck, choking Blaze and dragging him off Matias, who rolled on his side, spewing blood.
“You fucking dick. I’m going to break your legs so you can never play rockey again,” Gabe growled in his ear. Blaze’s eyesight went black at the corners.
Then, suddenly, Gabe’s grip was gone.
When Blaze whirled, he found the guy on the pavement, out cold. Alecto stood behind him, gripping a cloth bag in her hand.
“You’re going to pay for this, Leveau,” Matias drawled, trying to get back on his feet.
Blaze glanced around at the small crowd that had started gathering around them. Andro stood wide-eyed, panting heavily as he took in the attention as well.
“Let’s go,” Alecto said, grabbing Blaze’s hand, then Andro’s, and dragging them away into the nearest building.
Before leaving, Blaze kicked Matias in his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him down on his knees as he wheezed.
Getting the Tigers’ Book wasn’t going to be enough during this year’s Game. Blaze was going to make the Tigers bleed in every way he could.
“Come on!” Alecto snapped at him.
Alecto led them into a small classroom with no windows, with only one desk and a chair perched in the corner and a dirty chalkboard lining one of the walls.
Blaze leaned against the desk, his head pounding, jaw hurting. He wasn’t even sure where the pain had started and ended.
“What the fuck was that about?” Alecto scolded them, crossing her arms.
“They’ve got a memory orb of you and Matias,” Andro said carefully.“From yesterday’s party. From what I can tell, they were going to use it to blackmail us or some shit.”
Blaze turned his head so he could see Alecto’s face better. Whatever he expected to find, it wasn’t there, her face completely blank.
She didn’t even blink.“The Tigers are going to be very sorry this year.”
Blaze and Andro exchanged a glance, nodding their heads.
“First though, I’m going to have to go and do damage control,” Andro said, sighing heavily. “Alecto, can you help him clean his wounds and make sure he doesn’t get into more trouble while I try to cover this incident up?”
Alecto nodded, and Andro left them alone. Blaze blinked at Alecto as she hurried around the table, opening the first drawer and taking out a pouch from it.
A moment later, she returned to Blaze, unzipped the bag, and took out the washcloth.
Then, she locked eyes with Blaze. “You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?”
15
Alecto couldn’t believe Blaze would get in a bloody fight with Gabe and Matias. She couldn’t believe he would do it in the middle of the campus, in the afternoon when everyone was around to see.
And she couldn’t believe she had used her magic to knock Gabe out cold so he wouldn’t strangle Blaze to death.
She had cussed him enough since they came in here, and now Blaze sat on the corner of the desk, silent, letting her clean his wounds.
“You would think witchy boys wouldn’t need to use their fists in fights,” Alecto murmured, pressing the washcloth to his face, trying to scrub away the blood starting to dry around his right temple.
“What’s the fun of a fight if you don’t get a lil’ bit physical?” Blaze’s dark eyes didn’t leave her face, not even for a moment, tracking her movements like a hawk.
Alecto ignored him.
