Page 243 of Call the Shots
“A check?” I sputtered.
“You’ve made mistakes too, you’re not blameless.” She slipped on her glasses. “How much do you want?”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Bear asked, dumbfounded.
“Be smart,” Warren warned. “Police are out of the question. Take the check.”
My heart sank. I didn’t want to admit it, but Warren was right. Ultimately, whatever happened to Xavier would fall on me, not him. It didn’t matter about my family’s connections or wealth, I wouldn’t win if this went public.
But…in front of my college's housing leaders…
“I’m going to the behavioral hearing,” I decided.
Xavier tried to say something angrily but the cashmere stopped him, and Bear gave him a little shake for good measure. Shawna told me in a thousand different ways that Icouldn’tandshouldn’tbut my ears rang, tuning them out.
“Fine,” Warren interrupted, loud enough to quiet them.
Shawna ripped off her glasses. “Not fine!”
“There’s nothing we can do to stop her—your idiot son got himself into this! Do you know how expensive his NDA is?”
“Give me a number!” Shawna told me. “Whatever number, I’ll write the check!”
That was all this was to her. A check to write this away, something to laugh about at the party tomorrow. Her son had been systematically ruining my life and it didn’t matter to her. This wasn’t just his fault—it was his parents’ too.
I didn’t just want to make Xavier pay.
I wanted his parents to remember what their son did.
“Howmuch,June?” Shawna pressed.
“Your son took so much away from me,” I said slowly, my muscles twitching in anger. “He took myhouse. So now, I want yours.”
Everyone in the room froze. You could’ve heard a pin drop, it was so quiet. Disbelief touched Shawna’s eyes and she jerked to look at her husband who just stared warily back at me. Shawna blinked, stunned. “The—what? You mean, you want…a check large enough for a house?”
“No. I wantthishouse. And everything in it.”
“That’s absurd! You can’t expect me to offer up ourhouse.” She scoffed. “Give me a number!”
I glanced down at Xavier’s phone. It was top of the line, the latest edition. An expectation for him, nothing but the best. I tightened my grip. With a deep breath, I drew my arm back and slammed the phone against the bedpost.
“Oh my god!” Shawna yelped.
I didn’t stop until cracked glass sprinkled down, and even then, that wasn’t good enough. Not even close. What was one cracked phone to Xavier and his parents?Nothing.
I abandoned them for Xavier’s bedroom, and I could hear the family behind me, Shawna panicking while she tore away Xavier’s ties, Bear on my heels, stopping at the door frame. I picked up Xavier’s laptop.
“June!” Xavier yelled. “No!”
I bashed it against the corner of the desk. There was a scuffle at the door, Bear holding Xavier back, but I focused on shattering the screen and the hard drive into a mess of wires. I toppled the desk over and yanked clothes off their hangers, ripping down the heavy curtain rod.
My eyes landed on the trophy cabinet.
“June, no!NO!”
I readied my stance, curtain rod out, and swished it through the air, breaking one of the glass awards. A laugh exploded out of me. The curtain rod sailed again, smashing the awards to pieces.
CHAPTER 90
