Page 78 of Made for Cyn

But Iris blocks him, and he sighs, “I’m tired of your attitude, Iris.”

“Fuck off,” she seethes, and he slaps her upside the head.

She rears back with a snarl, and he grabs her hair, pulling her off me. I sit up, gritting my teeth through the pain to reach out. But it’s too late, and he wails on her as she screams at him.

“Fuck you! I hate you! You piece of shit.”

The horrible sound of his fists meeting her skin ring out as she continues her barrage. “You bastard. I hope you fucking die.”

“Stop,” I whisper, tears slipping past my lids as I pull myself to my feet.

“Stay out of this,” he roars, and I cringe, but I push him back anyway.

He barely budges and that, only because he’s surprised, but Iris rises in the void and socks him in the face. He steps back and touches his mouth with a frown.

Smiling, Iris pulls a knife from her jacket and motions me toward the door. “We’re leaving, and if you don’t want me to call the cops, I suggest you step back.”

“Do it,” he sneers, but he falters when he takes in her bloody lip before he looks at me with wide eyes because he lost control, and now there are two of us.

Try explaining that away—dick.

Slowly, I walk past Iris to the door, and she follows as he steps onto the porch and watches grimly while we drive away.

We don’t go far before she pulls to the side of the road and leans her head against the wheel, muttering, “Shit.”

“Yeah,” I say shakily, running a trembling hand through my hair. “What do we do now?”

“We go to Saul.”

“Iris, maybe we should call the cops?” I say, desperately hoping for any way past this that doesn’t include Saul.

“No, this is it. I didn’t fuck half the student body so he could get away with it. It’s time.”

Staring at her, I watch her mouth quiver, and my heart clenches when she says, “Are you with me or not?”

How can I deny her? I can’t. Besides, if anyone deserves what’s coming to him, it’s John.

“I’m with you,” I whisper.

Nodding, she puts the car in gear, and I take a deep breath, praying I get through what comes next with my soul intact. The fact that it’s already cracked and bleeding is another matter.

???

Saul greets us with a smarmy smile at the door and steps away when we’re inside. We came at the height of a party, and I’m relieved because maybe this means I have a little more time to come around to what I’m about to do.

Sadly, I think of Cyn and the light in his eyes the first time he surged into me. The slow curl to his lip when he pulled me into his arms on the Ferris wheel. Even the way he held me close and soothed me during my period, but then I turn my thoughts away because he doesn’t matter. Nothing does but ending this nightmare.

The party rages around us, and Iris finds a spot on the couch before pulling me down beside her. She accepts a couple of white pills from a guy sitting next to her, who nods at her through bloodshot eyes and hands one to me.

I shake my head, but she grabs my hand and pushes it into the palm, muttering, “Take it. It’ll make it easier.”

Staring at the pill with a broken heart, I glance at her face, noting her hair wild around her head and her eyes swollen from crying. Absently, I wonder if I look just as pathetic before I swallow it down dry, damning myself as I do because there’s no going back now.

At first, I feel nothing but the aches burning through my body from the beating, and I’m uncomfortable among Saul’s friends who talk around me about things I’m sure I’m not supposed to hear.

“Yo, I put a cap in his ass,” the one to my right says with feverish eyes.

“Fuck yeah, and his homey’s next,” the drug dealer says with a smile.

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