Page 28 of Forged in Rain

Jig marches me up the dais, thrusting me forward by my arm, and I growl when Cyn looks up lazily, frowns, and shoves yet another chick off his lap.

“What the fuck?” he says so quietly, goosebumps rise on my arms.

I spy one of the bitches who jumped me shrink in her seat on the other side of Cyn, and he pushes back from his seat to stand. “Who?”

Just one word, that’s it, but the menace sends a pulse of fear through me, and I lick my puffy lip. “It was just a—”

“Who?” he says again, his green eyes boring into mine.

“Cyn, it—”

“I’m not fucking around, beauty. Who?” he barks, and I jump.

Warily, I raise my hands and say, “It was a bunch of bitches. You going to beat them up for me?”

He eases a little at my statement but cocks his head to the side. “I’ll take care of it as I see fit. Who?”

I’m not sure what I planned to say, but the chick sitting next to him shifts uneasily, and his jewel-bright eyes fall to her. She flushes under his speculative gaze but refuses to make eye contact, taking a sip of her soda.

“Did you touch my property?” Cyn asks softly.

She flinches and glances at me with wide eyes, and if my ribs didn’t ache, I might feel sorry for her. Yeah, I guess not.

“Don’t look at her. Look at me,” he growls.

Slowly, she raises her eyes to his, and her lower lip wobbles. I can’t help my chuff, and she sends me a fierce glare that drops away when Cyn demands, “Who else?”

Bowing her head, she whispers, “Kacey, Maddie, Brooke, and Sarah.”

Bastion’s head swivels to me, his eyes lit up with surprise, and Jig cries, “Five bitches? I said you were badass, didn’t I?”

With a smirk, I pull out a chair and collapse into it stiffly, raising a surprised brow when Bastion hands me a water. He just glowers, but I take it gratefully and chug down half the bottle.

Unfortunately for the bitches, another one approaches with a broad smile, only faltering when Cyn looks at her with icy eyes.

“Cyn,” she says breathlessly.

“Get gone. I don’t want to see your fucking face again and tell the others,” he says coldly.

“But—”

“You think to mess with mine? Fucking go!” he roars, slamming his hands on the table.

The entire cafeteria drops into silence as heads swivel in our direction. Cyn scans the room until he’s sure he has everyone’s attention before he bellows, “You fuck with mine, you fuck with me.”

Stunned, I watch as he turns to the chick still sitting in the chair and barks, “Go!”

She scrambles from the dais in tears, her friend following, and Cyn stalks around to his chair before pulling it out violently and sitting back down with a fierce scowl.

The chatter in the cafeteria slowly rises in the wake of it all. Cyn drinks from his water, avoiding my gaze. Weirded out, I finish my own and glance around at the students going about their business but with a subdued hush that wasn’t here before.

My gaze lands on the girl who tried to help me earlier, and she looks up, meeting my stare. With a small smile, I acknowledge her, and she nods her head before turning away. She’s sitting with another girl, and she laughs at something one of them says, her wide smile breathtaking in its sincerity.

“What’s up?” Jig asks, staring in the same direction.

“Nothing,” I say, turning back to the table.

“You thinking of joining the chess club?” He says with a wag of his brows, and I smile.

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