Page 38 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

He saw the two guys with Chloe and his face turned red.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he demanded.

The one carrying her smiled as though they weren't up to anything. "Hi, sir. She fell asleep. We were going to take her to her room and tuck her in."

Dane gave them both a disbelieving look and all but hauled Chloe into his own arms. "I'll take her from here."

"I'm sure you will, sir," the other student said. He grinned and ducked away before Dane could respond.

Dane glanced over at me and my guys. His eyes narrowed, but he must have caught sight of the worry in my eyes. The sides of his mouth drew back, but he nodded and carried Chloe out of the bar.

"Mission accomplished." Hunter looked smug.

I sat back down, feeling numb. "You weren't planning to let them rape her?"

He shrugged. "If that happened, it happened. But this way, Chloe and Dane no longer trust Zachary. He bought her a drink and then left. Does that say suspicious as fuck to you?"

"Who was really on the phone?" I asked.

"His grandmother," Slade said. "Nice lady. Very receptive to a healthy deposit into her bank account." He looked as smug as Hunter.

I closed my eyes for a moment. "You bribed Zachary's grandmother to call him up and pretend there's some emergency?" After a moment I added, "Or was there a real emergency?"

"Oh, it's real." Parker grinned. "But I'm sure he'll be able to help get her kitten out of that tree."

If anyone would consider that to be an emergency, it would be my former step grandmother. She was very attached to her cats.

"She'll let us know when he leaves her place to come back here," Slade added.

"Trust you to sweet talk an old lady," I told him.

He grinned. "Like I said, she's a nice woman. I'm definitely going to try the cake recipe she emailed me."

"You sweet talk old ladies and you cook." I shook my head in amazement. "Who even are you?"

He laughed. "One of the guys who would do anything for you." He leaned in and kissed my mouth.

"You know if Zachary manages to get back in with Chloe, they're going to retaliate for this," I said. "If Dane hadn't arrived when he did…"

"You would have stopped it." Slade took my hand and squeezed lightly. "Chloe would have been grateful."

"Was that part of the plan too?" I asked.

The guys all exchanged a glance.

"That was a variable we couldn't one hundred percent factor in," Parker said. "There was every chance Tyson and Felix could have had her right here in front of everyone and you would have sat back and watched. Personally, I couldn't see you doing that. Not even after what she did to you."

"Don't mistake me for a good person," I warned. "I just… I couldn't see any woman go through what Danica did. What Mary almost did. Chloe might have been happy to have it happened to me, but that doesn't mean I have to do the same to her."

I exhaled softly. "Maybe my dad is right, I'm not cut out to lead the family. I'm not ruthless enough."

"You definitely are," Slade said. "There's a fine line between being ruthless and being an asshole. Hunter, Parker and I walk that line, so you don't have to."

"You all would have let it happen to her?" I looked from one to the other, to the other.

"I would have brought the popcorn." Parker grinned.

"I would have brought the beer," Hunter said.

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