Twenty-Five
A Deal Was Struck
The moment Sebastian stepped up to their lunch table the next day, you could see the rage radiating off him. “Have you heard why Cassandra isn’t here?”
Even though his rage was directed at Elle, Chloe was too scared to breathe.
When Elle didn’t answer, he only got angrier.
“Well, she was suspended. Do you know why?”
Again, Elle didn’t even look at him.
Closing her eyes when his hands came up, Chloe’s instinct was to think he was going to strike her—she expected it—but she didn’t expect the sound when he hit the table, instead. It was so loud it caused pure silence in the cafeteria.
“I am talking to you, waitress!”
Elle finally looked at him, clearly terrified for her life.
“Now, do you know why?” Sebastian was losing it by the second. “Do you?”
It didn’t matter that Chloe had kept her eyes closed, she could still feel it the moment he lunged for Elle.
“I better not see you lay your fucking hands on Elle, ever.”
Immediately, Chloe opened her eyes to see Nero intervening.
“I don’t want to see you talking to her or even looking in her direction, and that goes for Chloe, too. Because, if you do, I will make damn sure everyone in this school will be calling you the freak. Do you understand me?”
What? She looked just as shocked as Sebastian did.
Nero came off much more frightening than Sebastian ever did, confusing her about which one she should really fear.
After Sebastian nodded his head, he was released.
It didn’t take Nero slamming his hands down on the table to command the student’s attention.
“Their names are Elle and Chloe, and you will call them by their names.”
She had to look at Elle to see if she had heard him correctly. Standing up for them to Sebastian was one thing, but sending a message to the whole school was something different altogether. This was Nero Caruso. He was practically the king here, and anything he said had everyone falling in line.
“You okay?” he asked Elle.
“Um, yeah, I’m fine.”
The two girls continued to look at each other, trying to make sure this was real.
“Do you think I could sit here now?”
For the most part, Chloe was okay with Nero, and she could definitely deal with him for Elle. She knew something was for sure going on between the two, so him sitting with them one day wasn’t going to bother her. She’d had to learn to deal with much worse from all the events her father had dragged her to through the years.
“Sure. Why not?” Elle smiled at him.
Yep, something is.
“Good.” However, she wasn’t expecting Nero to wave his friends over.
Her nerves started to set in. She wasn’t going to be able to deal with them coming over.
“What are you doing?” Elle asked, moving closer to Chloe.
“Uh, I’m sitting here, and they sit where I sit,” he said matter-of-factly.
“No, I said you can sit here. I didn’t say they could.”
“What’s the big deal?” A second passed before he figured out why by the way Elle was blocking Chloe.
“They can’t sit here, Nero.”
Stopping his crew by just a motion of his hand, he said, “Ba-Elle, listen; letting them sit here will make sure no one will ever say or do anything to you and Chloe again. They won’t hurt you. I promise. They won’t touch Chloe, either. I give you my word.”
She could see it on Elle’s face when she looked at her that the last bit had sealed the deal.
Taking a seat beside Chloe, she gave him a warning, “You better not be lying to me, Nero.”
Nero nodded for his crew to come over again, and with that, a deal was struck.
“It’s going to be okay. I haven’t let anyone in here hurt you, have I?” The words Elle whispered over to her were true. She had never let anyone touch her, always offering herself up for bait if it came to it.
This last semester was going to shit in a hand basket, and she knew Elle was only agreeing to it for protection. Therefore, she shook her head, letting Elle know she understood.
Please don’t let him sit next to me. She held her breath when the biggest one came into view. For some reason, Amo scared her the most. She didn’t know if it was his size or his dark eyes reminding her of …
Her breath released when Leo was the one to take the seat beside her after Nero’s guidance. Then Nero sat down on the other side of Elle while Amo and Vincent took the other remaining seats across.
“This is my little brother, Leo.” Then he nodded at her. “Leo, this is Chloe.”
“Hey, Chloe.” For some reason, she didn’t expect the young boy to extend his hand, taking her even more off guard with the strange situation.
Elle saved her, taking his hand, instead. “Sorry, she’s germaphobic. I’m Elle.”
The guys all stared her down at the word germaphobic, making her want to run away. You could tell they didn’t believe it.
She didn’t expect Leo to begin laughing. “That’s freaking genius, Nero. Why haven’t we thought of that after all the gross hands we’ve had to shake?”
Thankfully, everyone joined in the laughter, and even she gave a chuckle. The conversation had taken a different turn than she’d thought it would. One thing was for sure: Leo had a lot of charisma for his age, and since he was a lot younger than her, Chloe felt strangely comfortable with him.