I stopped walking, nearly stepping on Chuck. Hell, at this point I wanted to drop kick him and take off running.
“You mean like student council?” I played dumb, even knowing it probably wouldn’t work, not with Bee.
“Phoenix.” She gripped my arm.
I jerked it free and shoved my hands in my pockets, taking a few steps back. She ignored my need for space and stepped forward, closing the comfortable distance between our bodies. “The friends I tried to make earlier, they said you were one of them… like you ran the school or something, and I just… I’m tired of being left in the dark.”
Her eyes fell, focusing in on my chest. I exhaled a long breath. “Do you trust me?”
Her head snapped up. “Yes, why?”
“Do you trust me to protect you? Trust me to provide safety to you here at school? Trust me with your life?”
“You know I do,” she whispered, reaching for me.
I stepped out of her way and cursed.
“Phoenix?”
“Then trust me when I say that knowing who we were, what we did…” What I did. “…doesn’t matter. In the grand scheme of things, that life, the one we lived here at Eagle Elite, it isn’t even a blip on the radar compared to the shit we’re dealing with now. Right? It’s history. The past. It. Doesn’t. Matter.” I needed her not to know anything about me. Digging meant she’d eventually find out what I did, what I was capable of, and I wasn’t so sure I was ready for her to know my darkness.
I didn’t even like knowing it.
Sharing it with Bee? Well, to me it was a hell of a lot like dumping her in oil and forcing her to sit and try to scrub it off without using her hands.
“So…” Her eyes narrowed. “They were just messing with me?”
My thoughts regrouped a bit. “They?”
“Yeah, Pike, he’s a senior and—”
“Pike?” I repeated, incredulous. “You stay the hell away from that kid. Far. The hell. Away. Got me?”
Her brow furrowed. “He seemed nice.”
“So do I.” I bit my tongue tasting blood. “So do I.”
“No, you don’t.” She burst out laughing. “Nice in Phoenix World is you opening the door for me without slamming it in my face or you remembering to grunt in my direction.”
“Just…” I wanted to scream in her face. “…stay away from him.”
“Damn, and here I was going to give him my flower.”
I lost it.
Instantly.
There was no preparation for the rage I felt. Without thinking, I gripped her by the shoulders and pushed her up against the tree. Her bookbag fell to the ground as my body encased hers, my nostrils flaring, my teeth snapping. “He gets within fifty feet of you, and I’m beating the shit out of him. He holds your hand? I cut it off. He kisses you, and he’s going to wake up without any lips to frame his ugly-as-sin face. If he decides to touch you in any way, I’ll cut off his balls and feed them to him then put him out of his misery with a bullet between the eyes. And that’s going to be on you, princess. All you. So I’d think twice about giving him anything.”
Bee’s shocked expression turned murderous as she tried to push against me. “Jealous it won’t be you?”
“I don’t do virgins,” I spat stepping away. Or anyone.
“I knew you liked men.”
“Bianka! Damnit!” I punched the tree trunk. “Can you please just trust me enough to do my job? Stay away from him, and for the love of God, stop thinking I want anything you have to give.”
Her lower lip trembled as she reached for her bag and tossed it over her shoulder. “You really are a bastard, Phoenix.”
She stomped off.
“Where the hell are you going?” I almost shouted.
“Class!” She flipped me the bird. “I can take care of myself.”
Forget that she literally tripped that very next instant nearly twisting her ankle.
I felt like shit.
I shouldn’t have lost it.
I had better control than that, but the thought of that bastard’s hands on her had sent me into such hatred that I had to keep myself from calling a hit on him. Ha, great. Only been boss for what? Two weeks? And already I’m killing students. Fan-freaking-tastic.
With shaking hands, I watched, waiting until Bee made it safely into the correct building then jerked out my phone.
“This better be good,” Sergio said lazily from the other end. “I was hacking Amazon.”
“Why?”
He chuckled. “Because I’m bored as hell — because I can.”
“You need a job.”
“Yeah, well, killing people isn’t as fulfilling as it should be.”
“You need a girl.”
So do you.
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Wait!” I ran my hands through my hair. “We have a big problem.”
“Listening…”
“Well, actually, it’s more of… you have a problem, and I’m knee-deep in the shit it’s going to cause.”
“I doubt it’s any worse than inviting all five families in for a commission. Oh wait, we already did that.”
“Ha.” I barked out a laugh. “He has jokes. Well great, asshole, because the feds have an implant in our school… and I’m guessing the only reason he isn’t behind bars with the rest of his Russian drug-lord family is because he cut a deal.”