I nearly laughed, remembering the conversation. A restraining order? Gimme a fucking break. What a pussy. We were children back then. Griffin Ashby was just pissed his wife had been screwing my father once upon a time, and if he couldn’t get his puny, pasty little hands on a man like Gabriel Torrance, then he pumped up the size of his dick by taking a jab at me now and then.
Yeah, there was an accident when we were kids, and Ashby had clearly poisoned his daughter over the years to warp her memory of exactly how that all went down, but I hadn’t meant to hurt her. It was a fucking fluke, and kids have accidents.
I stepped out of my car and slammed the door, hitting the button on the key fob and arming the alarm.
“Why didn’t you want me to pick you up?” Michael yelled over at me, getting out of his G-Class.
“Because I might not leave when you do,” I told him.
“Or he’ll be done before everyone else,” Will added with a chuckle as he flanked Michael’s side with Kai on the other.
The three of them drove together, and I was usually with them, but sometimes we came on our own. If we anticipated separating at some point during the night, that was.
I didn’t really have a plan, but who knew?
After Winter’s and my conversation in the cafeteria earlier this week, and her clear fear of me when we ran into each other in the locker room, I was intrigued. What did she remember about that day in the fountain? She was young when it happened—like me—so her memory might not be as sharp.
When she’d wandered into the locker room—or was pushed in, I later discovered—seeing the scared but stubbornly defiant look on her face reminded me of Banks. She looked about two seconds from cracking, the blush of embarrassment all over her cheeks and her eyes glistening a little. But her jaw was flexed hard and her fists were balled up tight. She was freaking out on the inside, but definitely pissed, too.
It was kind of cute.
And I liked the hint of helplessness. It made me feel…
I don’t know. Powerful, I guess.
The same way I felt with Banks and the basketball team, because there were things that only I could do for them.
Call it arrogance. All I knew was that I didn’t like the taunts directed at her when the guys noticed her.
No, scratch that.
I didn’t like anyone else taunting her.
And I really didn’t like another man coming to her rescue, even if it was Will.
And fuck her dad. He wouldn’t take out a restraining order on me. The alumni liked winning games, didn’t they? Michael, Kai, Will, and me…We were given very long leashes as long we kept doing our jobs. He didn’t have the guts.
We headed around the circular driveway, “Bad Company” by Five Finger Death Punch drifting up from the backyard as we walked past the dumbass marble fountain with four horses spitting water and fat cherubs posing up on the higher tier. It was the type of ugly shit Americans put on their property when they wanted to look European, but it just kind of came off looking like a trailer park bird bath, only bigger.
Griffin Ashby was a poser. And even if he could like me, I still wouldn’t be able to stand him. Luckily, he was in Meridian City for the weekend, his wife having gon
e with him, and their eldest daughter Arion decided to have a pool party tonight. Hopefully Winter hadn’t gone with her parents. I wanted to talk to her again. See how long it would exactly take to get inside her head and fuck shit up.
“Hey!” I heard Will bark as we walked. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, come here!”
I looked over, seeing him grab a kid by the shirt and stop him as he headed through the driveway, trying to leave.
I instantly recognized him. Misha, his little cousin. Grandson of a state senator but looked more like the prodigy of Sid and Nancy.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Will asked him. “You’re like twelve.”
“And?”
Smart-ass kid.
Will faltered a moment and then laughed under his breath. “Yeah, you’re right. Never mind. Drink responsibly.” And he pushed the kid back toward the party around the back of the house.
But Misha pulled out of his hold and whipped back around, walking toward the road instead. “I’m going home,” he grumbled. “This is boring.”