“Let me explain! Please, Ace,” Mitchell begged, and Tyson tried to grab me and put me inside. Ace kicked Mitchell in the face, his head snapping back.
“Let him go!” I cried, smacking at Tyson, trying to drag me inside.
“Stop, Ace! He isn’t even fighting back! Stop!” I screamed, thrashing, and Tyson dropped me. Ace gripped the front of Mitchell’s shirt, slamming him down on the ground. I jumped on his back, and Tyson tried to rip me off him.
“Let him go! Let him go!” I screamed, tears trickling down my face as Ace continued to beat him, his face swelling until he was almost unrecognizable. Blood everywhere but Ace wouldn’t stop; he wanted to kill him.
I sank my teeth into his back, and he growled, jumping up. Tyson yanked me off at the same time, making me land on top of him.
I rushed off his lap, crawling off Tyson and over to Mitchell, who was choking on his own blood. My hands shook terribly as I held them in front of Ace, trying to get him to stop. His breathing was heavy as he glared down at Mitchell, who lay limp on the ground, his eyes flickering back and forth between him and Atticus.
“Stop, please!” I cried, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Mitchell whimpered, the cuts on his face slowly healing. I bit my wrist when Ace snatched it in his tight grip.
“Heal him, and I will fucking kill him,” Ace growled at me, yanking me to my feet. Tyson walked over, looking down at Mitchell. Tyson’s, I realized, was a different sort of anger. Ace was hit first, ask questions later. Tyson was deadly calm, his eyes calculating as he watched Mitchell try to sit upright.
Tyson crouched down in front of him. “I will let you explain, but if you lie, or I don’t like your answer, you will die.”
“What? No! He is my best friend!” I snapped at Tyson, but Ace yanked me back and away from Tyson and Mitchell.
“I’m so sorry, Lucy. I’m sorry. I tried to make it right. I called Ryker the moment I dropped her off and left. I told him where she was,” Mitchell said, hanging his head.
“Where who was? Josie?” I asked. Mitchell nodded while I tried to put the pieces together. Mitchell tried to crawl over to me, but Tyson’s hand closed around his throat, slamming him back in the dirt on his back, the air expelling from his lungs. His strength was shocking because looking between Ace and Tyson, that sort of strength you would expect from Ace, yet the calmness radiating off Tyson scared me more. Tyson was so much calmer, and it was weird seeing him so angry, feeling it coursing through him.
“You don’t go near her. Not after what you did,” Tyson growled, his voice menacing and cold.
“After he did what? Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” I asked.
“Mitchell helped Josie get over the borderlines last night. He also is the one responsible for the pictures at the school,” Tyson said, but I shook my head.Mitchell wouldn’t do that.
“No, I didn’t know, I swear. If I had known, I never would have given the janitor the phone. Please, Lucy, you have to believe me. That’s why I called you that morning. I gave him the phone like Jamie asked, that’s it. When I came to school the next day, I saw what he did. I saw it, and I tried to call you and tell you not to come in. I tried to rip them down,” Mitchell told me. I knew he was telling the truth. I knew Mitchell wouldn’t destroy me like that.
Ace growled, and Tyson’s hand tightened around his throat, his face changing color and turning purple under his grip. Mitchell clawed at his hands.
“Stop. He is telling the truth.”
“I don’t care,” Tyson said.
“Let him go, Tyson, or I swear—”
“You swear what, Lucy? As long as he is dead, I can live with you alive and hating me.”
“Can you live with me leaving you, too? Mitchell wouldn’t deliberately try to hurt me,” I told him; that much I was certain of.
We had been best friends from the day we met. Not once had he ever betrayed me like this. I knew he had to have a reason for it, and I trusted it was good enough. I had seen Mitchell go toe to toe with my mother for me, back me up and cover for me, no matter the circumstances, when I attended school before boarding school. He was there when no one else was. I trusted him, and I knew he had to have a reason for helping Jamie.
“Why? I know you had to have a reason for working with Jamie. I know you, Mitchell, and you hate him as much as everyone else.”
“He has my mate. He has Hank’s daughter. I thought it was just another drug run, that the phone was for his contacts. I bring the drugs to Hank. Hank gets them out of the city. I swear that’s what I thought the phone was for. I just wanted my mate. Please, Lucy, you know I love you. You know I would never hurt you. My mate is the only reason, I promise,” Mitchell pleaded.
“Let him up.”
“No, he needs to pay,” Ace said.
“He has paid enough. Jamie has his mate, and you just beat him for nothing,” I snapped at Ace.
“He could be lying about having a mate,” Ace growled.
“He isn’t. Mitchell is a terrible liar. He gets eye twitches,” I told him, and Mitchell chuckled.