Chapter Twenty-six
Theo
As Lock drove us across campus,his fury at what Helen had gone through, the way she’d been violated over and over, fed into mine. I was barely able to contain it all. My chest felt swollen, near cracking. My throat burned to bellow the rage churning inside me.
Lock’s teeth had to be ground to dust by the time he parked half on the lawn, half on the curb in front of the house. A few guys were hanging on the porch, probably still drunk from the night before. I grabbed the first guy who crossed my path. Dick was his name. Or Colin. It didn’t matter.
“I need you to get Daniel. Tell him he’s wanted outside,” I ordered.
Colin shrugged at my demand and sauntered into the house, calling out Daniel’s name. Beside me, Lock cracked his knuckles and his neck.
A minute later, Daniel emerged, dressed in boxers, slippers, and a silk robe. He had a joint pinched between two fingers and a glass of orange juice in the other hand.
“Wow, what’s the drama, Whitlock?” He practically stumbled down the steps. “Isn’t it too early for this kind of thing?” He gestured to Lock with his cup-filled hand, spilling OJ over the top. “And what’s with the lumberjack? Is he your hired muscle?”
My hands flexed at my sides. “You know why I’m here.” Not a question. He obviously knew.
He leaned an elbow against the bottom rail. “This wouldn’t have something to do with the practical joke I played on that stripper, would it? I’m impressed with how much money she earned off her sweet little body. It’s all upstairs in my room. Why don’t I go grab it and you can stuff it in her G-string? I heard she likes that.”
“A joke?” I growled. “Was it a joke when you were feeling her up in her sleep?”
He chugged his orange juice, tossed the glass in the bushes, and sauntered closer. “Perhaps my sense of humor is more refined. I thought it was pretty fucking hilarious that your stripper girl was insulted about me copping a feel. I suppose I should have thrown some ones at her first. Is that what you do? Or do you have to shell out the big bucks for full service?”
Daniel was puffing on his joint when I swung at him, connecting solidly with the side of his head. The joint fell, and he staggered to the side, bouncing off Lock’s puffed-out chest.
The guys on the porch took notice of what was going on, some getting up to come closer, others dashing inside, no doubt to alert the house of what was going down on the lawn.
He cupped his cheek, twisting an ugly look at me. “Oh, you’re dead, Whitlock. Daddy won’t save you now.”
“Yeah? Is Daddy gonna save you when it comes out you like to creep into girls’ bedrooms?”
He scoffed and spit on the ground. “No one cares about a whore, bro.”
Lock’s big hand fastened around the back of Daniel’s skinny neck, giving it a sharp jerk. “Daddy’s teat is going to run dry soon, boy. When his date-rapist son’s misdeeds come to light to his board members, they’re not going to be too happy.”
Daniel’s face flushed red, his expression flashing with fear he quickly plastered over with indignation. “Fuck you. I don’t even know you. Get your filthy hands off me, you fucking ox. Shouldn’t you have farm equipment yoked to your neck?”
Lock tossed him aside like a used cum rag. Daniel stumbled sideways, losing a slipper in the process. He laughed, like this was some big joke. To him, it probably was. People like Daniel could assault and steal from a girl one night, then wake up in the morning to spend the day on their parents’ yacht without a second thought. It disgusted me that I’d been fighting tooth and nail to stay in a world filled with Daniels.
“I know you just by looking at you.” Lock folded his thick arms, sweeping a look of loathing over Daniel and his silk robe. “Better to be an ox than a snake.”
“Oh, please.” Daniel threw his arms out to the side. “All this over a girl who’s not worthanythingand never will be, no matter what degree she earns? Once a whore, always a whore.”
I took a step toward him, my muscles so taut they were vibrating. “Once a little bitch, always a little bitch.”
Daniel smirked, like he was amused, glanced to the side at all the guys from our house watching with bated breath, then he charged. I met him before he could gain speed, sweeping his legs from under him and taking him down to the ground easily. He was high, lanky, lazy, and I was filled with righteous anger.
I was on him in a flash, knees on his arms, landing a blow to his jaw. “You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as Helen Ortega.” Another punch to his cheek. “She has more integrity in her pinkie than you’ll ever have in your life, you spineless piece of shit.”
He spat at me, saliva mixed with blood. “Fuck you and your whore. You’re finished at this school, man.”
“That’s what you think?” My palm on his face, I mashed his head into the grass, grinding it back and forth while he screamed from his gut. “That’s what you really think? You’re nothing, Daniel. You have no power. No say in what happens to me or Helen. You’re a sad excuse for a man.”
He bucked under me, but he didn’t even jar me. He wasn’t a challenge. Beating him felt hollow, especially with him pinned down so easily.
“I know what color your girlfriend’s nipples are, man. Ask Colin. He knows too.”
With wild eyes, I found Colin. He held his hands up, backing away. “I don’t know anything. My memory is wiped.”