“Answer me,” Royal barks.
I shake my head, tears threatening behind my eyes. “Royal, don’t.”
People begin to slow, to linger, to watch a situation that shows signs of combustibility.
“Every fucking day one of these has been in your locker,” he says, his voice rising with anger. “It’s been him all along?”
“Royal,” I hiss. “You’re making a scene.”
“Do you think I give a fuck?” he growls, his fist clenching around the coffee. The plastic lid pops off, and the cardboard crumples in his grip. Brown coffee splatters onto his arm and the floor, leaving blobs of whipped cream dribbling over his knuckles. “You’ve been fucking him all along, haven’t you? Is this your payment? I’m gone for a week and you turn into a cheap whore who spreads her legs for a cup of coffee?”
My eyes sting with the pain of his words, but my throat closes, and I can’t speak. Royal is supposed to be my brother, my best friend, my better half.
Before I can force out a word, he slams the cup into my chest, his palm flattening it against me. I stumble backward at the impact, the remainder of the coffee leaking down my front, soaking into my shirt. Strong arms catch me from behind at the same moment that Devlin pushes through the crowd behind Royal.
“Did you just hit her?” he asks, his voice low and deadly.
“Aww, shit,” Colt says behind me. “Ain’t it too early for brawling?”
It’s never too early for my brothers. I lurch forward, out of Colt’s arms, as Royal turns to Devlin, his fists already up.
“He has a concussion,” I scream at Devlin, who looks like he’s ready to commit murder. “Don’t hit him!”
Devlin’s eyes dart from me to my brother. Royal uses that moment to swing. He’s not quick enough, though, and Devlin dances back, out of the way.
“Stop,” I scream at Royal, jumping onto his back. I don’t know what else to do. He’s always fought like he had a death wish, but this time is different. He’s already injured. I don’t know what would happen if Devlin hit him in the head. Royal swings at Devlin again, and this time, Devlin isn’t ready, probably thinking Royal will stop now that I’ve attached myself like a barnacle to his back. Royal’s fist slams into Devlin’s face, and he stumbles back against the lockers, cursing and spitting blood.
“You want to touch my sister again?” Royal asks, barreling forward. “Try it, asshole. See where you end up.”
“Don’t you dare hit him,” I say over his shoulder to Devlin, who still has his hands up but isn’t swinging. His eyes blaze with fury, but I can’t tell if he’s pissed at me or at my brother. When Royal swings again, he sidesteps him, and Royal’s fist glances off the locker. It catches on the metal edge, and he swears as blood runs down his fist.
“Stop,” I order, trying to wrestle Royal’s hands down.
But he’s not done. He grabs my hands and wrenches them apart, swinging my arm over his head and twisting sideways, dislodging me from his back and spinning me away. He lets my hands loose too late, when the full momentum of his turn is still with me. I go reeling sideways and hit the floor on my ass, about as ungraceful as a fall can be.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, treating Crystal that way?” Devlin asks, grabbing my hands and pulling me to my feet, wrapping his arms around me.
“Now you wanna tell me how to treat my sister?” Royal thunders, lunging at us.
Devlin pushes me behind him, backing away from Royal with me pressed up tight to his back. “Whatever you got going on in your family, keep that shit at home,” Devlin says. “It doesn’t belong in the halls of this school.”
“You have about two seconds to get your hands off my sister,” Royal snarls.
I know I have to get them apart before this escalates. At the same time, I’m terrified Devlin is going to run his dirty mouth about where his hands have already been, which might be hot when we’re hooking up, but I don’t really want him saying those things to my family—especially not in front of a bunch of random people in the hall.
“Devlin, it’s fine,” I say. “Just go. I’ll deal with it.”
“You sure?” he asks, his voice so quiet only I can hear in the buzz of excitement in the hall.
“Yes, go,” I say, ducking around him and putting both hands on Royal’s chest, shoving him backwards.
“Run away like the pussy you are,” Royal yells over my head at Devlin, who must be leaving. I don’t look. I’m too busy trying to keep Royal from losing his shit again. “You don’t deserve my sister. You better hope I never see you speak to her again!”
“Royal,” I hiss under my breath. “Chill the fuck out.”
“Get your hands off me,” he says, jerking away from me. “Keep fucking him and see what happens, Crystal. I dare you.”
After a second of staring at each other, both of us breathing hard, Royal turns and shoves past the other students. And I notice something different. They cringe back from him now. It’s not the way they look at the Darlings, with awe and respect and a little dose of fear thrown in for good measure. This is straight up scared, as if they don’t know what he’ll do next, who he’ll explode on. I don’t blame them.