Page 14

Lena pulled a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes, but the guy kept talking.

“Seems like he can’t take a hint.”

“Yeah,” Raf agreed. “Elena’s got his number, though. And he’s only human.”

To anyone else listening, it might have sounded as though Raf was excusing the shithead’s behavior, but I caught his true meaning. The kid was a danger to his sister, but a human was easily dealt with.

At that moment, Elena turned to go, but the creep with the earring grabbed her by the arm.

Before I knew it, I was on my feet, ready to break both the guy’s legs. Lena yanked her arm away and said something that made the creep jerk his head back. Attagirl. She flounced off to rejoin the pom squad, but the guy kept watching.

“Be right back,” I said to Raf.

“But there’s only twelve seconds left on the clock, and we’re down by two points.”

I didn’t answer him. It was nearly the end of the fourth quarter, but I no longer felt invested in the game.

I stalked out of the gym and waited on the other side of the concessions stand. I heard a whistle and the squeak of sneakers on the court. Then the crowd went wild.

Judging by the sounds of celebration, I knew our team had scored and won. I didn’t move. I waited as students poured out through the double doors, high-fiving and shouting and celebrating.

The players, cheerleaders, and members of the pom squad would be in the locker rooms, which were only accessible from the gym and from the hallway just behind me.

So I waited.

Sure enough, the creep with the earring came slinking out with the throng of people. His pale eyes drifted over me as he exited with the crowd, and I knew I didn’t imagine the shiver that went through him.

Humans could be pretty dense, but even the stupidest of them could sense a predator.

Takes one to know one, creep.

I waited until he slunk down the hallway and then turned and followed him. He leaned against the wall outside the women’s locker room.

A grim smirk twisted my mouth. Sometimes, I hated being right.

“You waiting for Elena?” I called.

The creep looked up, and his face scrunched into a scowl.

“Maybe. What’s it to you?”

I let out a dry chuckle. This guy really was a genius.

“Everything,” I ground out.

The guy opened his mouth to reply, and my fist flew out — knocking his head back against the wall. He staggered, and I aimed a kick just above his knee. His leg crumpled beneath him.

I continued to land punch after punch until he was a limp, bleeding mess on the floor. Then I scraped him up off the tile and carried him out the double doors.

“Stay. Away. From. Her.”

A loud shriek from one of the girls on the other side of the pool tugs me out of the memory.

Before that night, I’d told myself I just had to wait. If I waited until I turned twenty-six, then I could allow myself a shot with Elena.

She’d be twenty-one. It would no longer be rob-the-cradle inappropriate. Raf would have to come around once he saw just how much I cared for his sister.

But after I’d left that creep’s blood splattered over the brick wall outside the locker rooms, I knew I couldn’t ever have her. If we got together and it didn’t work out, I’d spend the rest of my days taking out my rage on any man who dared get close to her, rather than fighters in a cage.