Page 3 of Quiet Rage (Wicked Falls Elite #5)

Kellen

Dad: See me in my office before you leave for class. Very important.

Great. That’s exactly the text I wanted to wake up to this morning. My eyes are dry and gritty after yet another night that ran so late that I ended up sleeping in the room upstairs where I crash when necessary.

It’s also where Dad first sent one of his girls to ‘entertain me.’ That’s how he describes it. I’m being entertained by hookers on his payroll. Definitely not the kind of father most people want.

Rolling onto my back, I rub my fists over my eyes and groan.

It’s like somebody packed my brain in cotton.

I closed the curtains over the windows before dropping into bed, but enough light leaks in around the edges to tell me it’s a bright, sunny day.

I don’t know why that bothers me like it does.

I can’t expect the weather to match my mood.

It’s a good thing it doesn’t, since that would mean storms all the time.

All the rooms up here have private bathrooms attached, so the girls who are working can clean themselves up between clients.

I take advantage of that now, grabbing a cool shower that goes a long way toward waking me up.

By the time I’m finished and running a towel over myself, I feel a lot more human.

That doesn’t mean I’m in any hurry to get downstairs to Dad’s office, but I do have to be at school, too.

It’s one thing for Dad to lean on me like he does when I’m on break, but this whole burning-the-midnight-oil thing is almost impossible to deal with when I’m also carrying a full course load.

It would be beyond a waste of time to even bring it up with him, of course.

He only hears what he wants to hear, and everything else is noise.

The building is eerily silent, but I break that silence as I tread the stairs that creak and moan under my weight. The only door open is the one leading into the office, and I can hear him in there as I join him, using one of those old-fashioned adding machines to work out last night’s take.

“I won’t keep you long,” he tells me without looking up from his work, which means he’s not asking me something. He’s telling me something. Granted, he doesn’t usually ask for my opinion about anything he wants from me. I’m supposed to fall in line no matter what request he comes up.

Finally, he glances up, narrowing his eyes at me from behind the pair of thick glasses he wears when he’s tackling business. “You don’t look so good. Are you getting sick?”

“It could be because I’m burning the candle at both ends.” That’s about the nicest way I can think to remind him he’s working me to death. “I haven’t been sleeping much.”

“Then you’ll be glad to know I have something I need you to do that won’t keep you up so late at night. I want you to turn all of your attention to this. It’s important.”

“I’m listening.”

“You remember Frank? You rearranged some of his teeth the other day?”

He’s a real fucking poet. “Yeah, I remember.”

“He’s still holding back on me. I know he is.” His nostrils flare the way they do when he’s feeling disrespected, which is most of the time. I don’t know how he functions with that huge chip on his shoulder. “So he’s giving me no choice but to take action in other ways. That’s where you come in.”

I thought he said he wasn’t going to keep me. I’m already bored of this and trying my best to hide it. “What do you need me to do?”

“I found out his daughter got a scholarship to Wicked Falls University.” He lowers his brow, and now those magnified eyes are gleaming dangerously. “Which means coming into contact with you. And she will, because you’re going to make her pay if her old man won’t. Understood?”

“What are you thinking?” I ask before a yawn damn near splits my head in two.

He shrugs his shoulders and waves a hand before going back to the adding machine. “You know what to do by now. Just make sure he knows who he’s fucking around with. Make her wish she never got that damn scholarship in the first place. Make her miserable but do it in a way he’ll have to notice.”

“Can I at least know who this girl is? It’s been a long time since I went to his store—and I was only ever familiar with the son. He died, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he did.” And he sounds bored talking about it even briefly like this. “Here. Here’s who you’re looking for.”

He hands me his phone, where he pulled up a picture of Frank’s daughter, and all I can do is wonder if this is a joke. “You’re kidding,” I mutter, looking down at her. She’s smiling wide in this photo and her baby blue eyes almost jump out at me.

Dragonfly. What are the chances?

“Oh, you know her? Tamson Mills?” Dad asks, and now he’s finally giving me his full attention.

“We have a class together,” I murmur, barely hearing him.

“Perfect. But I know you’ll find ways of getting to her between classes, too.” He has a way of dancing around what he really wants to say, but he gets the point across, anyway. He expects me to hound this girl, to make her as miserable as possible in every way possible.

When I think back on the attitude she gave me when she was the one rude enough to sit in my seat, it doesn’t sound like such a sacrifice.

“It’s covered,” I tell him, and the memory of her trying to stand up to me makes me grin to myself.

She might be a hundred pounds on a good day and barely reaches my chest, but she thought she could stare me down. This is going to be fun.

It’s not until I’m on my way out to the car that an important thought hits me.

No way will I get any help from my friends.

Back in the day, they would’ve been all in, ready to make an example of anybody I asked them to.

It wouldn’t be the first time one of us has targeted somebody we decided to victimize for one reason or another.

That was then. And once again, I’m reminded how things have changed.

The guys are basically pussy-whipped now, especially the twins.

They bullied the hell out of Emma before finding out she was actually battling leukemia the whole time.

Now, it’s like they’re making it up to her by being nicer than I remember them ever being before.

It’s a good thing I know somebody who is always ready to sink low if it means hurting somebody else.

I don’t exactly love the idea of bringing her into this, because she always manages to make a bigger deal out of something that should be simple.

I don’t need her thinking this makes us friends, since I’d rather forget her existence, otherwise.

But she has her uses, which means I have to play nice once I’ve parked in the lot at school and start looking for Tiana and her girls.

It shouldn’t be hard to find them since they don’t exactly try to hide themselves around here.

They would rather show off, full-tilt, which means they’re always the loudest and most obnoxious people in any room. Dad really owes me for this one.

It only takes a couple of minutes of walking around to find the girl I’m looking for sitting on the grass and laughing too loud over something that’s probably not that funny anyway.

She always wants all attention on her. I have to pretend it doesn’t make me grind my teeth as I walk over to them and hope none of my friends sees me.

They would give me endless amounts of shit for actually seeking Tiana out—that’s bad enough after all the shit she’s pulled.

If they knew the reason behind it, they’d never get off my ass.

“Kellen Archer.” Tiana’s full lips curve into a welcoming smile that makes me a little nauseous. There’s something smug about it, satisfied. Like she won a battle I didn’t know we were fighting. “What can I do for you?”

I don’t have the time or the energy to ask what gave her the idea I came over here to talk to her and not one of her friends.

“I was wondering if you would help me with a project. All of you,” I add, looking down at the rest of the group.

It’s probably more than I’ve ever said to all of them at one time before.

I can tell by the way they’re looking up at me that they’re not sure what to think.

But Tiana does the talking. “Like a school project?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

“More personal. There’s a new girl around here, maybe you’ve seen her. Her name is Tamson.”

“Oh, the super poor girl,” Tiana snickers. “I’m pretty sure the jeans she was wearing yesterday are older than the ones my mom keeps in the closet for when she gets back down to her dream weight.”

“That’s her,” I confirm. “It’s kind of a personal thing, but I need her to wish she never came here.”

“What did she do to you?” one of the girls asks.

“That’s none of your business,” I warn. Her cheeks go pink, and she looks down at her lap.

“It doesn’t matter,” Tiana decides with a laugh. “How bad do you want this to be?”

I can’t believe I’m standing here having this conversation with them like we’re planning a group trip or something normal.

I guess there’s no such thing as normal, really.

Especially not for me. “As bad as you can make it. Don’t kill her or anything like that, but…

it wouldn’t be bad if she got roughed up a little sometime. ”

“But we can’t, like, start off that way.

” It’s like I’m Santa Claus and she just got the best Christmas present ever.

The girl is actually giddy as she leans back on her palms, grinning up at the sky.

“We can start with rumors. We’ll make some up, spread them around.

By the end of the day, everybody’s going to think she’s the town mattress. ”

“Sounds good. I know I can leave it to you.” And now I need to get away from them, since even spending this much time talking to Tiana leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I’m not proud of myself, but I can’t handle everything on my own.

It’s outsourcing, that’s all. I chose somebody who I know will get the job done.

Which means all I have to do now is meet up with the twins in the cafeteria like I planned on doing this morning before class.

Before going to our table, I grab myself a foil-wrapped breakfast sandwich and an iced coffee from one of the dispensers, since there was nothing at the bar for me to have for breakfast.

I’m not surprised Emma is with Preston and Easton, with the two of them sitting on either side like they have to guard her. Like she’s going to break.

Meanwhile, she’s too busy worrying about me. “Are you okay? You look really tired,” she tells me when I take a seat across from them.

“Did you just tell the poor guy he looks like shit?” Preston teases her.

When she blushes, I feel bad. “Now, I get it,” I tell her.

She’s a nice girl and doesn’t deserve to beat herself up for being kind.

There aren’t enough kind people in the world as it is.

“My dad’s been working me pretty hard lately, but I think everything’s going to calm down now.

I’ll be able to catch up on some sleep.”

“How come you never seem that concerned about us?” Easton nudges her, then sticks out his bottom lip like he’s hurt. “I’m starting to think you don’t care.”

“Grow up, already,” she sighs.

I have to laugh while applauding softly. “That’s right. Don’t let them pull their shit with you.”

Preston arches an eyebrow and looks me up and down. “For somebody who looks so tired, you’re in a pretty good mood. I haven’t seen you smile like that in forever.”

“I didn’t know you paid such close attention,” I joke before taking a big bite of my sandwich and savoring the bacon and eggs.

He’s right, I haven’t been in anything close to a decent mood in weeks, even longer.

Knowing I’ll have a little more time to myself while the girls are taking care of Tamson has me feeling lighter.

Almost happy, though I don’t really have a lot of experience with happiness.

Not since I was a little kid. I think this is what I felt like, though. Sort of like freedom.

When the doors open and Tiana and her girls walk in, she makes it a point to make eye contact with me before tipping her head backward like she wants me to notice something behind her.

When the doors open again and Tamson walks in, my pulse picks up speed.

She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s about to have a very bad day—and I’m lucky enough to have a front-row seat.