Page 181 of The Surprise Play

So here I am, sweeping crumbs into piles in the dining room while the staff I hired finish up in the kitchen and the rest of the guys rearrange furniture and get the house back to what it looked like this morning.

“What would you like us to do about the cake?” A voice makes me spin, and I turn to glare at the man… shit, the boy. He’s still got pimples on his face.

He gives me a nervous swallow, and I sigh, leaning the broom against the wall, about to tell him to just throw it out.

“Leave it on the counter.” Tyrell steps into the room. “I’ll deal with it.”

I scowl at him, but he just shakes his head at me and trails the teenager into the kitchen.

Fuck. Satch would have loved that cake. Sienna and I picked out the design together, talking to the cake lady for nearly an hour while she came up with these cool ideas.

It’s a tiered cake with a jukebox and an ice cream sundae, music notes going around the top tier and black-and-white tiles around the bottom. It’s a fucking beautiful cake. I had to shell out extra for the rush job, but she stayed up through the night to get it done for me, and Satch didn’t even get to see it.

Fuck!

Those girls are on my permanent shit list.

The fact that I only yelled them out of this house doesn’t seem like enough. I want to go to the dean, tell him to kick them out of Nolan U! I want to see their asses on a bus, never to return.

I want?—

“She’s back,” Zander calls to me from the living room, and I bolt into the entryway, opening the door for Sienna and battering her with questions before she can even step inside.

“Is she okay? What’d she say? How was she when you left her? Does she want to see me? Should I go?”

“Dude, give her some space,” Zander growls, grabbing my arm and yanking me out of the way so his girlfriend can get into the house. “You okay?” He lightly touches her cheek, and she looks up with a sad smile.

It’s obvious she’s been crying, and I feel like shit as I watch Zander pull her into his arms and lead her into the living room.

She’s such an empath, and her tears are making this raging inferno in my chest a million times worse.

It’s an effort to keep my voice soft and calm when I grit out, “Is Satch okay?” My voice breaks, emotion slicing through my airways. “How was she when you left?”

“She asked me to leave.” Sienna blinks, flashing a pained smile at Zander before looking back at me. “She was really upset, Wily. I felt so bad for her.”

Nylah takes a seat on Carson’s lap. He’s in the armchair adjacent to the couch, and his knee was bobbing a mile a minute until she sat down.

The murderous look on his face reflects some of the emotion I’m feeling, and all I can manage is a feral-sounding “Fuck! I can’t believe those bitches. They tore her clothes—they hurt her! I should have done more than just yell in their fucking faces! I should have told them if they evenlookat Satch again, they’ll be sorry!”

Sienna’s eyes are so glassy. Shit, is she gonna cry again?

I will myself to stop shouting, but I’m so fucking pissed!

Zander rubs the back of her neck when she sniffs. “She told me this girl Jade has been tormenting her for years.”

“What?” My stomach drops out my ass, my legs buckling before I slump into the dining chair we have yet to put away. I hate myself for ever talking to that bitch, for ever letting her sit next to me in class. “What do you mean,for years?”

“She was talking about these girls she went to school with. I’m assuming the ringleader was the one who ruined this party for her. Apparently, she’s made new friends thisyear and turned them against Satch as well.” Sienna blinks at tears, her lips wobbling as she tries to keep going. “She said when she found out that Jade was attending Nolan U, she was gutted. She thought after she graduated and went to college, she’d finally be free of all the torment, but she only had one year of reprieve, and then Jade showed up with a new pair of bitches. She thought Jade was moving to Denver, but she ended up here. And she’s been harassing her ever since school started.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?” It’s a thunder punch to my chest, and I lean forward, cupping the back of my head and swearing at the floor. “She didn’t say a word! I spoke to Jade a couple of weeks ago, fucking introduced her and Satch! They acted like they didn’t know each other!”

And because I’m not feeling shitty enough, I’m suddenly hit with a memory from last weekend and my conversation with her dad. He’d told me about bullies that made Satch’s life hell, and fuck! It was that girl! And her fucking friends!

I feel sick.

“Why didn’t she tell me?” I whisper on repeat. “Why didn’t she say anything?”

“This is such bullshit!” Nylah growls. “We’re in college, forfuck’s sake! This is such grade school behavior! I want to scratch those girls’ eyes out,” she snips, and it’s like watching a chihuahua lose it.