Page 147 of Wicked Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 1)

I stop off at a takeout place on the way to Knight’s Ridge and sit at the back of the parking lot to eat and wait for everyone else to start appearing for the day.

It’s the last place I want to be after what went down yesterday, but I refuse to run. I refuse to allow that bitch to think I’m scared of her.

The time passes quickly, too freaking quickly, and I soon find myself inside the building and once again the subject of everyone’s attention.

Although, to my surprise, Teagan and her little friends remain on the other side of the common room when I find Calli, and I don’t even see the guys.

Weirdly, that’s how the two and a half days play out.

Not once, even during cheer or gym practice, does Teag even try to say a word to me.

I want to say it’s because she’s smart, but I think we all know she’s the polar opposite of that after the stunt she’s pulled.

Part of me thinks that one, or more, of the guys have warned her to leave me alone. But I don’t want to think about them. Any of them.

Well, aside from Toby. We’ve exchanged a few messages since Tuesday night, and I finally feel like we’re making some progress, although even he hasn’t explained their sudden absence in my life.

It’s like they were there, every-freaking-where I turned, and now they’ve just gone. Don’t get me wrong, the peace and space from their overbearing asses is nice, it’s just… weird.

I guess they’re all just busy after what went down over the weekend, but Calli doesn’t know anything—not that I’m really surprised. She’s the only person who seems to be almost as in the dark about their lives as me. I feel for her. They’re all moving around her, doing their thing, and it’s almost as if they forget she exists.

But that all changes during our hockey match on Friday afternoon.

I’m exhausted after the weirdest week of my life, and I hate to admit it, but I’m still not sleeping properly, expecting Seb to slip into my room at any moment.

Any rational person would have had the locks changed on the house, or even installed an extra one on their bedroom door. But that’s not how I roll, and I can admit to myself at least that I kinda want him to appear in the dead of night and make me scream again.

I’m barely paying attention to the match we’re playing, and instead of watching the ball, I’m loitering by the sideline, wondering if I can get away with blowing off cheer in favor of just going home to bed. So when someone starts shouting, it jolts me from my thoughts.

I glance up just in time to see Emmie throw her hockey stick across the field and march toward Teagan with her fists curled, ready to throw down.

“Back the fuck off, biker bitch,” Teagan snaps back, her own shoulders squaring, ready for a fight.

“What the fuck did you just call me?” Emmie seethes, her voice dripping with venom.

Teagan looks her up and down, her lip curled in disgust. “Biker bitch.”

Emmie flies at her, Teagan’s nose taking the brunt of the hit with a satisfying crunch.

The only thing that would be better about the whole thing would be if I were the one who threw the punch.

“Girls, that’s enough,” Miss Peterson squeals, suddenly noticing that something is wrong from where she was flirting with one of the male teachers.

She starts moving, but she’s not quick enough—nor am I as Teagan retaliates, hitting Emmie across the face before they both really start going at it.

As much as I want to stand there and cheer Emmie on—hell, what am I saying? I want to get in the fucking middle and get involved. But I know I can’t, and the second I reach them, I wrap my arms around Emmie and drag her back from a very pissed-off Teagan.

The sight of the blood pouring from her nose satisfies something inside me.

“Good hit, girl.”

“I’m going to fucking kill her,” Emmie seethes, fighting to get out of my hold as Miss Peterson hauls Teagan up from the ground.

“Go and get cleaned up,” she hisses at Emmie. “I’ll deal with you in a minute.”

A rush of air falls from Emmie, her body going limp in my arms as she admits defeat.

“Come on, let’s go and get sorted.”