I snorted. “Word of advice, Britters. Don’t trust bottle-blondes who wear permanent smirks. It’s like the 101 of surviving a psychopath.”

Katelyn was no longer smiling. “I’m going to laugh at your funeral,” she said quietly. “Then I’ll fuck Sebastian. Just to prove I can. Bad things are coming for you and Delta, and if I was you, I’d run now. It won’t do you any good, but at least you’ll feel like you had a chance.”

I laughed. Because I really couldn’t let her threat settle inside of me. I had to take it as a joke because that was the only way I would survive.

Her face creased into angry lines, and she lunged forward for me. I’d been waiting for it though, and I channeled Dylan and Beck, and instead of backing up, I pushed forward, aiming for her throat with an open handed punch.

She’d clearly had some fight training as well, because her movements were smooth as she dodged my punch, swinging her arm around to crack me in the side of the head. Fuck.

I didn’t let that stop me though, and my next hit was a solid smash into her nose. She hadn’t expected it. She’d thought hitting me would be enough to stop me. But I’d been hurt a lot recently, and I was pretty sure my pain threshold was at a new high. “Are you bitches going to help?” Katelyn snarled.

Brittley shook her head. “I’m out. This shit is insane.”

She rushed from the room, and the other chick followed soon after. Leaving Katelyn and me alone.

“Now, you should run,” I advised, even though my stomach was still churning at everything she’d said. I was damn fucking good at false bravado. “We all know the head bitch can’t fight her own fights ... your squad has bailed.”

The bathroom door slammed open then, and my heart sank until I turned to find Dylan framed in the doorway. Now it was my turn to smirk. “You’re fucked now,” I said cheerfully.

Katelyn backed up, clearly well aware of the deadly skills of my guys. “Get out,” he said without inflection, and she was gone in a flash.

“Thanks, dude,” I said cheerfully, ignoring the feeling of dread in my gut. “I still gotta pee though, so can you stand guard.”

Dylan nodded, his face hard and unyielding. He was not happy, and I couldn’t blame him. This might have ended differently; Katelyn was a complete psycho and she could have had a gun or anything.

When I was done, hands washed, I joined Dylan who had not moved from the doorway, keeping out any other students.

There was a line of glaring chicks when we got out; I must have missed the bell ringing for next class. When they noticed Dylan with me though, they stopped glaring and started drooling. This was half the reason I got hate, because everyone wanted the Delta boys, and they fucking hated that I appeared to have them.

“Riley!” Eddy shouted, distracting me as she rushed down the hall. “Did you fight with Katelyn?”

I blinked. “Heard that already, huh?”

Her pretty face looked darker and angrier than usual. “I’m gonna kick her ass,” she said.

I shook my head. “Don’t even stress on it. There was hardly any fight, and I managed to crack her in the nose, so I’ll take that as a win.”

Eddy let out a huff. “I should have been there. No more going to the bathroom alone, okay?”

Dylan let out a huff of his own, arms crossed over his chest. He’d barely said a word since busting into the bathroom, and I knew he was mad at himself for letting me get ambushed.

“It’s not your fault,” I said, reaching out to wrap my hand around his arm. “I went on my own, and told you not to worry. In hindsight, it was fucking stupid. I should have left you outside, so I could have at least screamed.”

Not that I’d have given her the satisfaction. I’d rather take the beat down, but if there had been a group of guys waiting for me, then at least I would have had a chance with Dylan. After my almost gang rape, I really had to be smarter about my own safety.

“How much longer can this go on?” I asked softly, my head spinning at everything that had happened recently.

Beck appeared then, moving with deadly grace through the crowds. I recognized that look on his face. “You told, Beck?” I said, narrowing my eyes on Dylan.

He shot me a pair of raised eyebrows and a smirk. “Of course I fucking did. If he found out later and we didn’t mention anything, he would lose it badly. I like my face too much to continue letting him pound on it.”

I must have looked disbelieving because he shook his head. “I’m not sure you realize just how much you mean to him, Riles. He would kill or die for you in a heartbeat. There are not many people in the world on Beck’s list, but you’re one of them.”

My heart was practically bursting from my chest at this point, and I found myself running toward Beck. At that action from me, some of that feral anger in Beck’s eyes faded, and there was a moment of shock. I hadn’t run to him like this in so long, and there was no doubt some sort of symbolic bullshit going on right now. Like … we were moving forward with forgiveness and trust and blah blah.

It all boiled down to one thing: I needed Sebastian Beckett.

His arms closed around me, and some of the darkness inside faded. It was kind of ironic that the darkest guy I knew, was the source of my light. But there you had it.

“Are you okay, baby?”

I nodded against his chest, just taking a second to breathe him in. “Yeah, she just said some asshole things, tried to intimidate me, and then smacked me in the head.”

He stilled. “She hit you?”

Oh shit. That tone was his scary one. “Yeah, but I hit her back, so we’re even.”

“Not even fucking close,” he murmured before he dropped my feet so I landed back on the ground. “Come on, Riles, we’re out of here.”

“School isn’t finished,” I said, letting him lead me along the hall.

“It is for you,” he said shortly, and I turned to see Dylan and Eddy hurrying along behind us.

We took separate cars back home, and Beck drove directly into the underground parking lot.

When he pulled to a stop, he turned in his seat to face me. “I’m sorry I had to leave you today,” he said softly. “On your birthday.”

My lips twitched. “It’s not a big deal. Like I said, my parents never even made it a big deal.” I shrugged, “Besides, you said it was Delta business, right? Not like it was something you could refuse.”