Mac

Chapter 9: Mac

"Are you happy now?"

Edge asked the question with a lifted eyebrow as he picked a spot to lean against on the wall next to me in the crowded hallway, as I watched the flow of students rush to their next class. There were several really attractive faces currently sporting black and blue spots from the brawl in the locker room. I shouldn't find it funny, but I did. I was curious about what Edge had used to leverage the entire baseball team to act out, but knew the blond well enough to know that he would tell me if he wanted me to have that information.

I dipped my chin in a slight nod and turned my head so I could bat my preposterously long eyelashes at him. The future billionaire was a lot easier to manipulate before he fell in love and started thinking about someone other than himself. I kind of missed those days, but since he was one of my only friends, I wouldn't trade the new, happier version of Edge in for the previous, incredibly dangerous version who was more like me.

"I am happy. I like it when I get my way. You know as well as I do, neither of those guys deserved to get kicked out of school."

Edge made a vague noise of agreement but didn't look at me. I shifted my head so I could follow his line of sight. I immediately noticed he was watching a tall, well-built, dark-haired boy wind his way through the slower-moving and much smaller bodies in the hallway. Cutter Cunningham had been Edge's very best friend since they were toddlers. They were inseparable. Kind of like a king and his dark knight. No matter how big or messy the trouble Edge caused or found himself caught up in, Cutter was there to pull his ass out of the fire.

I realized that Cutter's feelings went deeper than friendship almost from the first moment I started at Castle Pines. I'd tried to drop hints to both of them that maybe they needed to reexamine what they meant to one another, but they were stubborn and dense. And before the situation could resolve itself in its own good time, Bash arrived. Any chance Cutter had of figuring out his feelings were gone the minute Edge laid eyes on the moody punk rocker. Instead, he made things awkward and awful by trying to kiss Edge out of the blue and professing his love to his best friend. Cutter also had a hand in nearly getting Bash arrested and thrown out of school when his jealousy grew out of control. Edge found his former friend’s actions unforgivable. Now, the two hardly talked, and it was icy cold whenever their paths crossed.

It was sad to see a friendship dissolve that way. Once I was done with Theo and Klein, I was going to work on repairing Edge and Cutter.

I used my elbow to nudge Edge in the ribs, and ducked to avoid the hand that instantly swung toward the back of my head.

"You two still haven't made up?" I said it teasingly, knowing the situation was far more complicated than it appeared to be.

Edge sighed and let his head fall back so hard it thumped against the wall with an audible sound. "No. We haven't spoken in weeks. I honestly don't even know what to say to him."

I hummed a little bit in agreement. "He's bound to be very confused about his feelings. He went from always seeing you one way, to suddenly seeing you in a whole different kind of way. Give him some time to settle into that, then talk to him. He gets past it or he doesn't, but you've been friends for too long, and have been through too much together for you to just abandon him."

"He hurt Bash on purpose. I don't know if that's something I can ever forgive." He was almost as good at holding a grudge as I was. Which was one of the reasons we got along as well as we did. Edge tilted his head to look down at me. "What about you? You got the roommates out of trouble but haven't told them why you did it. The baseball player ambushed me on my way to the bathroom the last time I stayed the night with Bash. He wanted to know where you've been and why you're avoiding him."

I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "It's more fun this way." Sometimes that was my only reason for doing the things I did. Didn't all predators play with their food before they finally ate it?

Plus, the truth was, I hadn't really decided what the best way to bring Theo and Klein together was. Edge put the condition on the favor he owed me that I couldn't sexually exploit anyone, which took some of the bite out of being able to make them do whatever I wanted. Honestly, they'd been getting along better since they were almost kicked out of school. Klein wasn’t nagging as much, and Theo wasn't purposely provoking him the way he had been. It was almost as if a silent truce had been called, which might've been good enough for some, but wasn't even the tip of the iceberg for me. I'd been pulling on their strings for so long, there was no way I was going to miss the chance to watch both of the very pretty boys dance to my own preferred tune.

Edge pushed off the wall when a familiar, shaved head suddenly appeared amongst the masses. Edge grumbled that he still missed Bash’s previous style with its white-blond strands and long, pitch-black roots. On some, it would look tacky and unkempt. On Bash, it was a definite stylistic choice, as was the shaved head. He rocked both effortlessly, and still managed to look cooler than all the other kids in this conservative school. To annoy Edge, I moved in front of him and practically jumped into his boyfriend's well-toned arms when he reached us. Bash, being the nice guy that he was, caught me reflexively as he lifted dark, pierced eyebrows in amusement.

"I've missed you, Mac. When are you coming back to our dorm?" Of course he’d noticed I’d been avoiding sleeping in my own bed lately.

It had taken some persistence on my part to break through the defensive walls Bash had, but the effort was worth it. He was genuine when so much that surrounded me was fake. He was a good friend and had forced me to be one in return.

I grinned up at him, but it quickly turned to a scowl as I couldn't avoid Edge's heavy hand this time. I was forcibly moved out of Bash's tattooed arms as Edge pulled the other boy toward him protectively. The rest of the students navigating the narrow hallway parted around the two of them instinctively, knowing Edge was immovable. If anyone crashed into them, it would be beyond bad. The blond’s irrational temper was legendary.

I rubbed the back of my head with a pout and told Bash, "I'll be back. I had some stuff going on and didn't want to be distracted."

His eyebrows winged upward, but he didn't press. That was one of my favorite things about him. He just let me be and didn't try and dig too deep into my shit, even though he was often found hovering on the edge of whatever scheme and scam I was cooking up.

"Theo and Klein have both asked me where you’ve been the last couple of days."

I was starting to sense a theme. "I know they're looking for me. I just haven't decided if I'm ready to let them find me yet."

Edge tossed his arm around Bash's shoulders and started pulling the shorter guy along with him down the hall. "We're gonna be late for class. Don't try and get in the middle of whatever this lunatic has going on with those two."

Bash chuckled and willingly let his boyfriend haul him through the crowd. "I don't want to have to get used to new roommates this close to graduation. I'm only interested in what's going on for selfish reasons."

I chuckled at the statement and turned to make my way in the opposite direction. My next class was actually right next to theirs, but I didn't feel like going. I rarely did. School wasn't a priority for me. I wasn't here to learn, so much as I was here to stay hidden from my father's enemies. My old man didn't care if I brought home good grades or if I failed every assignment. He cared that I was alive and well and that I had a few moments of happiness before I had to face the real world. As soon as I graduated, I was going to enter the real world with a bright red target on my back. It wasn't something I was looking forward to. It was also the reason I lived as if there was no tomorrow while locked inside the iron gates that surrounded this school.

I was looking at something on my phone and not paying attention to what was going on around me, so I didn't see the ambush coming.