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I was in the backyard, pacing and taking in deep breaths. Too many different emotions kept surging up. I wanted to scream. To cry. To maybe punch something.
I wanted to understand.
My mind kept replaying that clip Paxon and Toby shared. What they said at the end. How everyone looked at me afterward. It kind of felt like war had been declared on the others. The guys against who exactly? Their own teammates? Classmates? Friends? For who? Me?
Why?
This wasn’t what I wanted.
“Damn.” Even outside felt like the walls were closing in around me.
“Cadence,” Paxon said, coming outside.
“Don’t,” I said.
“Can we talk?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Cadence.”
He grabbed my arm, but I yanked out of it. “Don’t touch me right now.”
“Please stop.” The plea in his voice had me pausing. “Please. Can we talk?”
“What have you done?” I asked. “Why would you do that?”
“Because we want to help you.”
“So telling all your friends and teammates that you’ll do what you did to Benji to them...that’s your way of helping?”
“It’s taking a stand with you. That coming for you is coming for us and we won’t accept it. You never did anything wrong. They’re all a bunch of jealous assholes.”
I snorted. “Jealous? About what, exactly.”
“I don’t know. That they don’t have someone they care about the way we do.”
That finally made me pause, and I turned to him. He gave me a small smile and came closer. I bit at my bottom lip before finally asking, “What you said, is it true?”
“I’m not sure which part you’re talking about, but we meant every single word. This has gotten out of control. Because of us, they’re talking others into hurting you. What happened last week, we won’t let it ever happen again. Benji may not have been the one to directly send those guys after you, but he is part of that group. And he’s been nasty to you way too often.”
“Blackmail though?” I asked. “You just blackmailed all your friends. How is this okay? And for what? For me?” I snorted. “I’m nobody.”
“First off—they aren’t my friends. I’d never be friends with people who are willing to hurt others. Who speak like that about people they don’t know. So stop saying that, Cadence. Secondly, I’d do it again. All they need to do is stop bullying, then they’re fine. That’s it. If they aren’t willing to stop, why shouldn’t I do what I can to protect my people?”
I stepped closer to Paxon. “What game is this? What do you want from me?”
“I want you happy!” Paxon practically yelled. Toby was coming out to join us and also froze when he heard his friend yell. Paxon didn’t notice as he continued to talk, voice slightly raised. “I just want you happy, Cadence. I want you to be able to laugh freely and smile. I want your nightmares to stop. I want you to be able to sleep. To stop looking over your shoulder and thinking about people wanting to hurt you. And if that means I need to make some threats like that, I don’t care. Most of them will get over it, and the others, well, it’s telling then.”
“This doesn’t make sense.” I gaped at Paxon and then at Toby.
“It makes a lot of sense to me.” Toby smiled as he came closer.
“We meant what we said.” Paxon shrugged.
I ran my hand through my hair, unable to focus properly. I was so confused. My thoughts wouldn’t calm down. I wanted to be mad at them. What they did wasn’t right. Blackmailing someone like that?
But I never had someone do this for me before. They were showing that they were going to stand by my side. They were picking me.
“I need space,” I said.
Paxon nodded. “I know what we did tonight wasn’t the best. But now people are going to stop listening to Benji. He has no ground to stand on. And frankly, he deserves whatever happens. No one will trust him anymore.”
“That was cruel. That was below what I would have ever expected of you guys,” I said softly.
“Think of it as us vigilantes,” Toby said. “What he did was disgusting. Maybe not a crime per se, but the other kids won’t see it that way. He broke all trust he has with any of them.”
“And you’ll be safe,” Paxon added.
I blew out a breath. “I just need time.”
Toby was about to say something, but Paxon stopped him. “Okay. We get it.” Paxon looked at Toby and shook his head.
Toby really looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself and smiled at me. “All the time you need, Candy Corn.”
“Hey,” Bryan said from the doorway. “Help us clean this shit up so we can go to bed. Especially you two douchebags. You have a lot to answer for with this stunt.”
Toby rolled his eyes. “We’ve been summoned.”
“Cleaning, I can do,” I said and went after Bryan. This was a great opportunity to not face all my thoughts. Paxon and Toby left me with too many questions.
Inside looked like a bomb of candy had gone off. It was a mess. Seth was in the living room, scowling as he shoved everything into a garbage bag. I didn’t see Justin or Bryan, but heard someone in the kitchen.
“Seth,” I said softly, joining him as I picked up all the garbage on the couch.
He stopped and released a breath. “Are you okay?” Seth’s knuckles were white from how hard he was gripping the garbage bag.
“I should ask you that,” I said, making it a point to look at his hand.
“This is the last fucking time I let those idiots be in charge of a party.” He went back to stuffing cups, plates, and wrappers into the bag. “This shouldn’t have happened. I wanted this to be fun for you. Not this bullshit. I’m tempted to put them on their asses. Make them grovel for their idiocy.”
“I’d be up to help you,” Justin said as he came in with another bag, giving it to me.
“Neither of you knew about this?” I asked.
Seth glowered even harder. “Not a clue. Seemed those two kept tight-lipped about it.”
“I didn’t know that was possible,” I mumbled.
Seth snorted. “Yeah, well it happens from time to time. I’m sorry they did this. It shouldn’t have happened. You should have been able to come and have fun. Instead they put on that little show.”
“I can’t wrap my head around it,” I said. Shaking my head, I blew out a breath. “Doesn’t matter. It’s done. And who knows, maybe it’ll help? Things were getting bad at school.”
“I should have failed myself,” Seth mumbled.
Justin snorted as he headed back into the kitchen.
“What?”
“I hate that I can’t be there for you at school. If things got so bad that Paxon and Toby felt the need to pull this shit...I wish I was there.”
“And do what exactly?” I challenged. “Make things worse?”
Seth closed his eyes and blew out a breath, his shoulders slouching. “I hate this. That I can’t be there to help you.”
“It isn’t that big of a deal.”
“Paxon and Toby seem to think it is.”
I grimaced. I guess he was right. And they had a point too. While Benji wasn’t the one to instigate my attack last weekend, he was definitely part of the group who had. We weren’t blind. It was just that we didn’t have proof to be able to do anything about it. And now that whole group had been warned off. If they tried anything else, Paxon and Toby were prepared to retaliate.
Threatening people like that still didn’t settle right in my stomach.
“I’m going to go get some water, then I’ll help you,” I said and headed into the kitchen.
All the bowls and plates that had been on the table were now on the island. Bryan was carrying the stools back to the island while Justin worked on putting up all the leftovers.
“Here,” he said, holding out a plastic cup to me.
I grabbed it and saw the water inside. And it was cold to the touch. I smiled. “Thank you.”
He nodded and dumped a bunch of cookies into a Ziplock bag.
“Are you taking the leftovers back with you?” I asked.
“No, but I’m sure Toby will. I’m going to apologize now. Toby is a demon the week or so after Halloween.”
Laughing, I eyed all the extra candy we had. “I can imagine.”
“Aunt Laura already set up a dentist appointment for him to make sure all that junk doesn’t rot his teeth.”
“I bet he’s going to enjoy that.” I took a huge drink, not realizing how thirsty I had been until the water hit my tongue. Half the cup was empty by the time I lowered it. There was a thud from the other room. “I better go help Seth before he breaks his living room.”
Justin chuckled as I went back. A chair had fallen over by the wall. It looked like Seth was trying to get the sheet off the wall.
“What the hell did they use?” he grumbled.
“Looks like some hooks,” I said, almost laughing at the way he had jumped at my voice.
I joined him in the journey of safely taking the sheet down. Then we got to cleaning the rest of the living room and put everything back to their rightful places.
