callan
“Knock, knock.”
Gunther whipped open the door and leaned against the doorframe, head tilted and backpack thrown over his shoulder moments after I pulled out of Sakura. I stuffed myself into my pants and pulled down Sakura’s skirt, wiping a bead of cum that had dripped out of her pussy and shoving that finger into her mouth.
She sucked hungrily on it, then looked over her shoulder at Gunther. He walked into the room, scrunched his nose at Sakura, and tossed his bag onto an empty desk.
“Look,” he started, “I don’t really want to be here, so what’d you want?”
Sakura glanced between us. “You asked him to meet you?”
“Yes,” I said.
I had told one of his buddies to relay the information to him this morning when I got into Redwood. I hadn’t had the time or energy to find his ass earlier. I was honestly surprised he had shown up. Sakura had said he hadn’t been here all week either.
“Can you give us a moment?” I asked Sakura, my hands on her thighs.
Arching her brow, she suspiciously gazed between us.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” I said.
“I’m not worried about you,” she said, moving her gaze to Gunther. “Don’t hurt him.”
“He nearly tried to kill me, Sakura,” Gunther said, clenching his jaw.
“He’s not going to hurt me,” I said.
“That’s what you think,” Gunther said under his breath.
After a couple of moments, Sakura hopped off my desk and grabbed her backpack from her seat. She twirled around, her skirt flowing through the air and her lips curled into a small smile. “I’ll see you after school.” She walked back over and pecked me on the lips. “Be good.”
A small chuckle escaped my lips as she skipped out of the room, leaving us alone.
“You two are gross,” Gunther said, nose scrunched. “I don’t approve of it.”
“Our relationship is none of your business,” I said. “We don’t need your approval.”
He stared at me in disgust for a few moments, then slid up on a desk. “What’d you want?”
“I apologize,” I said to Gunther, swallowing my pride and wanting to at least be civil for Sakura. “For what I did to you.”
A smug smirk stretched across his face. “Gonna have to be more specific.”
“For shooting you,” I said through gritted teeth.
While I’d had every right to protect my girl, I wanted to get this over with already. I would never get along with the guy, especially after what I had heard him say about Sakura a few weeks ago—that he wanted to fuck her—but still, I didn’t want Sakura to hold this over my head.
“And?”
“And what?” I asked.
“Why the fuck did you pay for my hospital bills?” he growled. “Should’ve let me rot in that parking lot, Avery. I fucking hate it here.”
“I wanted to let you die,” I said honestly. “You pulled a gun out in front of Sakura.”
We stared at each other for a few moments without saying a word, and then he jumped off the desk and grabbed his backpack.
“Great talk,” he said. “Thanks for wasting my time. I’m skipping for the rest of the semester, and I expect at least a B-minus after what you did to me.”
“Wait,” I called.
“What’d you want this time?” he asked, pulling out his phone.
“Do you want to stay with me?” I asked before I could decide against it.
As far as I knew, the house his parents owned had been foreclosed a couple of months ago. I didn’t know where the kid was staying, but it definitely wasn’t with family around Redwood. Maybe he slept on the streets of the slums.
“The fuck did you just say?”
I clenched my jaw and stared at him. “Do you want to stay with me?”
“So you can act like my daddy? Make up for your wrongdoings? Relieve yourself of your guilt?” He laughed lifelessly and turned away from me. “Fuck no.” He lit a cigarette. “I’ve already had enough of that in my life. I don’t need more of it, especially from you.”
“Where are you staying?”
“I’ll find a place,” he said, shrugging and turning away. “Besides, Sakura’s family is letting me stay with them for a while.”
What?! Why hasn’t she told me about that?
I balled my hands into fists at my sides and took a deep breath. Stay calm, Callan.
“They’re not going to let you stay there forever,” I said.
“And you will?”
“You don’t have to stay with me, but there is an empty house that belonged to Jett Harleen that won’t be in use until his son realizes that his father isn’t alive anymore,” he said. “Which won’t be for another six months or so. That bastard is too into himself to give a fuck about anyone, even his own father.”
He paused. “What’s the address?”
I scribbled it onto a sheet of paper, ripped it out of my notebook, and handed it to him. “I’m only doing this so you stay out of trouble and away from my girl.”
“Stay away from your girl?” He laughed. “I protected her while your ass was rightfully getting stabbed by the mob.”
“Protected her?” I asked, brow arching. “From who?”
Gunther walked to the door. “Vaughn.”
Before he could slip into the hallway, I snatched his shoulder and slammed the door closed with my palm. “What the fuck do you mean, Vaughn?” I asked in a hushed whisper.
I had gotten rid of all those damn bugs placed in my classroom this morning—because I didn’t give a shit anymore—but I still wanted to be discreet.
“After Sakura found Jett’s head, she went to the Overlook to dispose of it,” Gunther said. “And could you guess who showed up and tried to come on to her? I heard that, the other day, he brought her into his office and touched her too.”
“You’re lying,” I growled through gritted teeth.
Gunther walked out of the room without saying another word. Though it was only lunchtime, I had business to take care of now. Vaughn hadn’t been in school today, which meant he was either hiding out or with Poison.
If he’d touched a hair on Sakura’s fucking head …
As I stepped onto the first floor, I caught Landon walking out of Redwood Academy with a lit cigarette between his lips and his hands stuffed in his jeans pockets. I stormed up to him, fury rushing through me in hot waves, and grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Where the fuck is Vaughn?” I asked him.
“The fuck, dude?” he said, shaking me off him. “You’re lucky I didn’t pop you in the mouth.”
“Where the fuck is Vaughn?” I repeated.
“We have him,” Landon said. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Is he dead yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Good,” I growled. “Take me to him.”
“Why?”
I grabbed him by the collar. “I don’t have time for the fucking questions. Bring me to him now.”
After shoving me away again, Landon tossed his cigarette onto the asphalt and smashed it out with the heel of his shoe. “You got a car?” he asked.
Screw Poison taking care of Vaughn. I’d kill that motherfucker myself.
“Where is he?” I roared, storming out of my car and into a small, run-down house fifteen minutes later.
“Down here, Landon!” Kai shouted from the cellar.
I took two stairs at a time and thrust the bottom door open, sending João flying against the wall. He growled and took me by the back of the collar, but I shook him off me and barreled through the rooms to find Kai sitting with a tied-up Vaughn.
Before he could say two words, I slammed my fist into his face. “You touched Sakura?!”
Kai almost jumped into the scrap, but João pushed him back. “Let Avery have him.”
With his arms tied behind his back, Vaughn grinned up at me through bloody teeth. “If you’d let me add her to the ring, we would have both been able to enjoy her.” Punch. “You’re lucky,” Vaughn said, splattering blood everywhere. “I bet her pussy felt—”
“You fucker.” Seizing him by his hair, I slammed his head onto the concrete floor.
After knocking his head into the concrete a couple more times, João finally grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back as Landon took one of my arms to hold me in place. Because if they hadn’t, I swore I would’ve smashed Vaughn’s head in until his brain splattered in pieces.
“Let me kill him,” I growled.
My hands ached to wrap around his throat, to kill him for good. I’d bet that fucker had been the one to replace my gift with Jett’s head and put it into Sakura’s room. He had known that I had mob business to take care of, and he had known that Sakura would be freaking out.
He knew he would be able to get her alone.
“No,” João said. “We have plans for him first.”
Vaughn laughed menacingly at me. “I’ve seen every Redwood football player change, watched horny high school kids fuck in the locker rooms, slept with the head cheerleaders throughout the years, but nothing could ever compare to wanting Sakura. She’s the definition of good girl—perfect grades, tight little body, and those schoolgirl outfits that she wears …”
I pushed back against João, Landon, and Kai now. “I’m going to fucking kill you!”
“Cool it,” João said. “We’re heading to the warehouse to finish him off.”
“I’m going to finish him off,” I snarled, ripping myself away from Landon.
“Calm your shit,” João growled again, shoving me back. “You can come with us, but we get to fuck with him a bit before anyone kills him. Let us do this, and it’ll keep the mob out of your business for a couple of weeks.”
So, I reluctantly calmed myself and let them do their thing because I had to if it would keep the mob out of my hair. Yui hadn’t been too happy that I’d lied about Jett, and this … this would be a perfect distraction. Especially if Poison killed the mob themselves.
“Make it good,” I growled at João. “Torture the shit out of this fucker.”