The room remained silent. Riley perused the ceiling as he always did, as though the answer was written there, while Jason and Corey looked at her like she’d grown three additional heads. Sam kept his eyes on the desk in front of him, happy to keep quiet after the fiasco of yesterday’s session. He hated confrontations.
Jason slowly raised his hand, meeting Kat’s eyes with trepidation. “They can rhyme?”
“They can, absolutely,” she answered with a smile. “Just like the poem we’ll be studying, but that’s not always the case.”
“They’re always about pansy-ass shit like love,” Riley complained from his seat.
“That is true in some cases, Riley, but not in this one,” Kat replied with a shake of her head. “Would I do that to you?” Riley chuckled.
The undeniable sound of Carter mumbling something into the back of his hand had Kat’s head swiveling in his direction. “I’m sorry, Carter, I didn’t catch that.”
He dropped his hands to the desk and shot her a daggered stare.
“We have a very simple rule in this classroom,” Kat added when the silence continued. “You have something to say, you say it. Okay?” The smile she gave was sugary sweet.
“Or else what?”
Kat cocked her head to the side, studying him. He was undeniably attractive, hiding a rage that simmered beneath his skin.
“Or else you can leave. It’s that simple.” Kat moved closer, speaking quietly. “I’ve told you before. This is my classroom. My rules. You do as you’re asked.” Kat lifted the left corner of her mouth in her own derisive grin. “Not too basic for you, is it?”
“Basic,” Corey muttered behind his hand.
Before Kat could say anything else, Carter slammed his hand down hard enough to split the wood of the desk and shoved his chair back with such force it clattered into the desk behind it. Furious silence blanketed the room.
“Something fucking funny?” he growled down at Corey before shooting a glare at Officer West, who’d moved from his position by the door. “Care to share?” Carter continued, taking a step toward his prey. “I don’t appreciate being left out of a joke.”
Kat was spellbound.
She moved slowly. “Carter, calm down.”
Carter ignored her, bending at the waist to eyeball a wary-looking Corey. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Come on now, Carter,” Officer West murmured while throwing a worried glance in Kat’s direction.
“Carter, sit down,” Kat urged, hiding the panic in her voice with firmness and authority. “There’s no need for this. Cool it.”
“Yeah, man,” Corey continued. “Cool it.”
In a quick move, Carter put his hands under the edge of Corey’s desk and flung it hard against the wall with an almighty roar. The sound of the wood careening into the plastic-covered brick resonated around the room like a death knell.
Everyone was immediately on his or her feet, with Officer West grabbing his baton and lunging at Carter before he got closer to Corey, paralyzed in his seat. Kat’s body seized up behind a psyched-up Riley, who protected her with his size as three more guards descended onto Carter.
Kat watched in alarm around Riley’s mammoth biceps as Officer West threw Carter against the wall. The officers—called by the panic alarm hit by Rachel—were upon him in a second. Kat flinched when she heard Carter’s grunts and curses as they pushed and pummeled him hard while cuffing him.
“That’s my fucking wrist!” he yelled into the face of one of the officers before being slammed into the wall again face-first. The officer twisted his wrist farther with a sadistic smile on his face, making Carter shout out in obvious pain.
“Hey!” Kat cried, whipping under Riley’s arm, past a laughing Corey. She stormed over to the rabble of angry men.
Carter, whose left cheek was pressed into the wall, eyed her furiously. She scowled at the guard who’d tried to snap the bone in his wrist.
“I saw that,” she fumed, pointing to Carter’s cuffs. “You don’t need to hurt him. It’s unnecessary.”
“Oh, Miss Lane, it’s very necessary,” the officer countered with a hard voice. “You need to keep them in check, see.” He pulled Carter into an upright position.
Kat immediately saw blood trailing from Carter’s left nostril, down his lip. “He’s bleeding!”
“He’s fine,” the guard barked. He thrust Carter forward but was halted by Kat’s firm, unmoving hand on his chest.
“Wait!” She paused for a second before going to her purse and retrieving a pack of tissues. She pulled one out and walked back to Carter, whose face read a million and one different things.
He started to protest when her hand moved to his face. “You don’t need to fuc—”
“Shut up and let me help you,” she bit with a finality and insistence that shut Carter’s mouth with a snap. He took a deep breath when the tissue in her hand swiped at the blood.