“I said, shove off, douchebag,” Fin mostly repeated.
“Bet it was,” Brandon whispered, his eyes flicking to Reesee then back to Fin. “You always pick the sweet snatch. Way you go through ‘em though, you’ll be done and she’ll be ripe for the pickin’s in what? A day? A week?” He looked to Jeff and concluded, “I’ll give it a week.”
Reesee pushed closer but Fin wasn’t paying attention to her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Troy’s hand up and moving toward Reesee’s hair.
Fin halted them then moved them both a step back, jerking Rees behind his back, he turned toward Troy and locked eyes with him.
“Do not even think about it, asshole,” he clipped.
Troy grinned at him. “She’s got pretty hair.” He moved his grin to Reesee, it became a leer and he went on. “Always liked your hair, Rees.” His eyes slid down her body and he whispered in a sick way, “Always liked a lotta things about you.”
Reesee pressed into Fin’s back.
“All of you, fuck off,” Fin ordered.
“What’re you gonna do, Farmer Fin?” Brandon asked snidely. “Don’t got your crew with you so what are you gonna do, we don’t fuck off?”
Fin edged back, pushing Reesee with him, warning, “You don’t wanna find out.”
“We don’t?” Brandon whispered, a weird light Fin did not like burning in his eyes.
“No. You don’t,” Fin whispered back.
Then it happened. Troy moved in and around, his hand came back up going toward Reesee’s hair and Fin shoved her back. Then his hand darted out, he caught Troy’s wrist and twisted it behind his back. Once he got a lock on him, he moved him forward three steps and shoved him face first into a locker.
“Fin!” he heard Reesee scream but he couldn’t even look at her. The other two had jumped him.
He was pressed double, weight on his back, Brandon’s fist connecting with his ribs.
He heaved up, throwing them off while jerking his elbow back and catching Jeff in the jaw as he shouted, “Get a teacher!”
“Fin!” Reesee cried again.
He planted his hands on Brandon’s shoulders, got close and lifted a knee, hard, catching Brandon in his crotch. Brandon’s hands went there and he dropped to his knees on a pained groan but Troy and Jeff were all over him.
“Teacher, Rees!” he roared, just caught sight of her turning on her foot and running right before he caught Jeff’s fist on his cheekbone.
Stars exploded in his eyes and everything that happened since the sixth of January when he saw his Dad dead in the snow exploded in his brain.
And that was when Finley Declan Holliday lost his mind and unleashed hell on Brandon Wannamaker, Jeff Schultz and Troy Piggott.
*
Mike stalked into the school and right up front by the windowed administration offices, he saw Dusty pacing the hall, her face set right at fury.
The instant she saw him, with long angry strides, her legs took her to meet him.
“Where are they?” he asked, not taking his eyes from her flashing ones and she stopped a foot in front of him.
“In there,” she jerked her head toward the offices. “I’m in the hall waiting for you and trying to list the reasons it would be bad to kill three teenaged kids and lay the smackdown on a stupid-ass principal.”
At her head jerk, Mike’s eyes went to the windows of the office. In the front seating area Fin and Reesee were sitting, thighs pressed close, heads bent and close together. Reesee was holding Fin’s hand. Fin’s hand, incidentally, that had split, bleeding knuckles. This corresponded with a shining, swelling already bruising mark on his upper left cheekbone.
Other than that, no signs of damage.
But just that pissed Mike off.
He’d gotten the call from the school about Reesee, that she and Fin had been involved in a fight and they wouldn’t release her to anyone but a parent and only after they’d had a chat with said parent. Then, not five minutes later, he got a call from Dusty. She was more in the know about the situation because she not only got the call from the school, she’d had the opportunity to talk to both Finley and Clarisse about what went down. Surprisingly, both kids were extremely forthcoming as well as detailed about what was said and done that led to the fight. Then again, maybe it wasn’t surprising. Fin was tight with his aunt and Reesee was forming a bond with Mike’s woman that, by the day, got stronger. They trusted her.
And Mike knew he should likely not condone a teenage kid using violence to deal with a situation but he could not say knowing some scumbag bullies talked smack about his daughter and one tried to touch her, he was not glad.
What he was furious about was Dusty’s second call informing him that the school had a zero tolerance policy for fighting and all involved, including, for some reason, Rees, were being suspended for three days.
Dusty was similarly furious but one look at her, Mike knew her anger was at a much higher level than his.