Stars Falling [Book 2]

Chapter 22 - Third Party

Tegan had never seen Warren move so quickly before. He ignored Sean's protest to stay away from Rhea and picked her off the floor. Tegan followed the boys out of the hall and into an isolated room through the back doors. There wasn't enough time to deal with anything else. Christian and Scott would know better than to continue their squabble, and Red would have to deal with Misha's meltdown. And the leech? She could deal with her disturbed guests.

"Put her down easy," Tegan instructed, pulling up one of the chairs from a stacked pile. The room was small enough to be a den, but big enough that Rhea could wake up and exact her revenge if she wanted to. There were no windows, which would hopefully contain the drama, if it were to happen.

"And then you can see yourself out," Sean added, glaring daggers at Warren.

"Why would I when you're the back-up plan?" came the heated reply.

"Okay, enough!" Tegan intervened. "If you two weren't so busy trying to pound each other, none of this would have happened."

"He pushed me," Sean tattled.

"I don't care if he slapped you, honey," Tegan retorted. "Now can one of you please go and get her some ice for that eye?"

Warren turned his back to them and began adjusting the unconscious Rhea to make sure her head was supported. Tegan rolled her eyes. He was such a brat. "And see if you can find a first aid kit for yourself," she instructed Sean.

Both boys had cuts on their lips and knuckles, but Tegan was sure there were more injuries on Christian and Scott.

"To be perfectly honest Tegan, I don't feel comfortable leaving Rhea with Warren." Sean said, crossing his arms. "I think they have spent enough time with one another."

"Oh, so now you're going to tell her who she can and cannot be in close proximity to?" Warren snorted. "Go be useful and get ice for your girlfriend."

"Oh, so now you're acknowledging that she's my girlfriend?" Sean rebutted.

"I'm acknowledging that you care about her," Warren clapped back.

Sean took a deep breath. "Please supervise him, Tegan," he said moving towards the door. "And let Rhea know where I am when she wakes up."

"If she asks," Warren scoffed.

Tegan directed the suit-wearer to the door. "Go stand over there and try not to punch me in the eye, okay?" she snapped.

That put a smile on Sean's face. He left the room looking pretty content. Poor Rhea, Tegan thought, being caught between her two love interests was worse than babysitting Boogie and Buster.

Dropping to Rhea's level, she closely observed her friend's condition. Her right eye was swollen pink and her head scraped. Tegan has no idea what could have caused it. Did her head hit something else on the way down? Thinking about the whole situation made Tegan upset. How could those two knuckleheads be so irresponsible? How could they let Rhea get so close to their fight and continue throwing punches? Warren was the idiot for trying to win Rhea back, but Sean wasn't any better, blaming everything on his rival.

"I need a favour," Warren spoke.

Tegan looked back to see that he had locked the door and was standing in front of it, like a guard.

"You think keeping Sean out is going to do you any good?" Tegan asked.

"I just want to talk to her," Warren supplied. "I haven't been able to do anything right tonight and I just want her to know--"

"How you feel?" Tegan finished his sentence. "She knows Warren. We all know how you feel, but she's with Sean now and I think you need to respect that."