A Strong Person Looks A Challenge Straight In The Eye And Gives It A Wink.
The bell had long since rang but I didn't care.
Mr Reed was playing a dangerous game, using my little sister to call me out. What I didn't know was what he wanted with me. If I was to guess it was something to do with Payton, maybe he wanted to deal with me himself seeing as I broke the nose of his little play thing.
Frankly I didn't know how close he and Payton was and if it was just a one off thing between the two of them. Maybe they had been doing this for a while and she was just using my brother. The thought of that had me clenching my fists in anger.
No one used my family and got away with it.
River had wanted to come with me. This was something I wanted to deal with first, after all he did call me out and I was curious on what he had to say. That was if I could control my temper long enough to hear him out.
At first River disagreed with me and it wasn't because he didn't think I couldn't't handle myself. No it was because he wanted to rain his own terror down on the school gym teacher. In the end I had convinced him that he could do what ever he wanted after I had talked to him.
That had only bought me about twenty minutes at the most.
When River had walked away earlier I was pretty sure he had went to find Ezra and Asher. It was only a matter of time before the two of them were heading this way with him.
Not even bothering to knock on the office door I opened it without a care in the world. My gaze was deadly as my eyes clashed with Mr Reeds.
Mr Reed wasn't that old at all maybe about twenty six at the most. He had only been working in the school for the last year. Payton might be a bitch but she did have a good taste in men I would give her that much. Most of the girls in this school would do anything that this man asked of them. In my head that was what made him so dangerous, because he knew it.
With his boy next door kind of look you would never have thought he was a washed up football star with a injury that ruined his career. So now here he was teaching the future stars of tomorrow hoping to ride the high of stardom through someone else.
Well until he fucked with my family.
"Layla." He greeted his smile warm and welcoming. There was always something about this man I never liked. At first I thought it was the influence of River and Ezra not liking him but now I was sure we could just all sense the same thing.
He was a creep hiding behind his looks.
They were one of the most dangerous type of men.
"You better start talking and you better start now." My voice was harsh even in my own ears as I slammed my hands down on the desk between us. "No one threatens my sister and gets away with it. So you're going to tell me what the fuck you want from me and what the hell you threatened my sister with."
"I didn't threaten your sister." He looked honestly confused for a moment before it clicked. His smile grew as he leaned back in his chair. "Ah she must have taken it the wrong way. What I showed her wasn't a threat to her."
"What are you on about." My grip tightened on the edge of the table. Everything in me was telling me to lean forward and knock that smile clean off his face.
"It was a threat to you."
My back stiffened as his words soaked in. What game was this man playing at.
"What?"
Slowly he unlocked his phone and scrolled for a moment before sliding his phone across the desk to me. With one last look at him I glanced down at the phone.
It was a match I had fought in the other week. The match that I had almost lost in the Cage. It was the end of the match and the sound of the cracking as my fist his its mark on the mans jaw echoed throughout the room. The man seemed dazed before he fell to the floor head first.
What didn't make sense was why Mr Reed was showing me this and why my sister was so worried.
"Is this meant to mean something?"
"I suppose not." Agreed Mr Reed in agreement but his smile never left him. "But how would the school board feel if they found out about this? Even better how would the cops feel if I sent them this video? You do know that man is still in a coma in hospital right?"
Of course I knew the situation with that man. When you got into the Cage you were literally putting your life on the line. Every person that stepped foot into it knew that and there was nothing you held against you opponent if something went wrong.
We all knew the risks going into that Cage.
Laughter was sitting in my throat. Did this man seriously think he could threaten me with something like this? The school board couldn't do anything to me. My dad had them on his pay roll just like everyone else. As for the cops they always turned a blind eye to what happens in the Cage. After all they also placed bets on the matches inside it.
In the end though my anger stayed. This man honestly thought he was getting something over me. What I wanted to know was why he wanted something over me to start with.
"Why are you even trying to threaten me?"
Mr Reed leaned forward in his seat inching closer to me. "Because you ruined my life with that little stunt of yours with Payton Myers. Her family is threatening me because I ruined their perfect daughters relationship and their future plans."
Scoffing I looked at him like he was insane. "How the fuck is that my fault?"
"If you didn't reveal it to the whole school I would still have a job. Now no one is going to hire me because of what has happened and the Myers family breathing down my neck. They want me gone from this City." He growled out standing up from his seat.
He wasn't even meant to be on school grounds right now.
"Looks like you've put a target on your back."
Something in him must of snapped because he reached out a grabbed my arm and I let him. His grip was constricting but I didn't dare so my pain.
"You're going fix this." Mr Reed was leaning over the table and we were only inches apart. "You're going to tell the whole school that your sister lied and that you let that hot headed temper get the better off you."
What I did next I couldn't help myself.
I laughed.
After I finally got my breath I spoke up. "You must be joking? I'm not going to tell everyone that my sister lied."
Then it clicked.
Payton's family had put him up to this. They were trying to clear their daughters name in hopes that my brother would take back their 'perfect' daughter.
They couldn't risk the one connection between our two families being taking away from them. A connection that was bring them more power and influence the longer Payton and Levi went out.
Mr Reed was just a pawn they were using to get their way.
My mom had taught me a long time ago that we were all pawns in someone's game. It was up to each one of us to get across that chess board and turn ourselves from a pawn into a queen.
No doubt he had anger towards me for what had happened. After all with or without the Myers family calling the shots his career was still gone.
So they just used that anger and created more of it. Made him become desperate to fix the problem. A problem he could've just got up and left.
They must have gave him that video.
There was two ways I could go about this but with his right grasp on my wrist and no sign of him letting up I wasn't in the mood to be nice.
Being nice in these situations wasn't what I was taught growing up.
He's the one that fell into their trap to begin with. What the hell did he think would happen when word got out about what happened.
The longer the silence and grip on my arm lasted the more I got pissed off.
"You're fixing this."
Before I could even register what he was about to do I felt the slap across my face.
My head had turned to the side in shock and I could feel the throbbing pain on my left cheek. My gaze was focused on the ground but I felt nothing as the taste of blood formed in my mouth.
Slowly turning my head I kept a blank look on my face as looked at him dead in the eye. There was a satisfactory grin on his face, a sign that he thought he had won.
He had far from won.
"You're about the regret that."
Giving him a second to register the words, I gave him a wink in a amusement but my expression was dangerous.
Then I yanked my arm towards me that he still had a grip on. The table between us made him lean across it at the force of my pull throwing him off balance.
With my lips slightly tilted up in a grin I watched the shocked expression on his face form into one of regret. Bringing my free left hand up I brought it around the back of his head quickly. Then yanking my right arm again it threw him off balance once more letting me use his own force against him as I slammed his head down on the table.
Hard.
There wasn't a sound from him as his head connected with the table. A loud banging sound echoed in the room, it was like music to my ears.
Looking down at him between my lashes I felt his grip loosen on my wrist before it completely slipped away.
He was knocked out cold.
The smirk on my face slowly creeped up and I rubbed my wrist checking on the damage. It was red but it wasn't anything that wouldn't go away in a few hours.
The same thing couldn't be said about my face. Taking a look at my reflection in the trophy cabinet behind the table I could see a large red welt forming on my skin.
A sigh left my lips in annoyance.
That was going to be an inconvenience to my week.
In the reflection I could see River and Ezra looking at me and I turn around to face them head on.
"You two are a bit late to the show."
Ezra looked down at Mr Reed who was still past out across the table and let out a low whistle. There was amusement in his eyes as he took him in.
"You could've left a bit of fun for us Layla."
Without saying a word I went to walk past them. River stopped me in my tracks as he threw an arm out in front of me.
We both looked at each other and questions and answers past through our eyes. His eyes finally fell on the red mark on my cheek and with a dangerous look he turned away and faced what was in front of him.
"What ever you do to him, make sure Reagan doesn't find out." My voice was low so that only the two of us could hear.
What ever it was the Myers family were up to I wanted to find out before my brother.
After all if he found it what they had tried to do to his sisters, there would be a war.
"Don't worry, nobody will even remember who he was after I'm done with him."