Elite (Eagle Elite) (13 page)

“Tim, did you or didn’t you have sex with this girl?” He pointed to me. I wanted to disappear on the spot. Crap, for some reason I felt like it was my fault… if I hadn’t taken that drink from Phoenix.

“No.”

“No… what? I’m losing patience, Tim.”

“No, sir. I did not have sex with Tracey Rooks.”

“Interesting.” Nixon moved closer to Tim and cracked his knuckles. “And who told you to spread the lie about Tracey?”

Tim said nothing.

“You hear that, everyone?” Nixon turned around and lifted his hands into the air. The guy who kissed me in the elevator and the guy in front of me now were two very different people. His muscles flexed in the moonlight. He pushed back a few pieces of fallen hair. “His answer is silence. Well, at least he’s not a rat. Right, Tim?”

Tim didn’t say anything, he just stood there. Head held high.

Nixon laughed and then punched him across the jaw. Hard enough to cause Tim to stumble. Blood oozed from his lip, but he still didn’t say anything.

“How long will this take, Tim?”

Tim smiled.

Nixon punched him again. This time Tim fell forward, giving Nixon the perfect opportunity to use his knee. Blood spewed from Tim’s nose as he cursed and fell to the ground. “Still silent, Tim?”

Crap, why wasn’t anyone doing anything? Horrified, I looked back to Tex. He shook his head as if giving me a silent message not to do anything, but I was too scared to run. My feet were locked in place.

“More?” Nixon asked and then landed another blow to Tim’s jaw, and another, and another until I thought he really was going to kill him.

Finally Tim cried out. “Phoenix! One of your own told me to! He said you would be pleased.”

“He said I would be pleased?” Nixon laughed. “Tim, do I look pleased?”

“No.”

“No, what?” Nixon said in a deadly voice.

“No, sir. Sorry, sir. It won’t happen again. It won’t—”

“Damn right, it won’t happen again. Now get off your sorry ass and apologize to Trace.”

Tim slowly got to his feet and stumbled toward me. His left eye was beginning to swell and blood was caked on his face. “I’m sorry for any trouble I may have caused you, Trace.”

Nixon came up behind him and grabbed his arms thrusting him into the crowd of football players in front of us. “Clean him up.”

An abnormal amount of
yes sirs
came from the guys who helped Tim walk away. People began to scatter. Including Tex and Phoenix.

“One more thing,” Nixon said loudly. Everyone froze in place. “Phoenix… come here. Now.”

Phoenix’s normally smug face paled as he slowly walked toward Nixon, avoiding eye contact. “Yes, sir.”

“Why?”

“Because you never—”

The sound of knuckles hitting flesh almost made me puke as I saw Phoenix hit the ground and Nixon shake his hand.

People gasped. My mouth dropped open. Whispering commenced. I wasn’t sure if it was normal for Nixon to hit his own friend. I mean, he didn’t seem the type. I just… I didn’t know.

“What should your punishment be?” Nixon circled him. “I leave for the night to take care of family business — a business you have interest in — and when I’m gone you betray me by ordering your own hit on the new girl?”

“She was disrespecting you!” Phoenix all but yelled.

Nixon leaned down. “So you thought to disrespect me, is that it? You thought disrespect equaled more disrespect?”

Phoenix said nothing.

“Since when has it ever been okay to drug an innocent girl? Hmm, Phoenix?”

He was silent and then. “Chase took her.”

“He also told me everything tonight and will be carrying out his punishment over the next year.”

I had a sick feeling his punishment had to do with babysitting duty. Kind of like protecting me from what he caused. Oh joy.

“What? Nothing to say?” Nixon asked.

Phoenix shook his head. “No, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”

“You will be,” Nixon mumbled. “You’re out, Phoenix. Broken. You’re a
cafone
.”

“What?” Phoenix surged to his feet. “You can’t do that to me! My father will—”

“—Son,” came a deep voice. “It’s already been discussed. Just let it go.”

“What?” Phoenix roared. “I gave everything to you! To your family! You promised!” He tried to land a blow on Nixon, but Nixon stepped out of the way. Phoenix was already too hurt to do much damage anyway. “You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you!”

A large burly man came up behind Phoenix and whispered something in his ear. Phoenix’s eyes grew. I’ve never seen such hatred behind someone’s glare in my life. I was suddenly afraid for Nixon, afraid for anyone near Phoenix.

“This isn’t over, Nixon. You can’t just break away from this — from us! You’re making a huge mistake. I hope you realize what you’re doing.”

“I do,” Nixon said confidently. “And I hope you enjoy working in fast food. Because it’s the only place that will hire you if you as much as breathe in her direction again.”

Phoenix spat at the ground and jerked away from his dad, disappearing into the shadows of the night.

His dad, the dean to be exact, stood there helpless. “Are you going to… tell—?”

“No.” Nixon cut him off. “This is between us, was between us. Just keep him away, and it won’t go any further.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Nixon nodded. And the dean left.

“What the hell kind of school is this?” I muttered under my breath.

It was Tex who answered. “I thought you’d have known by now. It’s his.” He pointed at Nixon.

“Says who?”

“The American dollar.” Tex put his arm around me as I shivered. “A couple billion of them to be exact… well, that and the Abandonato family.”

“So the last name Abandonato covers a multitude of sins, is that it?”

Tex sighed. “The last name Abandonato either covers the sin or gets you killed. Either way the outcome is the same, I guess.”

“And what’s that?”

“You’re never free.”

“Of what?”

His answer was silence. Which scared me more than anything. When I entered the lottery to go to this school, all I could think about was how I would be practically set for life.

And now, it seemed like I’d stepped into an action movie where the star has more power than the President of the United States. Just who were the Elect and why was it such a big deal getting kicked out of a clique?

I needed answers, but I wasn’t so sure Nixon would give them to me.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Do I have to say
yes sir
too?” I said in a shaky voice.

Tex burst out laughing. “She’s all yours, man.” He walked off into the dark still cracking up, and I was left with the Ultimate Fighter.

Chapter
Fifteen

“You okay?” I asked in a small voice.

Nixon nodded. “I’m good.” Blood was crusted across his knuckles. I wondered if it hurt. With a curse he handed me his jacket and took off his tight fitting Henley, revealing a tight black sleeveless shirt underneath.

Using the shirt he discarded he wiped off his hands and put on his jacket.

“So…” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say
thank you
or
what the hell
were you thinking
.”

He shrugged. “They had it coming. Tim should never have listened to Phoenix, and Phoenix should have stayed the hell away from you. He had rules and he didn’t follow them.”

“There we go with the whole rules thing again,” I mumbled.

“Rules make the world go round.” Nixon laughed and then put his arm around me. “The rumors should die down now, okay?”

“Yeah, but aren’t people going to talk about this? And why was the dean so chill? I mean, he’s like twice your age.”

Nixon shrugged. “We have an understanding.”

“Right.” I nodded. “What type of understanding? He follows your rules or you shoot him in the face?”

Nixon laughed again. “Wow, thanks I needed that.” His eyes glistened in the moonlight. “Is that what people do on TV, shoot people in the face?”

“Yes, well. No. I guess. I don’t know.” I sighed. “What are you? Some sort of gangster or something?”

“Sure.” His fingers moved to the back of my neck caressing the skin just below my hairline. “Let's go with that. I’m a gangster.”

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“Have you?” he fired back as if offended I would even ask.

Well, that shut me up. His hand moved to my cheek sending shivers down my spine. “It's not fair,” I said breathlessly.

“What?” His eyes were on my lips.

“That you can touch me, but I can’t touch you.”
That you look like a god and I look like a poor farm girl.
I sighed and stepped away from him.

He tilted his head to the side. “Would you rather I not touch you?”

“No!” I blurted. Then covered my face with my hands.

He chuckled and pulled me into his body so my head rested against his chest. “I just don’t understand. What’s so different? I mean we’re touching now, but…”

“I’m in control of it.” He exhaled and tilted my chin toward his. “I know it sounds crazy. I just… I don’t like it when people touch me without permission. Ever since I was a kid, after—” He swallowed. “Anyways, it doesn’t matter. It’s just this thing I have.”

“Like the rules?” I whispered.

“Yeah, like the rules.” His thumb grazed my lower lip. “You’re beautiful, you know.”

I laughed awkwardly and tried to tilt my chin down but he wouldn’t let me. Why I was letting the guy who put the fear of God into the dean touch my face, I don’t know. But… there was something about him. Something that made me want to touch him, made me crave his touch, and I hated that I responded to him, especially after the way he treated me at first.

“Don’t,” he whispered against my cheek as he bent his lips to my ear. “Don’t pull away from me, please.”

“Okay.” My voice was shaky and wobbly and my heart sounded like I’d just run a marathon. Breathe. I just needed to breathe.

His lips found my neck and I let out an involuntary gasp.

“So sensitive,” he murmured as his tongue wet his lips and then drew a design just below my ear. “So damn sensitive. Your skin’s so soft right here.”

I shivered as his mouth met my jaw. His hands moved to clench my hair, forcing me closer. “Nixon.” My voice was weak. “What are you doing?”

His lips met mine. The kiss was brief. He sighed. “I wish I knew.”

“You can’t just…” I swallowed. “You can’t just go around kissing people you hate.”

“Who said I hate you?” He released my head and stepped back.

“Well, you weren’t exactly shaking my hand and shouting my name a few days ago.”

Nixon licked his lips. His hooded eyes blazed a hot trail across my body until I thought I might die from wanting him right then and there. “So you want me to shout your name? Is that what this is about?”

Laughing, I pushed him away. “Stop being such a guy. I’m serious.”

“Oh, believe me…” He ran his hand along my shoulder and down my collarbone until his fingers brushed the first few buttons of my shirt. I had no doubt in my mind that the guy probably had an A+ in stripping women of their clothes with one hand. “I’m dead serious.”

I swallowed the nervous laughter bubbling up within me and stepped out of his reach. “So gangster, you gonna tell me why you’ve taken personal interest in running this school?”

Taking the hint, he shoved his hands in his pockets and fell into step beside me. “I like things to be fair.”

“Wow, then you’re at the wrong school for that.”

“You know what I mean. I do what I can when I can. Besides, it’s kind of one of my jobs, to keep the peace around here, keep the secrets, keep everyone happy. It’s exhausting actually.”

“I have a hard time imagining anyone making you do anything.”

He laughed bitterly. “Then clearly you haven’t met my dad.”

I stopped walking and pulled his hand. “What do you mean? Is he… is he bad?”

Nixon sighed. “Well, he’s no Mickey Mouse or Santa Claus if that’s what you’re asking.” He bit his lip and opened his mouth as if he was going to say more. Instead he grunted and grabbed my hand. “Doesn’t matter. Anyways, I was going to ask you earlier but then I got distracted by all your drug money…”

I rolled my eyes.

“Does the name Alfero mean anything to you?”

“Alfero?” I repeated. “Hmm…as in Alfredo without the D?”

“Yes. As in the food.” He glanced at my necklace and sighed. “It’s on the back of your necklace.”

“So?”

“So…” He nodded his head. “You know it’s okay for you to tell me. I won’t say anything. I mean, I know I’m an Abandonato, but it’s not like, you know, I’ll set Jimmy on your or anything.”

I burst out laughing. “Are you high?”

His eyes narrowed. “No.”

“Wow, then you have to know I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope.”

“Good.” He sighed, and kicked the ground. “That’s, wow… that’s really, really good.”

“I think you must have lost more blood than you realize in that fight.” I nudged him with my elbow.

He laughed. “At least I can say I’d freaking bleed for you, if that’s what it took.”

“Took?”

He stopped and reached out to touch my chin, lifting my face toward his. “To keep you safe.”

“So you’d die for me?” I joked trying to break the awkwardness.

“Don’t you get it?”

My breathing became erratic as he leaned close enough to kiss me again. “I’d give my life for yours.”

“Why? You don’t even know me.”

His eyes closed, and when he opened them all I saw was pain and regret. “You have no idea what I know, and believe me when I say, your life is worth a hell of a lot more than mine. And yes, after tonight, you better believe I know you better than anyone, even better than you know yourself, and I hope to God it stays that way, Trace.”

Just as I was about to open my mouth to ask more questions, because basically that’s all I had ever since coming to this school, headlights were on us. The dorm was in front of us, and the road was suddenly blocked by a few expensive-looking cars.

Of course they were all black.