We get messy and I’m not going to lie, there’s maybe a few too many shots making their way through my system. While Ilaria dances up on some guy, Jax steals Arizona away, and I can’t resist glancing back toward the guys, my eyes lingering on Tanner.
I dance for him as Riley returns, and judging by the looks on the guys’ faces, he’s more than sharing all the details. His hands flail around, doing all the actions and giving a detailed run down of how he screwed Maddi, and from the looks of it, he just got the best blowjob of his life.
I turn back to the girls as Chanel joins us again, her eyes brimming with secrets that have me desperate for information, and the way she dances … Well, damn. Someone just got dicked down, and her grin can only suggest just how good it was. I suppose Logan won’t be rubbing one out tonight. Chanel’s already handled that for him … literally.
A hard body presses into my back as a warm hand circles my waist, sending a smile tearing across my face, but as Chanel pauses and looks to the person behind me, confusion flickers in her eyes. “Who the fuck are you?”
I whip around, my eyes wide coming face to face with Colby. I shove him hard, pushing him away from me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I demand, glancing over his shoulder to see Tanner in the distance, getting to his feet.
Colby’s back is to him and, seeing as though he’s not already storming down here, he hasn’t figured out who this is. But there’s no doubt about it, if he’s dumb enough to show up here, then he’s asking for a thorough beating, and he’ll damn well get it.
Colby reaches for me but I dodge his advance. “You and I need to talk,” he spits, anger blooming in his stare as he tries for me again. “You think I was just going to let you walk away after the shit you pulled last week. You’ve been blocking my calls and not responding to my messages, so you leave me no fucking choice.”
Done with my evasion, he lunges forward and grips my arm, yanking me into his chest, his fingers easily bruising my skin. “Ain’t no girl of mine going to whore herself around like this. You’re coming with me, and you won’t be fucking leaving until I’m done with you.”
He drags me back through the crowd as panic surges through me. I yank on my arm, forcing him to turn back and without hesitation, my knee slams up into his junk. Colby doubles over while refusing to release my arm, but it’s enough to gain the attention of the people around us, and I have no doubt that Tanner and the boys are already on their way. “If you think I’m going anywhere with you, you’re sorely mistaken,” I tell him, leaning in and lowering my voice to a threatening whisper. “I know what you did to Addison Morgan, and you’re going to go down for it. Mark my fucking words, Colby. Tanner is going to bury you.”
He groans, his fingers digging into my skin as he pulls me back into him. “Shut the fuck up about it. You don’t know what you’re talking about, and if you aren’t careful, I’ll make sure you’re next.”
As if on cue, Tanner barges through the crowd, rage burning through his wild eyes as the boys fail to hold him back. He’s too fast. Not even Logan can get him, and there’s no denying it now, he knows this is Colby, the same piece of shit who left his sister for dead, the same son of a bitch who held her down and raped her.
He grips Colby around the back of the throat and tears him away from me, launching him across the track and shoving him to the ground. Without skipping a beat, his heavy fist rears back, and with every ounce of anger bursting through his body, he smashes his fist right into Colby’s jaw.
I hear the sickening crunch, and all I can do is stand back and watch, hoping like hell Tanner hits him harder. Fuck, I don’t even care if Tanner breaks every bone in his hand and up his arm. I will nurse him back to health if that’s what I have to do. He’ll recover, and while none of this changes what happened to Addison or the fact she’s still fighting for her life in the hospital, it will lift a weight off Tanner’s shoulders. For the first time in six long weeks, he'll finally feel as though he's doing something to help his sister.
He beats the shit out of him as people around us pull out their phones, capturing every last brutal second of it, and then all too soon, the boys are there, tearing him off Colby.
Sirens blast in the distance and all hell breaks loose. Someone grabs my wrist and I stumble along after them, my gaze snapping back to Colby’s unconscious body, beaten and broken in the middle of the track. People scramble and scream, bodies flying left and right. The flood lights shut off, plunging the track into darkness, and the music drops away, leaving nothing but the sound of anxious high school students desperate to flee.
“Is he dead?” I yell, glancing back again, Colby still not moving.
No one answers, but someone shoves me into the back of the RAM, and before I even right myself in the seat, we’re peeling out of the property. There's a separate exit in the back, far from the one the rest of our classmates are using.
The property is aglow with red and blue lights, and as the cops chase the stragglers through the main exit, we disappear into the cover of trees. Logan knows the track like the back of his hand, and within moments, we’re breaking out onto the main road, tires screeching against the pavement and sending us soaring back toward Bradford.
Chapter 29
BRIELLE
Logan pulls to a stop outside mine and Tanner’s homes and a nervousness tears through me. No one has said a word the whole way here, and I don’t know what to do. Tanner sits in the front, his chest heaving with rage as his knuckles bleed. I don’t know what he needs or how to calm him. This is all too new, and I’m sure he doesn’t want me telling him that it’s all going to be okay.
Colby could be dead. He just laid there, not moving, not even a flinch.
If Tanner killed him … fuck. I can’t even begin to think how bad this is going to get. This is only the beginning. I should have tried to pull him away, should have tried to stop him. He has a whole future to think about, a career with the NFL that hangs in the balance, and I stupidly just stood back and let it happen, hoping he would hit him harder.
Fuck, what kind of asshole does that make me?
Logan gets out and moves to my door, opening it for me and helping me down. “You should go home,” he tells me. “We’ll handle this.”
I nod, not sure what this really is. “Okay,” I murmur, my gaze trailing back to Tanner, watching as he barges his way out of the RAM, Jax and Riley right beside him, holding onto him to make sure he doesn’t take off to finish the job. “What’s … what’s going to happen?”
Logan shakes his head. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he tells me. “Hudson stayed at the track to keep an eye on things. He’ll let us know how bad it is once he gets some information. In the meantime, can you message the girls, make sure they got out okay?”
“Of course,” I say, stepping toward the Channing residence, my gaze lifting to Tanner once again. God, I would do anything to barrel into his arms right now, to hold him and make his pain go away, but I don’t think that’s what he needs. I don’t know how to help him and it’s crushing me.