Bullies Sla-pped New Girl Cheerleader — Unaware Her Father Is A Hell Angels
Chapter 24
Theme:
Font Size:
24px
"I just need you to sign it," Tyler was saying, easy voice, friendly, the blade inside it, "before 5:00. That's all. Then this is all over and we can move on."Amber saw Cass. Tyler turned.Cass was already recording. Her phone was in her hand, screen up, the red dot visible. She held it where they could all see it, no deception. The beep when she pressed record was deliberate and loud.Tyler looked at the phone, then at Cass. His jaw shifted. "You're interfering in a private conversation," he said."This is a parking lot," she said. "It's not private.""Walk away, Malone."She didn't move. She looked at Amber. "You don't have to sign anything.""Amber," Tyler said, still with that practiced ease, "this doesn't involve her.""Amber," Cass said again, quietly, "you can walk away right now."Amber moved. She didn't run. She walked quickly and she kept her eyes forward and she went past Cass and kept going. Cole started after her, a reflex, and stopped when Cass moved fractionally into the gap between him and Amber's direction. Not a block, not a threat, just a presence. A body in a space saying, "You would have to choose to go through me." And that choice has a cost.Cole looked at Tyler. Tyler was looking at Cass. The recording ran. Whatever Tyler wanted to say, he was aware of the phone. He was aware of the microphone. He was, for perhaps the first time in this particular situation, aware of what it might mean for his words to have a record."This is over," he said. "Tomorrow, you know that.""We'll see," Cass said.He held her gaze for a moment. Then he turned and walked, Cole following, across the parking lot and toward the athletic building without looking back.Cass stood where she was until they were out of sight. Then she exhaled. She looked at the recording on her phone. Still running. She let it run a few more seconds, then stopped it. She sent it to her email. She sent it to the backup. She texted it to Amber.Then she stood in the parking lot by herself for a moment. She thought about what Tyler had said. He'd described the hallway scene. Not in detail, not as a confession, but he'd referenced it. "This is over" in a way that told the room he knew exactly what this was about. Which meant he'd been in it.She turned that over. She filed it. She went to find Amber.Amber was in their shared bathroom in the residence hall. Running cold water over her wrists. She wasn't crying. She looked like she'd recently stopped.