Bully King - J.A. Huss Page 0,94
I help you this morning?”
“Sophie is sick.”
“What?” I look over my shoulder at the kitchen door. “Where is she?”
“Lying down out there. I need you to take care of her today. I have things to do and I won’t be around.”
“OK. I mean, yes. Of course, I’ll look after her.” And thank God for small favors. At least I won’t have to see his face.
He stares at me for a moment and I start to get uncomfortable. There are more than a dozen other servers in the kitchen with me, so we’re not alone, but I suddenly feel very outnumbered. “Is there anything else, Dante?”
He pushes past me without saying anything and I roll my eyes, then glance over my shoulder just before I reach the door and find Dante and Victor talking conspiratorially, and looking straight at me while they do it.
Something about this request is wrong. I just don’t know what it is.
But he wasn’t lying. Sophie is lying on one of the couches with an ice pack over her eyes. For a moment I wonder if he hit her and she’s hiding a black eye, but Valentina takes it off her face and gives her a fresh one and I let out a breath of relief when there are no bruises.
“Oh, good,” Selina says. “You’re here. We’re on Isabella duty today, Cades. Can you just look after Sophie?”
“Sure. But what’s wrong?”
Valentina sighs. “She’s just…”
“I’m sick,” Sophie says. “I need to go home and be in my own bed.”
Oh. I get it. She’s sick of Dante.
“There’s less than one week left, Sophie,” Selina says. “You can stick it out. Trust me. We’ve all been there.”
Sophie sits up suddenly, her face red with anger. “You’ve been there? No! You haven’t!” She points to Valentina. “You were with Ax.” Her finger migrates over to Selina. “And you were with Lars. Being with Dante is nothing like what you two went through. So don’t tell me you get it. Neither of you have been here, OK?”
“I have,” I say.
She directs her anger at me next. “You had bodyguards. If anything, you made it worse for me.”
“What’s happening?” Valentina asks. “Did he… force you to do something?”
“No, he’s just a sadistic dick. He insults me. Puts me down. It’s a constant barrage of emotional abuse. He’s not touching me. But he’s hurting me. I should not have to put up with this. This whole thing is crazy!”
“Did you try to talk to your father, Sophie?” I ask. “Because he’s the one who put you here, not us.”
“I have talked to him. And he says I just have to suck it up. That his child is the offering this year and there’s nothing he can do about it.”
I recoil at that word. “What the hell?”
“Sophie,” Valentina says in a stern, soft voice. “You need to shut up. Right now. Cadee”—she looks at me—“no offence, but you’re not one of us. She can’t be talking about this in front of you. And it’s got nothing to do with who is better than who, or who has money and who doesn’t. It’s just… secret.”
“Hey.” I throw up my hands. “Fine with me. I don’t want your secrets.”
“You should’ve left,” Sophie says. Then she plops the ice pack back over her eyes and sighs. “You are the dumbest girl alive, Cadee Hunter.”
I’m starting to agree with her.
“Cadee?”
I turn to find Cooper scowling at me. “What?”
It comes out angry. Because I am angry with him. I thought we were making progress. Like on the verge of having something real. But he ignored me last night. I texted him repeatedly and never got a response. And he either didn’t go home at all, so he didn’t even know I was missing, or he did and didn’t even bother to call and check up on me.
“I need to talk to you. Now.” He grabs my arm and starts tugging me across the room. I yank it out of his grip and he doesn’t do it again. Just leads me outside and into the woods.
“Where are we going?”
“Just… right here. Away from there.”
We stop under a large tree and both of us fold our arms defensively. “Well? What do you want?”
He sighs and scrubs his hands down his face. He hasn’t shaved in days. It looks good on him though. “Did you tell Lars anything?”
I squint my eyes at him. “About?”
“You know what about. Senior year. New Year’s Eve. The abortion. Any of it?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. I’m not