inner ugliness. If he wasn’t this terrible back in high school, college changed him for the worse. I highly doubted Mel would spend years with someone who was as dickish as Dean. No, the dickish behavior had to come after.
“What are you going to do about it?” Dean posed the question. “You think you can beat me in a fight, Kelsey?” He laughed, right in my face, too. The bastard.
“I think it looks like you’re pretty shitty at fights,” I told him, sizing him up, paying extra special attention to the bruising and whatever was on his nose. “I mean, have you looked in a mirror recently? You look horrible. You really want to look even worse? Because you will, by the time I’m done with you—”
Dean scoffed, his brows furrowing, and he leaned closer to me to whisper, “Just like Levi. So headstrong. It’s going to get you into trouble one of these days.” Worded and spoken like a threat, one I took seriously.
“Are you going to stop following Mel, or am I going to have to show you that I mean business? I’ve taken down bigger guys than you.” Okay, couldn’t recall offhand exactly when or where I’d taken down bigger guys in a non-sexual way, but I was sure I did. I got into some shit with Ash, back in high school.
Seemed like ages ago, even though it was really only half a year.
“I’m going to do what I fucking want.” That was all Dean could say, all I gave him a chance to say.
I mean, I did give him a fair warning to admit he was being a douchebag in stalking her, but now? Now I was kind of pissed. He thought he could walk around campus, doing whatever the hell he wanted, when he wanted? Oh, he had another thing coming.
He’d see a blow to the face coming; it looked like whoever it was gave him a few good punches, so he’d probably learned from his mistake of not guarding his face enough. I could take a chance and go for it, but I didn’t want to gamble.
No, I’d go somewhere lower.
“Okay,” I said, sounding like I’d had enough, that Dean convinced me he was the almighty and I was just a slave to him, that I’d let him go on and do whatever it was he wanted. An innocent voice. A voice he believed, judging from the way his stern, annoyed expression relaxed. Not for long, though.
My right hand curled into a fist, and in the blink of an eye, I gave him the hardest punch I could at this angle. Underhanded, right in the kidney. Right where it would hurt something fierce.
Dean took a step back, his eyes widening, his hands moving to touch where I’d punched. He wasn’t the kind of guy to stand back and not retaliate, so I knew I had to leave. Plus, there were too many other students watching; that meant no ball-kicking, for now. If I found out he stalked Mel again, a punch to the kidney would be the least of Dean’s worries.
“You fucking bitch,” Dean muttered, his face red. His posture was hunched, and he stepped towards me, swiping an arm through the air, but I was already gone, picking up my bag and linking my arm through Mel’s.
Together, arm in arm, we walked away from Dean’s screaming form.
Mel kept throwing looks over her shoulder as we rounded the sidewalk near the adjacent building, clearly worried Dean would still follow. He wouldn’t. Not yet. I’d made a fool of him in front of quite a few people. He’d lick his wounds and then try again. Maybe he’d try to get back at me, put all his focus on me and not Mel. That was something I could handle.
He’d already released a sex tape of me. What more could the prick do? I wasn’t afraid of him. This girl knew how to take care of herself. You didn’t go to bars and other skeevy places without knowing how to take down a guy who was bigger than you. That was common sense.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Mel spoke once she was sure the coast was clear. She let me drag her through campus, our arms locked together. “That was…wow.”
“He was being a dick. I don’t like dicks.” Well, I liked dicks, but not those kinds. I liked the real deal, the kind that filled you up and made you forget everything else. The kind attached