The Hijinks War

7. Colossal Ass

Kellen stalked into the cafeteria, and something about him was simply off. The expression on his face was anger, loathing and so much more. He ripped Katia up out of her seat at the table behind us. "How the hell could you be so stupid?"

"What is your problem?" She pulled her arm out of his grasp.

Jess and Ashley jumped from our table and quickly joined Kellen, whispering frantically, "Kellen, it's not true."

It appeared he didn't hear. "My problem? You're incubating that asshole's spawn and you want to know what my problem is?"

Katia's face fell momentarily before anger flared up on her features. From the corner of my eye, I could see Ashley and Jess warn Jackson and Leon to shut Kellen up. But the damage, already done, was made worse by what he said next, "Why did I have to find out from some little shit newbie Hellhound?"

"You are such an ass!" Katia hissed, her eyes darting around pointedly—people all over the cafeteria were craning their necks to see. Kellen was confronting Katia about being pregnant? Katia was pregnant? I would have caved instantly under that kind of attention, but despite her glassy eyes, she merely straightened her posture, dug her fingers into his arm and dropped her voice. "How is this any of your business?"

"I tried to tell you he just wanted to get with you! But did you listen-"

"Why would I ever listen to you?" Her eyes danced over the people sitting nearby as she ground the words out.

"No, you wouldn't, would you? Do you listen to anyone?" The vein in his forehead bulged and it occurred to me I'd never seen anything other than a forcibly zen Kellen before.

"God, you are unbelievable! You're gonna pretend you give a shit about me now? So everyone can think you tried to protect me?"

He didn't really allow her another word in, because despite his rant about her not listening, it was clear he didn't hear a thing she said. Or, he was determinedly ignoring her words. "I told you he would mess with you and leave you! How stupid could you be?! Did you think about Dad at all? This will kill him!"

"Dad? What the hell? How is this about him?"

"It'll destroy his reputation if people find out!"

"If people find out? IF??" Katia screeched, a quiver working its way into her tone as she gestured at everyone openly watching them. "You might have thought about you and Dad and your precious reputations before you started yelling it for the world to hear."

"This will kill him, Katia," he said quietly, looking almost sad. Sure, now you're quiet Kellen, how about when we tried to stop you from making an idiot of yourself?

"You just think you can do whatever you want, don't you?" Shut up, Kellen, I thought as he narrowed his eyes at her lack of reaction. "Seriously, like we need people talking about what a slut you are?!"

With those words, I couldn't listen anymore! All around people were stunned, varying expressions on all their faces. Some sided with Kellen, some with Katia and even more that were just plain confused, unsure, shocked. I couldn't believe that no one was stepping in. Outrage filled me with an uncontrollable urge to yell. I couldn't believe that Kellen would put her through that.

Katia swallowed hard, blinked more than was necessary, and softly uttered the words, "It's not even true, you shit."

Yes, I understood that they didn't get along, but to drag her through the dirt like that? His reaction did nothing to help the family reputation he was so stupidly concerned about. Not to mention that reputation would be intact if he'd just listened to Jess and Ashley.