Kill of the Night [BXB]

Chapter 29

 Okay. Fasting forward. In summary, Rion drove me back. He didn't ask any questions, but I know that won't last long. Regardless, he looks like he's in a much better mood today.

"Quit starin'."

"It's kind of hard not to," I reply. The bruises are gone. Vanished. Vamoose.

Rion shoves a paper in my face. I take it and hand a new one to him. He starts scribbling immediately. Today's worksheets are all short and long answers, which means I get to challenge his wrong answer skills.

I catch a mistake. "Rye-Rye."

"What?"

"You got an extra one right."

"Aren't you supposed to be happy at that? This is, like, encouragement."

I set the paper down and cross my arms. "That makes it sound like you did it on purpose."

"I didn't," he says. "I always try my hardest to get the right answer."

"Your right answer. Which is sixty percent. I don't think your hardest is good enough."

"Thanks. That really helps."

"You're welcome," I say placidly.

"So what happened in the hallway?"

"You're giving me whiplash. For your information, Sascha has a better answer. I don't really know."

"What did the jackass say?"

"Which one?"
"The one that doesn't look like he surfs."

I chuckle at that. "Ryan implied he'd kill me. Or get someone to kill me."

Rion's pencil snaps. He sets it down. "I need another pencil."

"Um, okay," I say, fumbling for my pencil case. I hand him another pencil.

"Thanks," he says, going back to writing. He's being oddly . . . not a jackass.

When school ends, he doesn't get up immediately. Instead, he hands everything back to me and waits for me to put it away. The hallway starts to get busy, and I pack up quickly to avoid having to dodge a big crowd and stand. Rion does the same. I head to my locker and feel him behind me. I stop at it and turn to face him. "What's up?"

"What?" he asks, bewildered.

"Why are you following me?"

"Because I have to."

"Why?"
"Because Ryan is actually dangerous."

"So you care about me?" I ask, lacing my voice with wonder.

Rion doesn't even blink. "Yes."
I turn around and open my locker. I put my afternoon period textbooks away and make sure everything's sorted. I close my locker and put my backpack on, starting off to the exit. Rion follows. I leave the school and head to my house. Rion follows. I don't hate him being next to me, so I stay silent. There's something so comforting about his body heat and his smell and the possibility of brushing his skin.

Still hate him.

Rion's phone rings, and he answers the call with an annoyed huff. It must be his parents or something, because he delivers flat answers. "Fine. Yeah. Whatever. What? Okay. I'll be there." He hangs up. "I gotta go."

"Okay, bye," I say. He does a U-turn and heads back, and I quicken my pace to get home. For some reason, I'm uncomfortable being alone right now.

I hear a whimper behind the bush that runs along the sidewalk. I halt and hesitate to walk over, fearing a return of the wolf. I know it could be someone's dog as well, so I walk over and hope that's the case. I peer over the bush. The wolf stares back. Its fur is a ruddy brown, and I spot what appears to be a massive clawed trap on its back leg. It's laying down and panting loudly, and I can tell it's stressed and in too much pain to move. It also appears much too weak to bother growling at me. It lets its head flop to the ground again, and I know I'd rather help it than let it lay dying.