The Brightest Star

16. King

King's POV

Jess and I walked out of school together while we talked but as I looked up I saw Joey at the last second rounding the same corner Leo did every day after school. I remembered how pissed off he looked at Leo a few times after the race. Was he that pissed about it? No, that's just stupid.

Then, I remembered him yelling at his teammates that one day at some practice while I was on a run for Uncle Ben and something wasn't sitting right. I looked down at Jess who was talking about something that I wasn't listening to anymore.

"Hey, Jess, I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow," I told her and didn't wait for a response as I quickly walked over to the road and waited for what felt like forever for the cars to pass so I could cross.

I ran but soon slowed myself a little. I could be wrong, he could just be walking to any of these small stores on this street. Then again, my gut feeling was never wrong. I'll just walk up the street and look around to make sure.

I saw a large group of people walking toward me and I walked faster, trying to see past them. Then the group moved into a store and there it was. Leo was laying on the ground and looked up with blood running down his chin while Joey was getting his leg ready for a kick.

"Shit!" I yelled and started running as I pushed a few people out of the way. I wasn't going to make it to stop the kick but I needed to-

"HONK!" I jumped to a stop when a truck pulled out for one of the side streets honking his horn at me.

He slammed on his brakes and yelled at me as I ran around the front of the truck to see Leo on top of Joey hitting him. Thank the gods, he can fight but I still needed to stop him as people were starting to gather around.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I heard Leo yell as I ran up quickly and grabbed his arm to stop him from bashing that asshole's face in. "Let go for me!" He yelled at me as I pulled him off but he wasn't done yet. Leo was determined to get out of my arms and finish what Joey started.

Joey got up with blood dripping from his nose, fire in his eyes and the fucker thought he was going to cheap shot Leo with me holding him. My protective side kicked into high gear. I pushed Leo out of the way and grabbed his fist mid-swing, stopping him, and then closed my hand around it so he couldn't do something so stupid again.

"Let go of me you freak," Joey yelled at me and tried to pull his fist from my grip. I was much bigger than him and my hand completely covered his.

With a smile, I started tightening my hand. Calling me a freak doesn't bother me at all, people used to call me that all the time but I didn't care. No, what pissed me off was him hitting Leo and hurting him and that wasn't going to fly with me.

I squeezed harder as his face turned to pain and started to drop to his knees when I stepped closer. "I would leave if I were you before I break your whole fucking arm." I squeezed harder and heard a satisfying whimper leave his lips, making me want to hear more of his cries. "Then you can explain to your coach why you can't play whatever stupid game you play." And then I let go. It took everything in me to do that but I knew Leo was watching and I needed to control myself.

Immediately he pulled his hand to his chest in a hiss. "Fucking freak!" He yelled to me as he got back to his feet and ran off down the street.

Then I looked down at Leo who was still on the ground so I stuck my hand out to help him up again. I didn't mean to push him on the ground like that, I just needed him out of the way quickly so he didn't get hit again.

"What? Is everyone just following me home from school now?" He snapped and smacked my hand away. It really threw me off guard. "Why the hell are you here?" He was pissed as ever as he got up by himself.