The Teacher's Pet

Chapter Twenty-Four

James Levine:
"He what?" I run my hand through my dark brown hair, making it shine in the sunlight. "How did you find out?"
"I don't think that is what matters right now, your main priority should be Kat." Kat has always been my main priority since I met her is what I want to say. "Your girl is in school with that creep."
"How did I not see this... Liam has never wanted to use aggression when not necessary, and that guy at school, instantly wanted to use aggression. That's nothing like Liam. I should've seen this!" To keep myself from throwing everything on the table in front of me on the floor, I clutch my hands, so tightly my nails press into my skin, making it bleed the slightest.
"Don't beat yourself up over it, you couldn't have known, Liam keeps his family hidden very well, who knows how many other brothers he has."
Dante wants to say more, but I cut him off. "Shut the hell up! You don't know what..."
"Lower your tone!" A deep rumble stirs in his chest.
Dante gets up, his hands at his sides. Instantly, I back away a couple of steps, my back hitting the wall behind me. There might be 6'3 inches to me, I can still get intimidated, only by Dante. And he knows it, which makes talking to him and being around him utterly annoying. "Know who you're speaking to son, you do not want to start this with me. I do get your frustration, but there is no need to put it on me."
"This isn't a joke Dante." The tone in my voice is now less, still filled with pure anger, that you can only hear if you know me.
"Don't you think I know that Levine? There is a life in the play here, and you are standing in front of me, yelling like a total idiot, I am not the one who did anything wrong here."
There is a long silence, a silence Dante expects me to fill with an apology. "I'm not going to apologize if that's what you're waiting for."
"That is not what I'm waiting for and you know it." Do I? I wonder to myself. He folds his arms over each other, staring down at me like a hunter on its pray. "James," He begins. "I admire you a lot, I have a lot of respect for you, but the way you've been acting lately, I won't accept it anymore. Everyone in the society is afraid of you, don't you see that?" He asks a question, but doesn't expect to hear an answer. Deep down, he already knows the answer. No I do not see that, I am blinded by love, even if I did see it, I couldn't care less. Somewhere, I like it that people are afraid of me.
"This is ending now, if you want my respect, you're going to have to earn it from now on. Treat everyone in the society right, and we will treat you the same."
Never have I had such a speech from Dante, a speech like he's my father, but at the same time sounding like he's my leader, which he is. There are a million words at the tip of my tongue, but none can form the right sentences, none are able to leave my mouth in the correct order, so I say nothing.
"Well? I am waiting."
"For what?"
Dante leans against the table, folding his legs over each other and a sigh leaves his lips. "For you to get the hell out of here and go to your girl. She is the one who really needs your help right now, can't you take the hints I give you? I've been telling you to go to her for the past 10 minutes." Dante sounds angry, but he doesn't raise his voice. He rarely does, that's what's so admirable about him.

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The screeching tires of my Mercedes are the only sound I hear, everything around me is blurred, by rage, by anger, by the love I feel for her.
"Out of my way." My hands hit the chest of some 20-year-old student standing in the middle of the hallway.
In the first hallway I hoped that Kat is, she isn't. She isn't in the second hallway either. God, what if Liam's brother took her? What if he kidnapped her? My feet run faster through multiple hallways, not a single sign of Kat.
"I will do the same to you that your boyfriend did to my brother!" A familiar voice, Liam's voice, his brother's voice.
"The fuck you will."
In the last hallway, I checked I find them together, as expected. His hands wrapped around her poor throat, squeezing the life out of it. He is taking revenge on her for something I did.
Where the hell was Tyler? He was supposed to keep an eye on her at all times, that's what I told him. The only thing he had to do and he can't even do that.
Without a single second of hesitation, I jump right at him. The first thing I do is press my nails into his hands to get him to release his tight grip. As he does, Kat falls onto the floor with her hands wrapped around her sore neck, barely being able to breathe. Seeing her face lie flat on the hallway floor breaks something inside me, I thought couldn't be broken.
I don't have time to even go check on Kat before Liam's brother's foot ends up in my back, making me leave out a groan of pure pain. This is going to hurt for a long time. I turn around and step back so his next kick nearly misses me. There is a look on his face, one that I've never seen before. I've seen cold war rage, and pain, but not this devilish look. Seeing his face makes me see pure and utter red as if red is the only color that exists in this world.
With a hard push, he falls back on the floor, his back cracking as he falls. I usually don't go my full 100% on a person, but Liam's brother is the only exception. He should feel honored.
No one hurts Kat, no one.
I don't give him the time to stand up again, I take my chance and put my full body weight on top of him. As I grab his wrists which I push into the floor, I can feel every muscle in him tense. He has such a rage in him, he won't give up until he's dead.
When his arm muscles seem to get tired from fighting against me he lets his body slumber, giving me the chance to start bashing into his face. First once, but it feels so good I do it a second time and a third time. Before I know it, my hands are full of blood, my knuckles splashed open completely, our blood mixing together in a puddle.
Lastly, I grab a hold of his throat, the same way he did with Kat, but tighter, he needs to feel what he did to my girl.
"Feel it you monster, feel the pain until you die!" I no longer recognize my own voice.
His eyes are already closed, passed out, maybe even passed away, already. The real fun hasn't even begun. What can I say? Sallow family members give up easily.
My t-shirt gets ripped from behind and I hear a soft voice. "Off..." It says, the voice I would recognize out of a thousand, even if it's so quiet. "Please... Off."
A part of me wants to listen to her, but most part wants to keep hitting him until he is dead. My vision becomes black with rage, my breathing is getting harder and I no longer have control over my anger.
"Stay back!" I already hate myself so much for yelling at her, but the guilt will come to me later.
Multiple people bash through the cafeteria doors, but the only person I see who seems to matter now is Tyler. The traitorous bitch.
"Fucking hell!" Tyler yells before running in my direction.
He grabs me under the elbows, pulling me off Liam's brother roughly, I won't let Tyler get me that easy, so I kick in his direction, multiple times. Until a hand hits me right and flat in my face. My little brother just hit me right in the face.
A gasp fills the room, followed by a couple of coughs from Kat.
I do nothing, I am stunned, unable to bring my body to move. The exhausted body from fighting. My eyes make their way over to Liam's brother, he is still breathing, but barely. Something inside me wants to get back at it and finish him, but not in the eyesight of Kat. I couldn't do that to her.
After checking his body, my eyes scan the rest of the hallway. Multiple students staring at me with open mouths, ragged breaths, and utter shock. Loud panting is all I can do, there are no words to be spoken.
Finally, my eyes land on Kat, more specifically my black and blue neck. The neck that is supposed to be completely clean, soft, and tender, now bruised, almost crushed to its death.
I want to lunge for that piece of shit again, my hands clenched at my sides, so tightly they bleed more.
"God, Kat are you okay?" I crawl to her on my broken and bruised hands full of blood. "How did he manage to get you alone?" I turn to Tyler, my expression deadly as if I'm going to kill my brother next. "Where the hell were you?!" I expected Tyler to have a feared expression, but he doesn't. He doesn't seem to be bothered by me at all.
"Fucking bitch." I swear under my breath, Tyler has a guilty face printed on his.
"No... I told him..." Kat tries to speak, but barely any sound comes out. That sweet angel's voice is long gone.
Very gently, I lift my hand, to let my fingers slide across her throat, she lets me. Her eyes are full of fear, not the fear that I might hurt her, the fear that the slight touch will hurt too much. She will be feeling this bruise for weeks, every time she drinks, every time she eats, a reminder of Liam and his brother. I should've killed him and his family when I heard they got to town. tracing the outer lines of the bruise printed on my neck.
The slightest touch makes tears fall down her cheeks, tears I don't want to be wasted, so I wipe them away with my thumb, caressing her cheek as I do.
"Look at what he did to you." My voice is soft and gentle, just so she can hear it. Just so she can hear my worry.
"It's okay," She whispers.
"No, it's not okay, I hope he is dead, or that he suffers a hell of a lot."
Her hands tremble at the raise of my voice, I grab them and hold them tightly in an apology. She has already gone through something traumatic, no need for me to make it worse right now.
Hoping to make it hurt less, I let my fingers travel over her bruise. She swallows down every bit of fear she has in her. My hands shake as
"Why were you even..." She tries but fails to finish her sentence, speaking is too hard. I don't want to know how much it hurts her
"Don't speak." It's more of a demand than a question.
A silence falls, a silence that anyone is unable to fill, it's me who has to speak now.
"Dante did a more deep research about Liam on the dark web, he found out he had a twin brother, then everything fell into place. And then I found you here... Like this..." My voice breaks at the end of the sentence, it gives her shivers.
Tears start rolling down her face, faster than my thumbs can wipe them away. I pull her tightly against my chest, making sure not to put any pressure on her throat. Her head feels safe against my chest, exactly where it belongs.
For the first time since the incident, she looks up to find her friends looking at her with horrified looks. All 3 staring with pale faces, completely and utterly shocked at what just happened. The quiet girl with blonde hair can't seem to keep her eyes off Liam's brother's body, while the other 2 are shocked at the way I am reacting toward Kat.
I have changed much over the past weeks, sure I'm not perfect, but with my past, I will never be perfect. But I will be better, for her.
When it comes to saving Kat, I will never be better, I would always kill for her, any day.