Chapter 4 

Isabella’s POV 

"Isabella," Killian said again, softer this time.

I couldn't answer. Everyone in the parking lot was staring at me. Jace was still on his knees at Killian's feet, blood dripping from his nose onto the concrete.

Jace didn't even look at me. He crawled forward and grabbed the edge of Killian's jacket. "Please. Please, Killian. I'll do anything to keep that title. Anything. My father has worked for it his whole life."

Killian looked down at him like he was something stuck to his shoe. "Let go."

"I'll apologize. I'll say it in front of the whole school. I'll pay whatever you want. Just don't take it from my family."

"You should have thought about that before you put your hands on her."

"I never touched her!"

"You touched her where it counts."

Jace's voice cracked. People had their phones up again, but no one was laughing. It was strange to see him like that. For months I had thought he was the strongest person I knew. Now he was shaking on the ground, begging, and I felt nothing but a heavy, tired kind of emptiness.

Killian looked at me.

"It's not my decision," he said, calm and clear, so everyone could hear. "He hurt you. You choose what happens to him."

My stomach dropped.

Jace twisted around. His eyes were red and swollen, and for the first time he looked right at me. "Isabella. Bella, please. I was stupid. I didn't mean any of it. You know I didn't."

Bag of bones.

A stain on your blood.

I should have felt powerful. Everyone was waiting for me to say a word, and that word would decide whether his whole family kept their name. Instead I felt like someone had put a stone in my hands and told me to carry it.

I didn't want his life. I just wanted my own back.

"I can't do this," I whispered.

Then I turned around and walked away.

I heard Killian say my name once, low and rough. I didn't stop. I kept walking until the parking lot was behind me and the only sound was my own shoes on the pavement.

I went back to the dorm that night and locked the door. Serena's side of the room was empty. 

I didn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Jace on his knees, and Killian's face when he said ‘you choose.’  I lay there until the window turned gray.

In the morning, I put on a hoodie, pulled the hood up, and walked to class with my head down. It didn't help. I could feel the stares from the moment I crossed the quad. Everyone stared like I was a stain at the tips of their clothes. 

I walked faster.

I managed to get through the day by just sitting down but by lunch, my stomach was empty and my hands wouldn't stop shaking, but I made myself go to the cafeteria anyway. I wasn't going to hide. I had done nothing wrong after all.

I pushed the doors open and didn't look up but then I heard her loud laughter.

I walked into the cafeteria with my head down ignoring the laughter as much as I could, picked up a tray, and tried to pretend that I was invisible. My hands were steady, which surprised me. Then I heard the  laugh again  from the table by the window.

"Look who's here," a familiar voice said loudly. "The poor little omega."

I didn’t bother looking up, I kept walking to the empty space. 

"I heard Killian beat Jace half to death over you." Another voice giggled. "What did you do, Isabella? Cry until he feels sorry for you?"

My fingers tightened around the tray. I finally raised my head only to see Serena's bright smile. The edges of her bouncy hair were perfectly laid. She flashed a fake smile and stood up. 

That's all you're good at, right? Crying. Begging. I actually felt bad for you, you know.  months of listening to you talk about him. It was almost sweet." She stopped right in front of me. 

"Stop talking."

"Or what?" She leaned in until her mouth was right next to my ear. "You'll run to your brother's best friend and let him take care of you again? Or….”

I hit her hard on the face. 

I don't remember deciding to do it. she screamed and grabbed my hair. We fell together. Plates broke. Someone was yelling, and a crowd pushed in around us. I got one good shove in before hands pulled us apart. A teacher was shouting. Serena was sobbing and pointing at me, with a red mark spreading across her face.

One hour later I sat in the dean's office with a torn sleeve and a throbbing lip.

"A one week suspension," the dean said. "Starting today."

I didn't argue. There was nothing left to argue with.

I couldn't go back to the dorm, not when Serena could still get the chance to torment me cause after the end of the day, she won and I lost, not only did I lose I was served a week of suspension. 

So I took the bus to Daniel's house. I thought I'd find him at home ready to listen to the whole story and then yell at me for it.

But the moment I stepped inside, someone else stood by the counter with his back to me.

But the back was too wide to be Daniel's.

He wasn't wearing a shirt.

I stopped in the doorway. My eyes found his shoulders first, broad and tanned, and then the long line of his spine, the way his muscles moved and my eyes caught the black rose tattoos on his left shoulder. 

My face went hot, killian. 

I should have looked away. I didn't. My eyes slid lower, over his waist, to the band of his jeans, and every thought in my head went quiet and strange. 

Stop. Stop looking, Isabella.

I ripped my gaze away and stared at the floor, my heart hammering.

"You're going to wear a hole in me."

I froze, my heart beating crazy and my eyes darting around the house. 

Killian turned around slowly with a coffee cup in his hand. His mouth had a small, annoying curve to it. "It's rude to stare, you know."

"I wasn't…." My voice came out too high. "I didn't see anything."

"Mm." He leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms. "Funny. You looked like you were enjoying it."

"What are you even doing here?"

"Your brother's in the shower. I came to talk about the team." He shrugged. "I spilled something on my shirt, so he told me to wait in here."

"And you took it off."

"It was soaked." He lifted the cup. "I was going to borrow one of his, but I got distracted."

"By what?"

"By you, standing there with your mouth open."

I closed my mouth. "You're unbelievable."

"You're the one who couldn't stop looking."

"You told me it was a mistake." I stepped closer. I couldn't help it. My voice dropped to a furious whisper. "You called me a one night stand. You don't get to stand there and tease me like it never happened."

His smile vanished. "I said what I had to say."

"You said it to hurt me."

"I said it to keep you safe."

"From what? From you?"

"From this." He set the cup down hard. His eyes were raw now, and very close. When had he walked closer? "Look at us. Right now. Look at what you're doing to me."

"What am I doing?"

"You can't walk into a room without taking all the air out of it. Do you know how hard it was, that morning, to say what I said? To look at you?"

"Then why did you…..”

"Because he's your brother!" he hissed. "Because if Daniel ever finds out-"

"Find out what?"

We both jumped.

Daniel stood in the doorway with a towel around his neck and his hair dripping. He looked at me, then at Killian, and then at the very small space between us.

Killian stepped back first. He picked up his cup and took a calm sip of water, as if nothing had happened. "That's nothing.” The words barely left his lips. 

Daniel  crossed the kitchen slowly and opened the refrigerator. He took out a bottle of water and twisted off the cap, but he didn't drink it. He just stood there, looking from Killian's bare chest to my red face and back again. The silence stretched until I could hear the clock ticking on the wall.

"Funny," Daniel said quietly. "You two look weird.”

"We're not weird," Killian said.

"We're not," I said at the same time.

My brother looked at me for a long moment. His eyes were gentle, and somehow that made it worse. He set the water down on the counter.

"Is there anything I should know?”