Whirling around when a hand landed on his shoulder, Leyton was ready to take on the new threat, but the teacher he came up against wasn’t one of the women who’d been yelling at them to stop. No, this was the football coach, the big guy with the bald head, bushy eyebrows, and crooked nose who taught Leyton’s history class.
“That’s enough,” the man growled. “To the office. Now.”
Leyton glared at the redhead, pissed that they’d been busted, although it had been his plan in the first place.
“You, too,” the coach told the other kid. “It’s time to call some parents.”
Shit. That was the last thing Leyton had expected. He’d gladly take any punishment they wanted to dish out—in-school suspension, expulsion, hell, he’d even help clean the school—but dealing with his father hadn’t been on his list of possible outcomes.
He’d learned to avoid Carl at all costs.
The coach marched them down the hall while kids stared back at them, pointing and whispering as they moved past. When they reached the principal’s office, Leyton was ordered to take a seat while the coach took the other kid with him.
Great.
Dropping into the chair, Leyton let his head hit the wall behind him. He could feel his eye swelling up, and he figured it’d be black before school was out if it wasn’t already. He knew all too well what it felt like to have a bruised and battered face, though most of the time it was his father who delivered the punches.
“What’re you in here for?” a girl asked as she walked by.
“It’s apparent, ain’t it?” he countered, pointing at his face.
“You get in a fight?”
He nodded, not feeling it necessary to explain the obvious.
“Does the other kid look worse than you?” she asked.
God, he hoped so.
“Brittany, get back to class,” the receptionist at the desk ordered.
Brittany rolled her eyes but did as she was told, leaving Leyton sitting there by himself, waiting.
Leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, Leyton stared down at his hands. His knuckles were busted and bleeding, but he couldn’t feel them. Hell, he couldn’t feel anything at the moment. The adrenaline rush was waning, leaving him tired and, yes, still pissed off.
A pair of tennis shoes came into view directly in front of him. Sitting back, Leyton looked up at a dark-haired boy who was staring down at him, golden eyes narrowed on Leyton. There was something about the kid, something that told Leyton not to fuck with him. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but he got the feeling that mouthing off to him wouldn’t end in his favor.
Before either of them said anything, Red came waltzing out of the office, a stupid grin on his face.
“Looks like it’s your turn, pretty boy.”
The newcomer turned to Red, a stern expression on his face. “Don’t.”
The single word was spoken softy. Not a shout, not a whisper, but it had definitely gotten Red’s attention. Red’s face blanched, his mouth hanging open as he stared back at the boy. Leyton sat up straight, waiting for the inevitable confrontation, ready to defend himself again if it came to that.
“Tommy. Back to class,” the receptionist called out, peering at them from beneath the glasses perched on her narrow nose.
Leyton briefly wondered which of them was Tommy, but then Red answered that question for him. “I’m goin’,” he grumbled, glaring at Leyton.
“Back off,” the dark-haired kid told Tommy firmly. “And don’t let me catch you causin’ problems again. Feel me?”
Tommy nodded and then scurried out of the office, leaving Leyton staring after him.
Leyton noticed the receptionist wasn’t looking their way, as though she was pretending they weren’t less than two feet from her desk. Interesting since she’d ushered Brittany and Tommy out but hadn’t said a word to this guy.
Who was he? The principal’s kid or something?
The coach appeared, but before he said anything, he looked between Leyton and the stranger. “We got a problem here?”
“Not at all,” the kid assured him in a tone that seemed far too formal for someone his age. “I was just gonna make sure he made it back to class. You don’t need him anymore, do you?”
What? Leyton was confused. He was about to be suspended for fighting, or at the very least, he was going to have to deal with his father. Or so he’d thought.
But that wasn’t what happened.
“No,” the coach answered. “He’s good to go.”
The kid nodded at Leyton.
Getting to his feet, he stared around the office, noticing the adults in the room seemed almost scared of this guy. Which didn’t make a bit of sense. He couldn’t have been more than twelve, thirteen tops, if Leyton had to guess.
“What’s your name?” the kid asked Leyton directly as they headed through the door back into the hallway.
Leyton offered his first name, but that was all.
The kid smiled, still staring back at him.
“And you are?” Leyton inquired.
“Name’s Max. Max Adorite.”
“Is that name s’posed to mean somethin’ to me?” Leyton asked, still confused by the turn of events.
An older kid passing by chuckled.
Max’s grin widened. “Not yet. But it will. One day, it definitely will.”
Leyton would later learn that no truer words had ever been spoken.
Chapter Two
Temptation, anyone? Going once...
Present Day
Seventeen years later, November 1 st
“No, I get it,” Leyton grumbled into the phone as he stared at the trees lining the long, narrow drive. “Not what I asked, but I get it. I’ll see you Friday night. That gives you five days to figure it out.” When the Escalade came to a stop, Leyton glanced out the window into the dreary afternoon, the phone still to his ear. “Oh, and Tony, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get it figured out before then. Otherwise, it’ll be a shitty end to your week.”
Stabbing the end button on the phone screen, Leyton climbed out of the Escalade, adjusted his suit jacket as he walked around to meet Rock, who stood a few feet away in front of Max Adorite’s sprawling mansion. It wasn’t that late, only four in the afternoon, but the clouds had darkened the sky enough to trigger the sensors on the landscape lighting, so the various spotlights hidden in the shrubbery surrounding the house lit up the white-stone walls and highlighted the drizzle that came down from the sky. As they moved toward the door, Leyton spotted the familiar red lights from the many security cameras keeping an eye on the place.