Worst Impressions

Chapter Fifty Eight

Gideon was a sight to behold.

Lisa's well-aimed smack with the bar stool had left him with a long gash above his eyebrow which bled profusely down over his face. Half-blind and mad with rage, he crushed my body back into his, my thrashing and struggling did nothing to deter him. I clawed at his arms to no avail, my nails couldn't penetrate his thick jacket, and I tried scratching at the back of his hand instead. In retaliation, he flexed his fingers and crushed my jaw.

'Don't think I won't break your teeth,' he snarled down at me. 'One of you is going to pay for what she did to me. I'd rather it was her, but I'll settle for you.'

Will advanced on us menacingly. 'Leave her out of this, Gideon!'

'One more step, Darcy,' Gideon warned. He moved his hand down from my mouth to my throat and squeezed until I choked and clawed at his fingers with renewed urgency. 'See what happens to her.'

Will came to a halt in the middle of the piazza, halfway between us and his sister. The moment he did, Gideon eased up, and I drew in rapid, rasping breaths. My gaze darted between Will who stared hard at our teacher, years of pent up anger and resentment clear in his eyes, and down to Amanda who gripped Lisa against her side so she wouldn't rush into danger to help me.

'You don't need her,' Amanda said. 'You can let her go and leave quietly. Please, Gideon,' she implored, 'just walk away before this gets any worse.'

'You really think I'll believe that the moment I'm out of here you won't call the police?' he asked. 'I'm not stupid, Mandy. I know the sort of woman your mother is. Who that little bitch's parents are. You won't stop until I'm behind bars.'

'So, what will taking her accomplish?' Amanda persisted. 'You're making this worse for yourself!'

'Taking her will get me what I'm due,' Gideon said. 'You should have married me and given me the money your idiot father left. That was my right! I should have been in that will! Me! Instead I got pathetic little handouts while the rest of you lived off his fortune.'

'You won't get anything by taking me,' I choked out around his grasping fingers. 'My family has nothing!'

'Your family might have nothing,' Gideon said. A dark smile twisted across his lips. He leaned in close enough that his hot breath beat against my skin and my stomach turned with nausea. Slowly, he dragged his wet, slimy tongue up from my mouth to my cheekbone, his gaze fixed on Will the whole time. 'But I imagine dear William will want to pay up before I take my frustrations out on you.'

I tried to shake my head, but with Gideon holding me so firmly, it was little more than a twitch. I didn't want Will to have to pay anything to save me. Or his family, for that matter. This was our mess, and my friends and I should deal with it. Well, technically it was mine. I was the one who'd confronted Gideon.

'He won't – '

'Whatever it is, I'll pay it,' Will said. 'Just take your hands off her!'

'What do you think?' Gideon asked me in a whisper which made my skin crawl. 'Do you want to go back to them? You're like me, Beth. We're the same. We're not welcome in their world.'

'You're not welcome in any world!' I spat back at him.

'Look at you,' he cooed, 'still fighting me, pretending that you could be one of them. You know how they've treated me. They'll do the same to you. They like you now, but the moment you're out on your own they'll pretend that you don't exist. You're too poor to move in their circles. No matter how hard you try, you can't change the fact that the blood in your veins isn't blue. You will never matter.'