The billionaire's sweet editor
Chapter 36: Iris: Bloody fight

Chapter 36: Iris: Bloody fight

I CUT the call with a fierce jab at my phone, honking my car horn at a car that cuts me on the highway. What’s up with highways and being full of cars when you need to be somewhere so fast?

Mary and Phineas didn’t wait for me in the afternoon after she asked for her half day off, and fuck my life, I got a call from Lynn asking me to help her with a new design she had come up with. As her living mannequin.

The pushover in me couldn’t resist her, not after the heart-to-heart we had in the restroom last week after I told her off about Lucas. She cried her makeup off damnit, and I was there comforting her even though I was partly at fault for her broken heart.

Yeah, she’s a stalker but so what? I wasn’t being a girls girl taking her crush from her like that. I should have backed her up instead.

Ahh, fuckit. I have to get home on time before Lucas kills his sister’s man.

I watch in envy as the omnibus drivers pull out of the highway, driving on the bicycle track at high speeds like they have life insurance for the whole world. I wish I was that unbothered by everything in my life. That would be such a breather.

A notification dings on my phone and I take a peek. It’s Lucas. I hope he’s not going to tell me to stop going home.

LUCAS

LUCAS: I’m coming over there now. Don’t start fighting before I arrive.

Throwing the phone on the next seat, I snort. Why is he trying to make everything worse when I told him Jerald is onto us?

Even though I’m acting bothered, a part of me is relieved he’s coming to help. I don’t know how this discussion is going to go, but my gut never lies to me. I can feel myself driving towards a shit-hole, but if I want to make sure my friends are okay, I’ve got to be there.

And Lucas was right. I’ve never seen Jerald angry before, not the same as he was this afternoon anyway.

The only time he was angry at me was when I broke his laptop during a pillow fight with Mary in his restricted room in my high school years. He yelled at us, but not intensely. Just enough to make us apologize and tell his parents I crashed his laptop on the ground.

But today, today was different, which is disturbing because isn’t it good that his sister is dating his friend? Shouldn’t he be happy that she gets to date someone he’s known all his life and someone whom he can oversee to know if she is okay or not?

Unless he knows the past, I don’t see why he hates the present so much.

Pressing my foot on the gas, I drive a few meters closer to my destination, halting after the cars in front stop.

God, this

★★★★★

A few hours later, I park my car outside my house. It’s dark out, but the solar-powered flood lights have automatically turned on so I’m good. Leaving my stuff in my bag, I make my way to the small gate, not bothering to close it as I rush to the Adams residence.

My heart is thudding in my chest from both the running and fear of the unexpected I’m about to face. I reach the front door, taking in a deep breath and pausing when I hear a sharp gasp from inside. It’s deep, meaning between Jerald and Phineas, one of them did it.

"You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. He’s a man whore you idiot. He used you!"

Yep, it’s Jerald. He hits the French door and it rattles along with the windows, making me flinch and scoot away from the door.

"He is not a man whore!" Mary defies his anger with her own.

Something rattles on the ground and the sound of footsteps or is it bodies hitting the floor follow, with Mary screaming something about Jerald letting go of Phineas before she calls their parents.

"Whenever he was mad, blood would shed and words exchanged," Lucas’ words bite my subconscious. I suppress the urge to go back and wait for him. I never back away from my problems. It only causes more problems later.

Gritting my teeth and mumbling some self-empowering shit, I open the door and step inside. Now it’s my turn to gasp.

An animal. Jerald looks like a fucking animal on a rampage, gripping Phineas’ collar with a bloody fist raised in the air. Mary is pulling his shirt, but what can a small girl do compared to these rugby beasts?

Phineas doesn’t look like he’s been fighting back. He’s just slouched in Jerald’s hands, letting him use him as a punching bag. The floor is covered in glass as I predicted, and the flower pots used to decorate the space just below the television have been damaged and chipped.

It’s a miracle the TV is still intact even though they’re pressing each other onto it. Tears are welling in Mary’s eyes, mouth quivering when she sees me standing by the door.

Jerald gives me one glance before turning back to Phineas, punching him so hard the TV cracks. He’s done it. Now everything in the living room is damaged.

I spring into action when he lands in a second punch, rushing next to Mary and grabbing his shirt. Mustering all the energy I can channel, I pull, hard.

It’s not enough to make Jerald fall, but it’s enough to make him break contact and stagger away from Phineas. His face is now red with blood, but he still has that look on his face, like he deserves what’s coming his way.

Mary lunges between her brother and Phineas and before I can register what just happened, an ear-piercing slap sounds in the house. Turning toward the impact, I gasp when I see Mary holding her cheek, glaring at her brother whose hand is now quivering.

Without thinking I grab his collar and turn him around before getting revenge, slapping him with all the force my bastard father and mother put in me. He staggers and hits the TV, making the poor thing drop on the floor with a thud, shattering to pieces before our legs.

"Jerald! What are you doing?"

Standing back up he pushes me aside like an unwanted pest, lowering his voice into an icy warning. "Stay out of this Iris."

"Or what? You’re going to slap me like you did Mary?"

"Trust me, I will if you don’t mind your business."

Ohnohedidn’t!

"If you want your balls dangling in my hands after I jab them off with a kitchen knife, I dare you to try that." I give him a matching glare, watching as his gaze falters like he’s finally returning to his senses.

But it’s short-lived. The moment his eyes land on Phineas again, the glare is back. "I let you guys off my sight one time and you’re making the worst decisions ever known to man. Did you know that he is the reason why she almost turned into a skeleton in college? Did you?"

Fuck. Heknows.

I try to say something, but nothing comes out when I open my mouth. Jerald lets out a low breath, eyes squinting as he steps closer to me, intimidating as he comes.

"Wait, you knew? Hah, you knew and you didn’t tell me?" He rubs his temple fiercely, laughing and talking to himself like a maniac. "So if it wasn’t for the former classmate’s group chat I found on Facebook I’d still be the fool among you lot."

"Calm down Jerald, this isn’t as deep as you think."

Flipping himself around, Jerald gives me a pointed glare. "You’re the last person I expect to be saying this, Iris. The last!"

"And you’re the last person Mary needs reminding her of the past and hitting her boyfriend. You should be—"

"Shut up...just...shut the fuck up and go back home."

He flips around like he’s done with me, walking back towards Phineas who is dangling like a fucking scarecrow on Mary’s shoulder. When he sees Jerald coming, he pushes her aside, not even flinching when his collar is grabbed.

"You son of a bitch," I mutter under my breath, walking towards Jerald when he raises his fist to slam into Phin again. I grab his arm, pull it down, and look him in the eyes.

"You are going to stop this instant or I’m—" I don’t finish speaking before I’m flying mid-air. I land on my ass, wiping the floor as I glide on the tiles hitting the wall with a thud.

"Iris!"

"I’m fine," I assure Mary who glares at her brother. My god, if someone told me these siblings had such murderous glares I would have laughed at them. They look like former army commanders, the kind that makes you numb just from eye contact.

Jerald slams his fist into Phineas again and Mary rushes to grab his shirt again. It’s like playing an audio on repeat, the impact of the sound is the same, but it turns dull with each replay. What’s more annoying is how I can’t make Jerald calm down.

He’s stuck in his delusions and won’t listen to me. Lucas was right about him. He can’t be reasoned with when he’s angry.

Placing my palm on the walls for support, I stand. A familiar small sharp pain comes from my elbow and I remove my blazer. Right where I got my scar yesterday the wound has reopened and blood is coming out.

Now I’m mad at Jerald for so many reasons. Turning around so I can help Mary ward him off Phineas, the door opens with a bang, and right through it comes Lucas.

He glances around the room, assessing the situation and pausing when he notices the blood on my pink blazer. The others are too busy fighting to notice that someone has come in.

For a moment, it looks like Lucas will abandon the fight to check on my wound, but when a sniffled groan escapes from Phineas and Mary screams for Jerald to stop, he finally makes his resolution.

Pronounced veins appear everywhere on him, his forehead, his neck, and his hands. Widening his stance and giving me a look that seems to say I will get revenge for you, he charges into action.

Rushing past the Sofa’s, he grabs Jerald’s collar from the back and pulls. Hard. I stare in awe at the difference in power between us when Jerald comes off Phineas, flying like a did a few moments ago and landing on his ass like I did a few moments ago.

Hmmm, thatfeltsosatisfyingtowatch.

Grabbing Phin off the floor, Lucas slowly places him on the sofa.

"Not on my couch you son of a bitch!" Jerald barks, flipping himself up and charging at Lucas. It happens so fast that I don’t have the time to register it, but the next moment after a blink, Lucas is pinning him under his armpit, gripping so hard his jaw is set.

"I’m going to show you what happens when you mess with my girlfriend," he says through gritted teeth and a chill runs down my body.

Jerald stops squirming, hair shaking when he slowly raises his head to face me. "Girlfriend?"

He does the icy laugh again and if I thought that was a chill a moment ago, then what runs down my spine this time is freaking frost.

We’reallfuckednow.

★★★★★