Chapter Ninety-Four
John pushed Claire behind him, setting his pitch-black eyes on Toby as the jock circled them.
Toby laughed, noticing that John wasn't being as vocal as he normally was. "What happened meth-head? Your kidnappers cut that pretty voice out?" He reached for John's neck, jumping back as the smaller teen lunged at him. "You high on something right now?" He asked, shaking his fear of the burner off and shoving him into the lockers at his back. He smirked at the look of pain he saw flash on John's face. "Maybe more meth?"
John glared at him, pushing himself off of the blue metal doors and lunging for the blond. Claire tried to grab John's shoulders and pull him off of Toby, yelping as Kaylie grabbed her and pulled her away from the fight. "John's got this. He needs to prove to himself that he's still able to protect us." Kaylie smiled as John twisted out of Toby's hold, recognizing the move from the night John had rescued her from the man who'd tried to rape her, knowing what would come next.
John pivoted, letting his fist fly in a wide arc into Toby's ribs. He swung his leg behind the jock's hips, pushing the heel of his beaten-up boot into his groin as he forced him to the tile. He grabbed Toby's ankles, yanking his tennis shoes off before letting his hand go to the pocket he used to keep his switchblade in. He cursed himself internally as he remembered he no longer carried a blade.
Toby screamed as John's leg kept his head held in place, trying to scratch at the burner's limbs to get him off. "Get off me!" He felt John shift, wondering what the addict was doing on his back. "Get off me you fag!"
John swung his arm at the jock's head, connecting with a hard smack.
Dominic's hands gripped John's shoulders, pulling his cousin from the blockhead's back and stopping the fight. "John. It's not worth it." He pushed John behind him as Toby got up, recognizing the fight was still in him. "Listen man, I don't wanna get into this with you."
"You chicken?" Toby asked, wiping a little blood from his lip where he'd bitten it.
John pushed passed his cousin, shoving the jock against the locker and punching him in the nose with a crunch before anyone could stop him. He curled his lip at the blond as he gaged on the blood running into the back of his throat, working up a wad of spit and letting it fly onto the teen.
Claire backed away from John slightly, ashamed at the fear that she felt after seeing him fight so hard for her. She'd seen him fight in school before, knowing that was one of the reasons he was always in detention in Shermer, but this wasn't the same kind of fight. He'd been out for blood, as if he'd not only wanted to protect Claire, but like he'd been fighting someone else who wasn't Toby entirely. She watched as John's chest heaved, noticing that his nose was bleeding as his blood dripped onto the white tile on the floor to mix with Toby's. She squeezed Allison's hand as she offered it, trying to hide her fear from John so she didn't lose his trust. "Have you ever seen him fight like that before?"
Allison shook her head, looking at Kaylie as the blonde nodded. "You have?"
The exburner nodded again, remembering the bloody pulp that had been left of her attempted rapist. "The last time I think the guy died though. He didn't just get a busted nose out of it. John went easy today." She looked at Claire the image of Toby grabbing her breasts still fresh in her mind. "You're okay right?"
Claire grabbed something from her locker, holding her hand up to stop John from touching her. "I'm fine." She stated, grabbing her math book as she hurried off to her class.