Kyan appeared from the direction of his room, his face a heavy scowl, his eyes two hollow pits of death.
Nope, still in the same world.
I hated that we still weren’t talking. Despite the fact that he was a douchebag who I’d officially called out on his douchbaggery, I actually missed the old Kyan. The playful, fun Kyan who brought out a wild side in me that made me feel alive.
I put his plate down on the counter and planted myself in front of it as he stalked forward to take it. He tried to reach past me and I held my arms out as a barrier.
“Morning, Kyan,” I said brightly.
He grunted, surveying me like I was a mild irritation to his day. It cut deep. I didn’t want Kyan to look at me like that even though I’d wanted to hurt him. But he’d hurt me first and had never felt an ounce of guilt over it. So why should I?
“Did you sleep okay?” I asked.
He pushed me aside, grabbing his breakfast and turning his back on me as he headed over to the table and dropped into his usual spot.
Anger pooled inside me, masking the ache he’d left too. I might have been forced to clean and cook for them, but a bit of gratitude didn’t go amiss.
Saint appeared at eight on the dot and I placed his food in front of him as required.
It wasn’t in the rules for me to sit and eat with them and as I glanced at the stony look of indifference on Kyan’s face, I realised I didn’t want to stay there a moment longer.
“Enjoy your food,” I said bitterly, my gaze set on Kyan who didn’t even look up.
I strode away, jogging upstairs into Saint’s room, feeling eyes on me, but I didn’t know whose. Certainly not Kyan’s. He didn’t spare me a glance anymore. Didn’t even sleep in his bed with me when it was our turn to share. He continued to leave me in his room and sleep on the couch. And maybe I should have been thrilled about that. I’d turned a Night Keeper off of me. Made him hate me for good this time. Enough so that he didn’t want anything to do with me even as his servant. And that was fine. Just fine. Except it made me want to scream.
I showered and found my uniform waiting for me on Saint’s perfectly made bed, dressing for the day. I was about to head downstairs when footfalls marched up the steps and I held my breath as a part of me hoped Kyan had sought me out. Stupid. I should be glad of his silent treatment.
Blake appeared, looking delicious in his forest green uniform, his blazer fitting perfectly to his sculpted shoulders. He gave me a sideways smile as he approached.
“I thought I could walk you to class today?” he offered me his arm and I frowned.
“What’s with the chivalry? The game’s over, Bowman.”
He smirked his darkest smirk and shivers crashed up and down my spine. “I know, sweetheart. But maybe I’ve taken a liking to treating you like a princess. There’s no harm in that, is there?”
“There’s harm in everything you and your friends do,” I said suspiciously, not taking his arm. “But if you want to walk in my direction at the same pace, feel free. Doesn’t mean I’m walking with you.” I headed downstairs, discovering that Kyan and Saint had left already. I moved forward to clean their plates, but Blake caught my arm, whirling me towards the door.
“Leave it,” he commanded. “That’s a Night Keeper order.”
I blew out a derisive breath. “So I can do double the washing up later on? No thanks.”
“I’ll send Rebecca a text,” he said conspiratorially and I couldn’t help but fall into the seductive playfulness about him today. I could see the old Blake shining out of his eyes. The one I’d met on my first day on campus.
“She’s Saint’s maid,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “You don’t have that power.”
“Cinders, I have more power than you can ever imagine,” he said in a growl that set my pulse racing. “Me and Becky have a little agreement, see? Saint treats her like a ghost, offering her precise instructions, but what happens when there’s a mistake made? Life isn’t as hunky dory as Saint would like to believe. There are always hiccups. So when Becky runs into one, she has me to confide in. Me to seek advice from. Because Saint would blame her if things didn’t run smoothly every single day. Which is completely impossible. He fired six maids before I realised I had to step in and make one of them seem perfect.”
My brows arched. “You do that for him?”
“I do it for Becky,” he laughed. “The poor woman can’t be blamed if Saint’s whites all turns pink in the wash because of a rogue red sock.”
I laughed. “Has that happened?”
“Yeah,” he chuckled, offering me his arm again and I took it this time, letting him lead me outside and along the path. “It was the first road bump she met. I gave her my number as soon as Saint hired her with the message that if she ever had a problem, even a small one, she needed to call me. Not Saint. Never Saint.”
I smiled at that. “You really do fancy yourself as Prince Charming.”
“Nah.” He grinned darkly again and I leaned closer, addicted to this side of him. “I’m just a better problem solver than most people. So when Becky called – in a right fucking panic I tell you – about Saint’s ruined whites, I skipped class, headed to the laundromat off the back of the dining hall and took note of every single item amongst the destroyed clothes, sizes, brands, all of it. Then I had a guy send them to me express. I had them by the end of the day, folded and ready to be placed back in Saint’s closet.”
“Holy shit, that’s ridiculous,” I laughed. “I need this guy in my life.”
“I have a lot of guys to do a lot of things. So the only one you really need in your life is me.” He glanced at me with a glint of hope in his gaze and I bit my lip as a tug in my chest made me want him. Not just his body for once, I wanted him. Gah.
“So let’s say I had a problem…” I glanced away into the trees. “Do you reckon you could solve it? Even if it was a big one?”
“If your problem is belonging to us Night Keepers then no, if it’s something else, then yes.”
I gave him a grim smile. “I’ll figure that one out on my own, thanks.”
“I’m afraid there’s no solution,” he smirked and I rolled my eyes. Just watch me, Bowman. He nudged me. “So? What is it?”
I hesitated a moment longer, wondering if I should really ask his advice on this. But I really didn’t know what to do. I also probably shouldn’t have been looking to solve it at all. Then again, I could argue that it was necessary for my plans to progress. So I would just pretend that was the reason why.
“Kyan hates me,” I said heavily. “He won’t talk to me, he won’t look at me, he can hardly bear to be around me anymore.”
I expected Blake to laugh, but he didn’t. He frowned heavily, pulling me closer. “You cut him deep, Cinders. Real fucking deep.”
“He hurt me first,” I tossed back sharply, glad to be able to say it out loud for once.
“I know,” Blake sighed, giving me a taut frown. “You might not like the truth, but I can tell you it if you wanna hear it.”
“I do,” I said immediately, my heart pounding harder.
Blake nodded, running a thumb along his stubble in thought. “Kyan has feelings for you, feelings he can’t even understand himself. It’s not that he’s told me that, it’s that I know him inside out. He’s my brother. Has been for most of my life. There’s nothing he can hide from me. Nothing either of them can. And he wouldn’t anyway, we’d stand by each other no matter what.”
I let that sink in, wondering if I believed him and hating that my heart was suddenly backflipping like it had just been given the best news of its life. Bad heart. Not cool.
Blake went on, “He doesn’t think he’s good enough for you. He doesn’t think he’s good enough for much in life to be honest. Which is total fucking bullshit, but try telling him that and you’ll get nowhere. The more I’ve tried to prove he’s worth something, the harder he acts out to prove he’s not. So when you told him he’s nothing…you confirmed everything he�
�s ever thought about himself. He won’t come near you now because he figures he’s doing you a favour.”
“Oh,” I breathed, my insides twisting up into a tight ball. “I thought he was just using me as a plaything. I thought he felt nothing for me, that he was laughing at me the whole time…”
“That’s doubtful,” he said. “He doesn’t fuck around with people’s hearts, that shit’s sadistic. He doesn’t normally go anywhere near people’s hearts if I’m honest. But with you, it’s different. I don’t wanna talk for him, but I don’t want you to think of my friend like that either. Because it’s not true. Kyan has one of the biggest hearts I know, he just doesn’t let that many people into it. He let you in, sweetheart. And then you carved him up. That’s why he’s hurting so bad.”
Ouch.
Dammit, I should have been happy I’d touched a nerve with Kyan, so why did it make me feel like utter shit? But I couldn’t apologise when he’d never offered me a sorry for all the hell he’d put me through. This was probably the least pain he deserved. So why did this news make me wanna run to him, wrap my arms around him and swear he was worth more than every diamond in the world? He wasn’t nothing. I just thought this was all part of his master plan to destroy me.
Why was this all getting so complicated? No confusing, that was the word. This was a headfuck of mass proportions. The fact that I was strolling along with my arm linked through Blake’s like he was some nineteenth century bachelor come to court me was a joke.
When did things stop being so black and white?
I tugged my arm free of his, combing my fingers through my hair instead while I felt his eyes on me.
I couldn’t let this new knowledge upset my plans. I needed them to stop all of this shit. This niceness. They weren’t good people with big hearts. They were monsters with barren souls.
I couldn’t stop punishing them just because they’d done the odd kind thing or because Kyan was experiencing the occasional decent feeling. That didn’t make this right. They still owned me. Had still tried to ruin me.
Saint had half drowned me.
Blake had put a gun to my head.
Kyan had disregarded my privacy, stood by and watched while Saint tortured me, then flirted with me like I was fair game. No matter what he may have felt towards me, I couldn’t let this change things.
My breathing evened out as I realised what I wanted. What I needed. They had to be humiliated like I had been. They had to be laughed at and shamed. And I couldn’t blink while I did it. I knew I was in deep, I’d always known it was going to be hard. But letting them get away with their crimes because I felt one percent sorry, or saw a glimmer of decency in them wasn’t good enough. So it was onto the next phase of my plan.
Humiliation.
***
I stood in a cubicle in the women’s toilets in Aspen Halls, refilling the toilet paper dispenser. I’d become a TP vigilante – not exactly what I’d hoped to be during the apocalypse, but there it was. The unit I’d unlocked to fill with toilet paper was being fiddly to shut, the catch not locking as I tried to close it. But nothing can stop the TP bandit.
A bang sounded out in the restroom and I frowned, turning my head as another bang made my heart judder. It sounded like someone was kicking the cubicle doors open, but why?
“Hello?” I called, slamming the dispenser shut with enough force to make it click into place at last.
No reply.
Another bang made my throat tighten then the sound of running water filled my ears. What the hell is going on?
I grabbed my bag from where I’d hung it on the back of the door and cursed as my lipstick came loose from a side pocket, hitting the floor and rolling out into the restroom.
I was about to open the door when someone started hammering on it and I stepped back on instinct. Their shadow fell beneath the door and I bent down to try and get a look at their feet.
“Who is that?” I demanded, refusing to be shaken. Maybe it was Pearl Devickers trying to wind me up. She threw insults at me and laughed about me with her friends whenever the Night Keepers weren’t around to get a rise out of me. She just loved pushing my buttons.
The shadow drew away and I grabbed the door handle, twisting the lock and yanking it open. I’m not going to be scared of shadows in toilets.
I stepped out, my foot slipping in something wet and I gasped as I skidded on the tiles and my back impacted with the hard floor. Shit.
I twisted my head toward the door just as it swung shut, the culprit gone. One of the sinks had been blocked, the water washing over the top of it and soaking the floor.
I got up with a curse, rubbing my bruised elbows where I’d caught myself on the tiles and moved to turn the water off. My heart constricted in my chest as the words Night Whore glared back at me, written across the length of the long mirror in red lipstick. My lipstick.
I looked around for it, but it was gone.
My heart pounded harder and I gritted my teeth, refusing to let this rattle me. If Pearl and her friends wanted to freak me out, then I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction.
I shed my blazer, tying the sleeves around my waist to cover up my soaking wet skirt and marched out of the bathroom with my chin held high.
There was no one in the corridor. It was the end of the school day after all. And something about the empty hallway made an eerie sensation creep through my skin.
I hurried to exit the building, the sound of chatter in the courtyard outside making me relax as I took out my phone and shot Mila a message.
Tatum:
Did you get them?
I had the mother of all humiliations planned for tonight and Mila had been helping me prepare for it the past few days.
Mila:
Girl, I got four whole boxes.
I laughed, my heart beginning to pound for a whole different reason.
Tatum:
Great! See you soon.
“Hey, Tatum!” someone called and I looked up, spotting a group of some of the footballers on one of the picnic benches with Toby amongst them, waving me over.
I hesitated for half a second before jogging toward them and Chad McCormack gave Toby a look of surprise for addressing me. The Night Keepers would probably drown them if they stepped past the invisible walls my captors had built around me. The message from the three of them was clear: stay the hell away from our girl. But they were nowhere in sight, and I was in the mood to push against the barriers of my cage.
“Wanna hang out for a bit?” Toby offered, his eyes bright with hope. He looked like a changed man since he’d been welcomed back into society, but there was still a nervousness about him that I could sense beneath the surface of his smile.
“Oh, I can’t, me and Mila are meeting up to study.” And the Night Keepers would literally destroy me if they found me here talking to you guys as I am only allowed one friend.
Hell, what has my life come to?
Danny carved a hand through his blonde hair. “Are you hanging out with her all night, or…?” he trailed off.
“I’ll only keep her for a couple of hours,” I said with a grin and he smiled stupidly.
Chad punched his arm. “You are so pussy whipped, bro. What happened to our pact of dicking ten girls per semester? You dip it in one and practically put a ring on it.” He was the typical jock with his bulky muscles and dude-bro vibe about him, his dark hair messy in that way girls liked.
“Shut up, man.” Danny punched him back. “Mila’s not just any girl.”
My heart lifted as he earned himself a lot of bestie brownie points.
“How far along are you with that pact, Chad?” I asked airily and he puffed out his chest.
“I get my Chad-stick in a tight hole every fucking day.” He smirked.
His Chad-stick??? I’m gonna vom.
“Oh, is that what I saw you doing this morning?” I asked innocently and the footballers all looked to Chad for explanation.
“What?” Chad’s dark bro
ws pulled together.
“You remember. You had your Chad-stick in that hole in the willow tree near the boathouse. I hope there isn’t a family of traumatised squirrels living in there.” I tossed my hair with a smirk and Toby roared a laugh just as the rest of Chad’s friends lost it.
“I don’t fuck trees,” Chad balked, his face starting to turn beetroot red.
“I dunno what else you could really call it when you push your boner into a tree hole,” I said thoughtfully. “Is it just willows that get you off or do the pine trees do it for you too? You must be constantly hard around here.”
“I don’t fuck trees!” Chad repeated as his friends laughed and shoved him.
“It’s alright, bro, no one’s judging,” Toby snorted. “Did you part her branches and tickle her mossy patch?”
I snorted as the others went crazy, clapping Toby on the shoulder.
“Shut up, man,” Chad huffed, his ears bright red now.
“Did you lick her sap and make her blossom?” Danny threw in and Chad started throwing punches to try and make them stop.
“You’re funny, Night Girl,” Zayne Jackson called from the back of the group and I shrugged.
Movement in my periphery made me turn and the footballers followed my gaze to Bait who was trying to creep past them down the path, his eyes wide beneath his mask.
Chad suddenly cupped his hands around his mouth and made a noise like a war horn. “To the hunt!”
“To the hunt!” the footballers all echoed and they jumped off of the picnic bench they were occupying, tearing after Bait who high-tailed it down the path. Toby ran with them and it was kinda sad how quickly he’d turned on his old friend just to be welcomed back into the pack again. My stomach clenched as I watched them go. Bullying Bait just didn’t sit right with me even though he’d done a terrible thing. I just couldn’t get onboard with it.
Kings of Lockdown: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 2) Page 28