“What game is that?” she asked, her gaze falling on the rope as I created the two loops with it.
“This perfectly crafted seduction you’ve got going on for each of us.”
She scoffed in mock outrage, narrowing her eyes at me. “I don’t want to seduce you. Any of you,” she growled. “You’re all monsters who have made it your mission to make me miserable for something I’m not even responsible for.”
I looked at her for a long moment, taking in the raw honesty in her before nodding in agreement. “Okay then.”
“That’s it?”
“What more do you want? You don’t want me. You don’t want to be a part of our family. So what is it you do want?” I finished the knot and she eyed the loops as she gave some consideration to exactly why I was so good at tying that particular kind of knot.
“Honesty,” she breathed. “You want me to see the real you? Then give me something real. Give me the things that make you, you. Not this monster bullshit you show everyone else.”
I looked into her blue eyes for several seconds, the anger I’d been harbouring towards her softening as I considered that. I was angry about the truth she’d seen in me without my permission. But maybe offering her some of it on my own terms wouldn’t be so bad.
“You wanna trade truths with me, baby?” I asked her in a low voice.
“Why would I trust anything you have to say?” she asked, but the look in her eyes said she wanted to.
I glanced at the crowd surrounding us and jerked my chin towards the trees before stalking away into them. I didn’t know if she’d follow me, but I wasn’t offering up anything with an audience. If she had questions she wanted to ask me then she could follow me into the dark to ask them.
I stepped into the forest and soft footsteps told me she was following.
I headed on until the light of the bonfires barely reached us and turned to wait for her beside a towering oak.
She moved to lean against it as she waited to hear what I was going to say and I was struck with the desire to dominate her space. I couldn’t help it. Something about her just drew me in like that and didn’t want me to leave. And with the rope still twisted between my fingers, it was hard to stop my mind from conjuring images of the ways I’d like to bend her body to mine.
“Do you just do things like this to try and scare me?” she asked, looking around at the trees.
“What’s the matter, baby? You don’t like being out here in the dark with the big bad asshole?”
“It’s not that. I just think, you do things like this because it’s part of the act you put on.”
“Act?” I scoffed. “Baby, if you’re trying to kid yourself into thinking that I’m not as bad as I seem then think again. I’m a product of design guaranteed by DNA.”
“Because of your family?” she asked and I fell still as I twisted the knotted rope between my busted knuckles.
“Yeah. Are we really swapping truths here, or are you just looking for a peek beneath the hood of my brain?”
“What do you want to know?” Tatum asked with a slight frown that said she wasn’t sure she wanted me to know anything.
“Right now? I think I’d rather tie you up and do bad things to you than ask you about why you don’t want to believe your daddy is as bad as the whole world thinks he is.”
Her lips popped open at that request and she stared at me like my words had shocked her. But I’d said far worse to her before and had her body at my mercy more than once too. And with my blood heated from the fight and her standing there looking at me like that, there was a whole lot of it rushing south.
“Alright then,” she breathed, shrugging out of her puffy coat so that I could get easier access to her wrists and my eyebrows rose as I realised she meant it. “You can…tie me up in exchange for the truth from your lips.”
I only considered it for a moment before I was closing the distance between us, holding out the loops in the knot I’d tied so that she could slip her wrists through them.
I looked her dead in the eye as I gripped the end of the rope and yanked it hard, the nooses tightening around her wrists and a gasp escaping those full lips as I restrained her.
“Come on then, baby,” I purred, moving so close to her that I could taste her breath on the air dividing us. “Ask away.”
I kept the rope gripped in my fist and raised her hands above her head until her arms were straight and I could lean my forearm to the tree above her head to keep her there. She was panting as I restrained her, her eyes hunting mine in the dark as I drank in the sight of her.
“Do you hate your family?” she asked finally, the space between us filling up with her question.
“Yes,” I replied simply and the scathing look she gave me said that wasn’t enough of a truth. “My family are not nice people.”
“In what way?”
“In all the ways that count. But I suppose the bit that matters is that they expected me to be like them. To join the family business and carve my way through life leaving a trail of blood in my wake.”
“And you seriously think you don’t do that?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at me and I was sure we were both thinking about what I’d done to that fucker in the crypt.
“The point is that I don’t do it for them.” I refused to let myself think about the shit I’d done this summer. Royaume D'élite and the fucked up things that had happened there. The final straw which had forced my hand into deciding to cut myself off from my family for good. If she knew about what I’d done then she’d think even less of me than she already did. Hell, I hadn’t even shared that truth with Blake and Saint yet, though what we’d been through in the catacombs with Merl made me wonder if they wouldn’t judge me as harshly as I’d feared. But I was already judging myself enough that I hadn’t wanted to find out for sure.
My gaze trailed down her body as she arched her back against the trunk of the tree, her chest rising and falling heavily as I kept her restrained. But despite the fact that having her tied up this way was like one of my fantasies crawling right out of my brain and into reality, I didn’t touch her.
“Are your family criminals then? I thought you came from old money-”
“My father is old money alright. Slit his wrists and he’d bleed blue all over the floor. But his family were also close to bankrupt when he was my age and he was sent out on the hunt for an advantageous marriage. New money. New blood. That’s how he ended up with my mom. The O’Briens are the richest mob family in the state, probably in the entire country. And they wanted a nice, legitimate front to some of their business dealings which the Roscoes could give them. They sealed the deal with marriage and an heir. So here I am.”
“So you hate what your family is?” she guessed. But I didn’t really give a shit about being born of monsters. It made sense. What I didn’t like was the expectation that came with that.
“No. I hate what they want me to be. A pawn in their big game. A figurehead, a mouthpiece, a lump of muscle. And sure, maybe a leader one day, but all under their terms. I have a lot of uncles with a lot of ideas for me. I take exception to being told how to live my life.”
“And yet you bound me into a life with you and the other Night Keepers knowing that it went against what I wanted?” she growled in outrage and I had to admit she had a valid point.
Suddenly, having her tied up at my mercy didn’t really hold the appeal it had a few minutes ago and I shifted closer to her as I raised my other hand to the rope too.
“Well, I’ve never lied to you about being a sonofabitch,” I pointed out in a rough voice. I yanked on the rope and the knot fell apart, releasing her wrists before I turned and walked away from her.
“Kyan, wait-” She snatched my hand before I could get more than a few steps and I looked around at her in the moonlight as our breaths rose between us. “I have one more question.”
I didn’t reply, but I didn’t leave so I guessed that was permission enough for her to go on.
“
I want to know why you need violence in your life so much.” Her thumb skimmed over my busted knuckles and the flicker of pain raced through me in a wave that felt like waking up.
I tried to think of a way to put words to the burning need for the fight which warred in me. I knew she felt it too. But maybe she understood her own demons well enough to know why she craved it. For me, it was just primal, instinctual, necessary.
“I’m a bad person who’s done bad things, baby,” I said roughly, reaching out with my free hand to tuck a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. “And something in me stops me from feeling guilt over that. Something in me thrives on bloodshed and bringing about pain in others. So if you’re hoping to save me, then I suggest you give up now. There is no redemption for me. Hell, I don’t even want redemption. I’m okay with my sins and I’m okay with my depravity. So if you’re looking for someone to save, then you’re looking in the wrong place with me.”
“I’m not looking for someone to save, Kyan,” she said darkly, lifting my hand to her lips and touching them to my bloody knuckles.
My heart thundered as she pressed kisses to each of my knuckles in turn, the sight of my blood smearing over her mouth making my whole body ache with a raw and brutal desire to lay claim to her flesh and cast her to ruin.
“Then what do you want from me?” I demanded, because not knowing was driving me to fucking insanity.
She looked up at me, her tongue slowing licking her lower lip as she tasted some of my blood. “I don’t know,” she breathed.
My gaze fixed on her mouth and I caught her neck in my grasp, my fingers locking around her throat as I tilted her chin up and leaned in so close that our lips were almost touching. I wanted to taste my blood on her tongue so badly that I ached for it. It was fucked up and twisted and dark, but I’d never denied being all of those things. I just didn’t want to drag her down to my level when I knew she deserved better.
“You should learn to stay away from me, Tatum Rivers,” I said in a low voice as my grip on her throat tightened a little. It wasn’t a threat, just the truth. “I’m no good for you. And I’m also not good enough to keep warning you. One of these days I’m not going to hold back. I’ll take you up on that offer in your eyes and abuse your flesh in all the dark ways you hunger for. And once I’ve made you mine, I’ll never let go again. And then I’ll never forgive myself for corrupting you.”
I used my grip on her throat to shove her away from me just hard enough to put some distance between us then turned and stalked back towards the light of the bonfires.
But before I could get three steps, a branch hit me square in the back.
“You don’t get to just keep doing that shit to me, Kyan Roscoe,” Tatum shouted and I turned back to find her glaring at me, with eyes full of fire once more and a rock clutched in her fist.
“Do what?” I asked, my skin prickling with anger over the fucking branch.
“Reel me in and then shove me away. Lean in like you’re going to kiss me, then reject me as if I was the one who wanted it in the first place,” she snapped.
“Weren’t you?” I asked cockily. “Because from where I was standing, it looked like you would have let me tie you to that tree and fuck you until you couldn’t walk straight.”
She threw the rock so suddenly that I didn’t even have time to duck aside before it struck me in the shoulder, hitting me hard enough with the sharp edge that it split my skin open and spilled blood.
“Don’t do that,” I warned in a low growl.
“Or what?” she taunted, stooping to retrieve two more rocks from the ground by her feet.
“You don’t want to find out.”
“Maybe I do,” she hissed. “Maybe I want to go up against the great Kyan Roscoe and prove that I could put you on your back and leave you bleeding in the dirt.”
“Don’t make threats you can’t follow through on,” I snarled and she threw another rock.
I managed to twist aside to avoid it, but the third smacked me in the chest, rage blossoming through my blood from the place where it hit.
I stalked towards her, meaning to restrain her, toss her over my shoulder and drag her back to The Temple for some kind of punishment, but she swung at me the moment I got close.
I tasted blood as my head wheeled sideways and something snapped in my brain as she swung at me again.
I let her land the blow, catching me with an uppercut that made my head ring before I shoved her back against the huge oak tree, hard enough to hurt.
“Don’t,” I warned in a low growl but she just lunged at me again, her knuckles slamming into my ribs and sending pain flaring through my body.
I fought to deflect her blows, glaring at her as she shoved me back with a snarl of fury.
“Fuck, baby, you’re so hot when you’re angry,” I purred and the rage in her eyes told me she didn’t fucking like that at all.
“You’re such a prick, Kyan. You act like you think your dick is the Holy Grail and everyone should just line up for a taste of its magical waters.”
“Well we both know you’d be at the front of the queue if I started offering out tickets,” I taunted.
Her palm swung for my face and she slapped me as hard as she could, making my head wheel sideways.
I slapped her back instantly and her lips parted in surprise as the pink print of my hand glowed on her cheek.
“What’s the matter, baby?” I asked. “You can hand it out, but you can’t take it in return? You slap me like a little bitch and you’d better believe I’ll slap you right back.”
“Call me a little bitch again and I’ll fucking destroy you,” she hissed.
“You wanna carry this on with less clothes on?” I asked, licking the blood from my busted lip. “The hate sex between us would be hot enough to start a forest fire.”
“I thought you didn’t fuck girls from school?” she growled and I could tell just how much that little rule of mine fucked her off.
“I can just bend you over and pretend you’re someone else,” I replied with a taunting smirk which I was hoping she’d smack right off of my face.
“Fuck you.”
“Yes please.”
“I wouldn’t touch your dick if it was the elder wand and Voldemort was stalking us through the fucking trees.”
“Again,” I said.
“What?”
“You mean, you wouldn’t touch my dick again if it was the elder wand and-”
Tatum’s fist slammed straight into my jaw and I laughed as pain rocketed through the bone. The girl seriously knew how to throw a punch and if it wasn’t the hottest fucking thing I’d ever seen then I didn’t know what was.
She tried to advance but I shoved her back, using brute strength to keep her backed up against the oak.
“I didn’t mean to offend you, baby,” I teased as she snarled at me. “And I wouldn’t really pretend you were someone else while I fucked you. I’ll happily break all of your rules and mine just to see the look in your eyes as I fill you up and make you scream my-”
“You’d be the one screaming my name, asshole. And once I’d taken what I wanted from your body, I’d leave you to your lonely little existence and forget all about you.”
Ouch.
She swung at me again and I caught her fist in my grip, baring my teeth at her as I snatched her other hand too.
She let me catch it, then threw her forehead into my nose. I cursed as the blow took me by surprise, staggering back a step and giving her the space she needed to tackle me.
My back hit the dirt hard and I swore at her as she ripped her hands from my grip and started whaling on me. She wasn’t holding back and her punches were fucking brutal as they slammed into my ribs. I was totally fucking enraged, hard as stone, at her mercy and unable to allow her to win.
With a grunt of effort, I threw my weight forward and rolled us over. Her teeth sank into my shoulder like a fucking animal and I cursed as I got her on her back and fought to try and catch her thras
hing limbs.
She tried to headbutt me again but I reared back to avoid it, snatching her wrist into my grasp and taking another savage punch to the side before I caught that wrist too.
She continued to buck and thrash beneath me as I pinned her down with her hands clasped in my grip, and locked against the dirt either side of her head.
“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” she growled as she finally fell still, glaring up at me in the dim light.
“I think that’s what you like about me,” I tossed back.
“I don’t like a single thing about you.”
I rolled my hips between her thighs and a moan escaped her as the solid length of my dick teased her clit.
“You’ve got a funny way of showing it,” I teased. “If you wanted me to dominate you then you only had to ask, baby. You didn’t have to go through the whole farce of fighting me. Although I will say that fighting with you is probably some of the best foreplay I’ve ever had, so I’m not complaining.”
“You’re seriously deluded,” she snapped, her chest rising and falling heavily between us as she tried to catch her breath.
“Sure thing. But when you’re ready to stop pretending, just say please and I’ll have you moaning in no time. You know I can be real generous with you when you beg.”
A snarl of pure fury escaped her and she snatched a hand free of my grip, punching me straight in the throat so that I reared back in surprise. The moment my weight lifted from her hips, she slammed her knee right into my balls and I wheezed in pain as I fell off of her and she scrambled away.
“I’m not begging you for anything, Kyan,” she growled as I cupped my junk and growled in agony and rage. “And you need to seriously get over yourself.”
She stormed away into the forest and by the time I’d shoved myself to my feet again, she was long gone.
“Wow,” Blake said, stepping out of the trees like some fucking stalker as I got to my feet, starting up a slow clap like an asshole. “Great job at fixing your shit with her.”
“Were you just watching us fight?” I asked irritably.
Kings of Lockdown: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 2) Page 32