Kyan grunted in frustration as he shoved the door and I frowned as it barely opened an inch before jamming. He dropped his football helmet to the ground and tried pushing it again.
“What the fuck is going on?” Saint demanded.
“It’s jammed,” Kyan replied. “I think there’s something on the other side of it.”
“What?” My heart pounded as I dropped my helmet too and moved forward to help shove the door but like he’d said, the thing wouldn’t move an inch. “You don’t think the stalker-”
I didn’t even finish my sentence before Saint sprinted away from me, roaring Tatum’s name as he headed around the building and started looking in windows.
I exchanged a worried look with Kyan and we ran the other way, circling the church and finding the blinds closed over every fucking window.
“Tatum!” I bellowed, real fear carving into me as I imagined her trapped in there with some psychopath.
Kyan stopped at the stained glass window which fronted the building and tried to get a look through it, but it was fucking pointless. The glass was too blurry and the only light inside seemed to be coming from the fireplace.
Thunder crashed overhead and the freezing rain pounded down on me. I finally found the single window in the building where the blinds hadn’t been drawn and I dashed towards it to see inside. I cupped my hands around my eyes as I leaned close to the glass which looked over the kitchenette towards the main living area and fell still as the sound of No Scrubs by TLC washed over me from the sound system inside.
Tatum was in there. Alone. Dancing in the middle of the room and singing at the top of her lungs.
I banged my fist against the window and she looked around with a wicked smile, staring straight into my eyes as she mouthed the lyrics and laughed her fucking head off.
“I found her!” I yelled before one of the others started smashing windows to get inside.
Saint appeared first, his eyes flashing with fear and I moved aside to let him look through the window too.
“What the fuck is she doing?” he demanded.
“Dancing,” I replied, pointing out the obvious.
Kyan rounded the corner next, his teeth bared with rage as he spotted her. “What the hell?” he snarled.
“She’s knocked the dining table over in front of the fucking door,” Saint said, craning his neck to get a look.
He banged his fist on the window and Tatum looked around again, flipping us off before tossing her hair and getting back to her dance.
Kyan burst out laughing and I smirked too, but Saint looked ready to murder her.
“She’s getting out of hand,” he growled.
“I think it’s hot,” Kyan replied.
“We can’t let this stand,” Saint insisted. “Let’s go and teach her exactly what happens when she’s defiant.”
“What’s that then?” I asked.
“I’m working on it,” he grunted, peeling away from the window and leading the way back to the front door.
Saint picked up Kyan’s helmet from where he’d dropped it by the door and shoved it into his chest. “Break down the door if you have to,” he snarled and Kyan grinned wickedly as he yanked the helmet down over his head.
Saint tossed me my helmet too and I laughed darkly as I pulled it on.
Kyan backed up several paces then charged at the door with a yell, aiming his shoulder for the heavy wood.
He slammed into it with a tremendous bang and the door shifted a few inches.
Tatum shouted something from inside but between the roar of the storm and the volume of the music she’d set playing, it was impossible to tell what.
Kyan launched himself at the door again. And again.
The fourth time he struck it, the whole thing shifted a foot forward and he instantly forced his way through the gap that had been created.
Saint was right behind him and I followed last, locking the door behind me quickly to make sure she couldn’t escape us.
The Temple was dark and we stalked into the open living area where Tatum had backed up to stand before the fire, biting down on her bottom lip.
“Oh, hey guys,” she called over the music. “I didn’t know you were back.”
“There was a table blocking the door,” Saint growled, moving closer to her and I moved to the left as Kyan circled right, making sure she was surrounded.
There was something equally exhilarating and antagonising about us surrounding her like that. Like we were hunters and she was our prey. I loved that she was at our mercy. That we held her next move in the palm of our hands and she could only wait to see what way the axe fell.
“That was to stop the stalker if they showed up,” she said.
“You looked me in the eye and flipped me off,” he added in a dangerous voice.
“Was that you? I thought there was an angry looking ghost out there…”
“Give it up, baby, we know what you’re playing at,” Kyan said.
“Is this because we left you out in that storm that time?” I asked. I was actually pretty impressed that she was still willing to stand up to us like this. Even after all the fucked up punishments and cruel pranks we’d subjected her to.
“Oh, I’d almost forgotten about that,” she said, backing up a step as we closed in.
We were leaving huge muddy footprints on the carpet and the fact that Saint wasn’t currently freaking out and whispering sweet nothings to the Vax machine should have been warning enough about just how mad he was.
“I’m gonna warn you once not to touch me,” Tatum said, holding a hand out before her like that might stop us.
She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a black shirt with a knot tied in it. It definitely wasn’t what Saint had told her to wear this evening and I was willing to bet that that was the bit of this which was pissing him off the most.
Saint lunged at her and she whipped her other hand out from behind her back, slamming her thumb down on the top of the canister of pepper spray she had gripped in her fist and blasting him right in the face.
He bellowed in pain and rage and I leapt back as she swung the spray around in an arc, managing to blast Kyan with it too as he dove at her.
Kyan didn’t slow despite the curses that sprung from his lips as he caught a face full of the burning spray and his arms locked around her before she could escape.
They hit the ground and the pepper spray fell from her grip, rolling towards me. I leapt forward to snatch it as she fought to escape Kyan.
She hadn’t managed to get me with a shot to the face, but the air was thick with the fucking spray and I battled a cough as my eyes began to burn.
Saint ripped his helmet off, snarling and cursing as he scrubbed at his eyes, momentarily blinded by her attack.
I tossed the pepper spray into the fire and Kyan grunted as Tatum managed to kick him in the balls and scramble out of his grip.
She darted around Saint, her wild eyes falling on me as she found me blocking her path and I let her go with a dark smile.
“Three…” I called after her, reaching out to the control panel to shut the music up. “Two…”
She shrieked as she darted towards my room, leaping over the legs of the dining table where it still laid beside the door.
“One!” I leapt into motion, head down, shoulders braced for impact and my helmet still firmly on my head.
Tatum screamed again as I chased her down, vaulting the table legs just as she slammed the door to my bedroom shut behind her.
I ripped it open and found her standing on my bed, two of my trophies in her hands as she ripped them from my shelf.
“Stay back!” she warned, her hair wild around her shoulders as she panted, holding my trophies hostage.
“Have you got her?” Saint bellowed from the front room.
“Yeah,” I called back.
“Keep hold of her until I’ve had a shower and washed this shit out of my eyes!”
“You’ve really done it now, Cinders,�
� I purred, taking a slow step towards her.
“What are you going to do to me?” she demanded, raising my trophy higher as I took another step.
“I’ll make the others go easier on you if you give yourself up quietly now,” I promised.
She eyed me in my full football uniform and I held my hand out for the trophies.
“I haven’t done anything to you guys that you haven’t done to me,” she growled, like I was a judge and she was pleading her defence.
“I don’t remember pepper spraying you.”
“Saint almost drowned me in the fucking font.”
I barked a laugh as she reminded me of that. “Oh come on, you were only under for about ten seconds.”
“You try having a psychopath force your head under water and tell me you’re not pissed afterwards,” she hissed.
“Alright, I’ll do you a trade. You give me a kiss and I’ll make sure your punishment isn’t too bad.”
The sound of the shower starting up came from the bathroom beside us and we could hear Kyan cursing as he washed his eyes out too.
“One kiss?” she asked suspiciously.
“Yeah,” I agreed, tugging my helmet off and dropping it.
Tatum narrowed her eyes then tossed the trophies back onto the shelf before moving towards me. Her movements were tentative, but her eyes shone with victory and it looked fucking hot on her.
She dropped down before me and I leaned in, my eyes on her mouth as she tiptoed up to kiss me.
But before I could grab hold of her and push my tongue into her mouth, she tipped her head and pressed the briefest kiss I’d ever experienced to my cheek. Like, honestly, my great aunt Ava used to offer up more tongue in her kisses than that.
“Are you gonna stick to your word, Bowman?” she demanded, her gaze fierce and I realised this was a test. I’d promised to help her out if she gave me a kiss and it was my own damn fault if I hadn’t specified that I was after ten full minutes, a filthy amount of tongue and the opportunity to slip my fingers into her panties while we went at it.
“You’re the worst monster out of all of us, Tatum Rivers,” I purred, eyeing her appreciatively.
She had the fucking nerve to smirk at me and I snorted a laugh.
My gaze fell on my helmet on the floor and it gave me an idea.
“I think I can get you out of a bad punishment,” I said slowly. “But you’re gonna have to be willing to put on a show for us.”
“What kind of show?” she asked suspiciously.
“Well, you already proved how much you like dancing,” I pointed out. “So how about you climb up on the altar and do it for us. While taking your clothes off.”
Her lips popped open and I grinned.
“I’m not stripping for all of you,” she said, folding her arms.
“Sure you are. We’ve all seen what you’ve got going on anyway so it’s not like we’re asking you to show us something new. And you don’t have to take your underwear off if you don’t want to. Just, play the part and I promise Kyan will have forgotten to be mad at you by the time you take the shoulder pads off and you’ll win Saint over once you’re down to your panties.”
“Shoulder pads?” she asked and I grinned as I hooked my muddy jersey off before removing my shoulder pads too and holding them out for her. “This isn’t sexy,” she protested and I laughed.
“It will be when you’re peeling it off. Plus, I plan on filming it so if it’s embarrassing as fuck I can always release the tape as a future punishment.”
“You’re twisted.”
“Hurry up, Cinders, if Saint appears before you’re ready, he’ll take over with a punishment of his own and you’d better believe that sticking you in that coffin in the crypt isn’t the worst thing he could do to you down there.”
That seemed to motivate her and she quickly yanked off her sweatpants and shirt and dragged my filthy uniform on over her lacy blue underwear.
I heard Kyan leaving the bathroom and quickly ducked in to wash myself off in the shower while she finished putting her look together.
I returned to find her wearing the shoulder pads, jersey and helmet, her golden legs bare and a look on her face that said she didn’t believe this would work.
“Looking hot, Cinders,” I teased, dropping my towel as I pulled on some sweatpants and a wifebeater.
“You really think this will satisfy Saint?” she asked doubtfully. “I just pepper sprayed him in the face.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that and I snatched her hand in mine as I dragged her towards the door. “Only one way to find out.”
Saint was descending the stairs from his room as we made it to the lounge and the way his reddened eyes narrowed dangerously told me he was out for blood.
“I’ve already picked her punishment,” I said loudly before he could start. “And as you’re always the one picking them and it’s my night with her, I think that’s fair.”
“Well, I don’t agree,” Saint snarled.
“What have you picked?” Kyan asked from the couch, eyeing Tatum with interest. His eyes were red and puffy too, but it didn’t seem to have affected his mood too much. In fact, he looked like he was buzzing.
“As she loves dancing so much, I thought she could dance for us. On the altar. While taking her clothes off,” I explained.
Silence fell for a long moment and Kyan grinned hungrily. “Fuck yes. You have my vote.”
“Fine,” Saint snarled. He was outvoted anyway, but it was definitely easier if he agreed. I wondered for a moment if I wasn’t the only one of us starting to feel like a piece of shit for how far we’d taken things with her in the past, but it was hard to say. And with their eyes all red and puffy from the pepper spray, I was willing to bet tonight wasn’t the time to ask.
I guided Tatum over to the altar, knocking the pile of books Saint had neatly stacked on it to the floor as I gave her a hand up to stand on it.
Kyan grabbed the couch and turned it to face her as she bit her lip nervously and Saint fell down into the spot in the very centre of it the moment Kyan set it down.
I grabbed some beers and a glass of douchebag vodka for Saint then moved to the panel on the wall to select some music for her.
“You got anything in mind, Tate?” I asked casually as she adjusted the large helmet on her head.
“U + Ur Hand by Pink,” she replied instantly and I barked a laugh as I obliged her by setting it playing.
She started dancing to the music, clearly not going for sexy initially, making a big show of taking the helmet off and swinging her blonde hair all around her head. But I was willing to bet she’d forgotten the fact that the more she jumped about, the more the jersey rode up and gave us a glimpse of those little blue panties cupping her round ass.
She danced with the helmet for a while then launched it at Kyan with enough force to smack him in the chest as he caught it, but he only laughed.
She teased the jersey up and down over her thighs for a long time before peeling that off too and Saint leaned forward in his seat as he watched her hungrily. She tossed the jersey at me, quickly followed by the shoulder pads which almost smacked Saint in the face.
My heart pounded furiously as I watched her, the three of us totally enraptured by this beautiful creature who had stumbled into our lives and changed everything.
As Tatum turned back to look our way in nothing but her underwear, she suddenly screamed, pointing over our heads at something behind us as she threw her arms around her chest to cover herself.
“There’s someone out there!” she shouted.
I leapt out of my seat and whirled around to look out of the window above the kitchenette with my heart pounding.
I thought I caught a glimpse of movement and I snarled with fury as I bolted for the door. Kyan and Saint were right beside me, but we still hadn’t moved the fucking dining table and it slowed us down as Kyan dragged it away from the door.
I didn’t even bother with shoes as I raced out into the
storm, ready to kill whoever the hell had been peeping in our fucking windows at our girl.
Saint shoved me aside but I was faster than him and I made it around to the window first.
There was no one there, but fresh boot prints marked the muddy ground.
“Come out now and we might not kill you!” Kyan roared.
Rage, white hot and utterly blinding consumed me as I tried to follow the tracks left by whoever the fuck had been here. But after we’d run all around the outside of The Temple earlier and with the combination of the dark night and the storm hammering down on us, it was impossible to tell where they led.
“Head back to the path,” Saint commanded Kyan. “I’ll loop around the building and call Monroe to get his ass down by the dorms to look out for anyone heading back there. Blake, stay with Barbie and make sure no one gets near her.”
My gut plummeted at his words and I whipped around, realising we’d just left her inside alone with the fucking door open.
I charged back around the building and flung the door wide, coming face to face with Tatum as she wielded a goddamn meat cleaver at me, looking like she was more than ready to use it.
“Did you catch him?” she demanded, lowering the weapon as she spotted me.
I shook my head as I threw the door closed behind us and locked it again. She’d pulled my jersey back on over her underwear, the mud stains splattered all over it contrasting with her clean skin.
“No. But the others are still out there. They won’t stop hunting until they find him and tear him limb from limb.”
“I want to cut his fucking balls off myself for scaring me like this,” she hissed.
“You will, sweetheart,” I promised. “And you can make a tasteful necklace out of them too.”
She released a noise that was half laugh, half sob and she moved into me as I reached out to wrap her in my arms.
“Don’t even give him a minute of your fear,” I growled. “The Night Keepers were made to protect people from guys like this. And we were made to protect you most of all.”
“I can look after myself,” she protested in a ferocious growl.
“So can I,” I replied. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t like knowing my family has got my back. Always. And we’ve got yours too, Tate. Don’t think for a second that we don’t.”
Kings of Lockdown: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 2) Page 42