“There wasn’t a whole lot in it for us when we made you come, either,” Kyan muttered, but he had a smirk playing around his lips that said he didn’t mind that so much.
“I still enjoyed myself,” I said with a shrug. “Not as much as I might have liked to, but…I guess we deserve a bit of that treatment from you.”
“A lot of that treatment from me.”
Kyan snorted a laugh and leaned close to murmur in her ear. “You might be able to resist Blake’s cock after having a taste of it but once you’ve fucked me, you’ll never want to tell me no again.”
“Please,” I scoffed. “I guarantee I could make her come more times than you in a single night.”
“Doubtful,” Kyan replied. “You might win a lot of shit, golden boy but that’s only because I don’t care to compete for much. But in this, I’d wipe the fucking floor with you.”
“Wanna bet?” I taunted.
“Are you seriously betting on how many times you can give me an orgasm in a single night?” Tatum asked, sounding somewhere between thrilled and outraged by the idea.
“You’re a pair of idiots,” Saint snapped without turning to look at us. “It’s against the rule to do any such thing and it’s rude to presume she would want you to.”
“Rude,” Kyan mocked. “That’s my main personality trait. Girls tend to forget to be mad about that when I’m between their thighs though.”
“Christ,” Tatum cursed but she didn’t try to pull away from us and I smirked at Kyan over her head.
We made it to the path which split, leading off to the boys’ and girls’ dorms. Kyan slid his arm from Tatum’s shoulders and gently scooted her closer to me so that I could wrap both of my arms around her with her back pressed to my front. He headed off towards the boys’ dorms and Saint headed for the girls’ without a word.
Monroe pulled his silver coach’s whistle out from beneath his jacket and placed it between his lips. His gaze kept sliding to Tatum in my arms and away again like he didn’t want to look, but also couldn’t help himself. It was impossible to tell whether she was having the same problem with him or not with her back pressed to me, but there was definitely tension lining her limbs.
It didn’t take long before both dorms’ fire alarms blared out and soon the thundering of feet pounded down the stairs from both buildings.
Monroe blasted his whistle loud enough to bust an ear drum and started barking orders at everyone, demanding they go to the canteen for a head count and striding away after them as they all grumbled, casting suspicious looks our way as we failed to follow.
Saint and Kyan were grabbing the Unspeakables out of the crowd and once they’d gathered all of them, they directed the terrified bunch of students down to the boys’ dorm. Bait was holding his mask to his face, fumbling with the knot as he tried to tie it and I took the opportunity to offer him some superglue if he needed it, but he just scurried away without replying. I guided Tatum after them, my heart pounding with excitement as this plan came together.
“We are looking for evidence of a fucking creep hiding amongst us,” Saint called as he gathered everyone in the hallway on the bottom floor. “I’ve got the master key, so I can open every room. I want you to look every-fucking-where for anything relating to Tatum Rivers. Photographs, notes, creepy ass poems, her stuff, her underwear. The Night Keepers are on the hunt tonight and I smell blood in the air. And whichever one of you finds the things we’re looking for, will get a prize for your efforts. An entire week off of being an Unspeakable. You can go about your fucking business however you like and we won’t make a single command over your time.”
The Unspeakables all exchanged excited whispers at the idea of that and as Saint led the way up to the top floor to start their search, we followed on after.
“I really hope this works,” Tatum murmured, staying in my arms even though we were inside now and the heating was warm enough to make me sweat within my padded coat.
As Saint opened doors and Kyan prowled in and out of the dorms, checking on the hunt, I walked her to my room at the far end of the corridor, where I’d brought her all those weeks ago and fallen into my bed with her in my arms.
“You know,” I said in a low voice, just for her as I turned her and gently pushed her back against the door so that I could look into her big eyes. “I’d fucked a lot of girls before I met you.”
“Okay…”
“But,” I hurried on. “I never…clicked with any of them the way I did with you that night.”
“You mean before you got that phone call and decided to destroy me for something I didn’t even do?” she asked icily.
“Yeah,” I replied in a sad tone. “I just, want you to know that it was real for me. Real in a way I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before and I know it’s all my fault that that got fucked up and everything... and I’m not asking you to forgive me, because what I did was unforgivable. What I got the others to do too-”
“They’re big boys, they made their own choices,” she said.
“Yeah. Kinda. But the three of us stick together, no matter what. It’s our one, iron clad law. And I was so fucking destroyed by my mom’s death. So fucking devastated and angry and in such need of somewhere to aim all of that rage and hatred and injustice that when I fucked up and directed it at you, I really believed that destroying you was what I needed. What it would take to fix this aching fucking wound in me. And I know that’s twisted and messed up and doesn’t even really make sense, but I believed it. Saint’s always been one for redirecting his emotions, so he believed it would work. Plus, he struggles to really give a shit about people. All people. Like, he’s been brought up in the most fucked up way and his dad basically made him believe that most people are expendable. He’s only ever truly placed value on Kyan and me, so for him it was a sensible choice to make. And Kyan just…I think he was just hurting for me so much that he didn’t care. If you were the sacrifice that needed to be made to mend my heart then he was willing to make it. Because when he loves someone, he’s willing to give it all. Even his morals, the objections he would have raised if it had been for any other reason-”
“He decided to sacrifice a stranger to save his brother?” she asked and a tear slipped down her cheek.
“He hasn’t met many good people in his life. Many people he would think of as worth saving. In fact, he kinda pre-assumes that everyone is hiding some fucked up secret. So it wouldn’t have been hard for him to convince himself that you deserved it one way or another. Even if it was just in payment for the chance of my recovery.” I reached out to swipe another tear from beneath her eye and she leaned into my touch, making me swallow thickly.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say to that.”
“Nothing,” I replied instantly. “I just…I guess I want you to know that you should blame me for it. Not the others. Not really. I mean, I’m not saying you can just forget the shit they’ve done or whatever but, the three of us, we’re just a bunch of fuck ups really. And there are reasons for that. But they’re not excuses. I’m just, sorry.”
She looked at me for the longest moment, the silence between us stretching to eternity even with the banging and crashing of the searches going on around us. But the look in her eyes made hope stir in my chest. It wasn’t the first time I’d apologised to her, but this time…it felt like the first time she’d heard it.
“I’ve found something!” Squits yelled excitedly from down the corridor and we both turned towards his voice as Kyan and Saint exited other rooms and hurried into the one he was in.
By the time we made it inside, Saint had shoved Squits out of the way and Kyan threw his fist into the wall as Saint lifted a pair of red lace panties from a drawer beneath the bed.
Tatum inhaled sharply and I shifted closer to get a look at what else was there. Photographs, underwear, a copy of her timetable, a sports bra, a dirty towel.
“Whose room is this?” Tatum hissed and Saint snarled with rage as he dropped the pantie
s and stalked past us, tapping away on his cellphone with furious thumbs.
“I’ve sent a message to Monroe and he’s bringing him out to see us as we speak,” he growled, storming from the dorm without giving us the culprit’s name and we were forced to hurry after him.
We strode up the stone path with Saint leading the way and Kyan cursing so colourfully he could have made a whore blush.
Monroe’s dark silhouette moved towards us from the direction of the canteen and a low growl of fury left my lips as I spotted the hulking figure who he was dragging along beside him.
Tatum’s fingers curled through mine and I squeezed her tight as we marched forward to face her tormentor as one.
Kyan broke into a run with a snarl of utter rage and he slammed into the guy as Monroe shoved him forward, tackling him to the floor with a sickening thump before laying into him with all the fury of the darkness he held deep within him.
We hurried closer and the pale moon slipped out from behind the clouds so that the bleeding face of the creep responsible for threatening our girl was thrown into light.
“Toby?” Tatum gasped just I said, “Punch?”
Kyan had grown sick of beating the shit out of him and he wrapped two huge hands around Toby’s throat, slamming his head back down on the path as he started to squeeze the life out of him.
Toby thrashed beneath him, his eyes wild with fear as the rest of us just fucking watched.
“Enough,” Saint snarled when it looked like Kyan might crush his fucking oesophagus.
When he didn’t stop, Monroe lurched forward to drag him off and I had to release Tatum so that I could help too.
Kyan finally let go and we dragged him back with blood coating his knuckles and his eyes dark with the promise of more violence.
“What’s going on?” Toby gasped, trembling as he cowered on the floor between us.
“Do you like our girl, Toby?” Saint asked in a voice that was dripping with ice and a promise of pain. “Do you like following her around and jerking off over her in the bushes? Do you like taking pictures of her and sending her twisted little gifts to try and scare her?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Toby gasped, his terrified gaze falling on Tatum like he was pleading with her for help.
I swung my boot into his side with a snarl of rage. “You don’t look at her!” I yelled and as his eyes flipped to me betrayal flashed in his gaze, like he couldn’t believe that I was a part of this. But did he really think our friendship would protect him from this? Did he really think I’d value that over Tatum’s safety?
“We found your hoard in your room,” I spat. “So stop fucking lying to us. We know you’ve been stalking her.”
“St-stalking?” Toby stammered, his gaze flitting to Tatum once more. “I didn’t - I don’t – I wouldn’t-”
This time Monroe was the one to kick him and Kyan laughed darkly as the newest Night Keeper shed his headmaster badge in defence of our girl.
“Let me spell this out for you, scum,” Saint hissed, leaning down so that Toby was forced to look at him. “Tatum Rivers belongs to us. She’s off limits to anyone other than the Night Keepers. So no one gets to touch her, look at her, or even fucking think about her as if she might ever be theirs. Did you seriously think you could get away with terrorising her right beneath our noses? I can only assume you wanted to bring our wrath down on you. Maybe you actually enjoyed being an Unspeakable the last time? Maybe you like being the lowest of the low.”
Toby whimpered as he looked between us, searching for mercy and finding none. “I didn’t,” he murmured, like he seriously thought he could escape this fate after we’d found all of that shit beneath his bed.
“I thought you were my friend?” Tatum breathed and Toby just stared back at her, choking down breath after breath as he fought to recover from Kyan’s attack. “Why would you do this to me?”
He just started shaking his head and I tugged on Tatum’s hand to pull her back again. I didn’t want her close to him. Not ever. If I got my way, he’d never lay his filthy eyes on her again in his pathetic life.
“This right here is nothing,” Saint hissed, his eyes manic and his hands curled into fists as he glared down at the shaking boy between us. “It’s just the start. Every single day, one of us will find you and torture you in some new and even more fucked up way. We will come at all times of day or night, never letting you know when and forcing you to live in fear of your own fucking shadow.”
My skin prickled at the darkness in his words, but I had no objection to them. I was more than a little tempted to release my hold on Kyan right now and let him finish what he’d just started.
“But I’ll give you an out,” Saint offered. “One, single way for you to make us stop. When you can’t take another day of it, you’ll come to us and beg for us to cut your fucking balls off. We will make your life so unbearable that one day, that fate will be preferable to living another moment with us coming to torture you. You will quite literally prefer a life without balls to a life with us in it. You’ll beg us to castrate you and we’ll do it. And then and only then will you be rid of us for good.”
No fucking way am I cutting a guy’s balls off. Points for fucking terrifying him though.
Toby whimpered pathetically and a wet patch appeared at his crotch, staining his pants as he trembled beneath us.
“Your name is no longer Toby,” I growled, remembering to play this part right even while I ached to destroy him for what he’d fucking done to our girl. The violation, the terrorising, all of it. “It’s Stalker. And you won’t answer to anything else from this day forth.”
My body was getting rewired for early mornings and I scowled at the clock on my phone as the time showed just a few minutes before six. It was Saturday for god’s sake. But I already knew I wasn’t going to get back to sleep. My mind was buzzing as I thought about going to see my dad in just a few days’ time. I had a plan for how I was going to get off campus, but I still hadn’t aired it to Monroe yet. And for it to work, I needed him onboard. Maybe it was because I feared how he might react when I spoke about my dad. We’d never discussed whether he believed he was guilty or not, and some part of me was terrified that he might go cold on me. Refuse to help me see him. But another part was sure he would even if he didn’t like it. Either way, I really couldn’t put it off any longer.
I rolled towards Saint on the other side of the bed and my heart softened at the sight of him curled up like a child, his features boyish and handsome without the sharp scowl he usually wore. I was tempted to reach out and touch him and wondered if it was worth the rule break. His punishments tended to get my heart racing lately and I couldn’t say I minded them at all. Maybe even hungered for them sometimes…
Saint had been my warrior the day Toby had been outed as the stalker. I still found it hard to believe Toby would risk everything again by targeting me. He’d seemed to be trying so hard to fit back in, but then maybe there’d been darkness in him he couldn’t fight. Maybe watching me had fulfilled a twisted need in him. It still made my skin prickle to think about it. But at least I knew I was safe now. My Night Keepers weren’t letting him within fifty feet of me and though I cringed at the treatment he was getting, I couldn’t let myself pity him. He had invaded my privacy, seen me at my most vulnerable and taken pictures of me naked and in the arms of my men. He deserved the suffering he was getting in return for that.
I lifted my hand across the pillow parting me and Saint, wanting to commit this peaceful looking creature to memory. This man who stood between me and the world without blinking an eye. He may have been controlling and arrogant and downright beastly at times, but when it counted he was there for me in ways I had never experienced until I’d been claimed by him and the other Night Keepers.
Debussy poured through the speakers and I yanked my hand back just before Saint’s eyes opened. He looked at me across the pillow and his brows dipped, but his eyes didn’t cut into me like I expected. Fo
r the sweetest few seconds, he kept that carefree expression in place and it brought a smile to my lips. A smile he actually returned. I mean, it was only the tiniest twitch at the corner of his mouth. But still.
“Good morning,” he said, his voice gravelly and delicious as his eyes fell to the pink cami top of my pyjamas. He pushed back the covers and was gone before I could reply, heading into the closet to dress in his workout clothes.
I ignored the little tug in my chest that said I was disappointed he’d left. But that was Saint. Right on time. Never wasting a second with me that could be spent fulfilling his hell driven routine. When he was dressed, he strode into the bathroom to pee and I slid out of bed, wanting to get my letters and spend some time reading through them. I hadn’t written a single one to Jess since I’d thought Saint had destroyed them. But now…maybe I could start again.
I dropped down to my knees at the back of the closet, taking the metal box off the lowest shelf and resting it on my knees. It was attached to a chain in the wall so I couldn’t take it anywhere and as I turned it over to open it, I realised I didn’t know the passcode.
“Saint!” I called as I heard him marching across the landing.
He pushed the door open, arching a brow impatiently as I stole a few seconds from his schedule.
“What’s the code?” I tapped the box with a hopeful look and he laughed like a Bond villain.
“Oh no, you can’t have the code, Barbie. Whatever made you think that?”
My jaw dropped and I gaped at him, waiting for him to admit he was joking. “But you saved them,” I said in confusion, my fingers tightening around the box as I glared at him.
“Yes, and I showed you that they’re safe.” He shrugged, about to turn away.
“Hey!” I demanded, my breathing becoming ragged. “Open the damn box.”
He glanced back over his shoulder with a look of power in his gaze as he drank in my desperation. “You may have a letter when you earn one. Right now, I am still harbouring bad feelings towards you for destroying my grandmother’s records.”
Kings of Lockdown: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 2) Page 54