by Caitlyn Dare
The permanent knot in my stomach tightens, but I’ve got to get used to seeing him, to being around him. If I’m going to play the part I’ve been given, then our paths are going to cross.
He’s Electi. One of them now.
I’m going to be over at the house, and he’s going to be there.
God, how am I supposed to do this?
“Hey, are you okay?” Annabel squeezes my arm gently, pulling me back to the moment.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“So Bexley and Brook?”
“It’s none of my business.” I shrug, determined not to break. Not even in front of Annabel. After what happened yesterday in the house, I need to control myself around Cade and his lapdogs, especially Ashton.
“I’m glad you think so, because she’s coming over.”
Crap.
“Annabel, Mila.”
“You know my name,” I hiss. “Use it.”
“There’s no need to be so rude. It was an honest mistake.” Her words are as saccharine as her smile. “Some party Saturday night, huh? I still ache.” Brook flicks her long blonde hair off her shoulder, revealing little love bites all along the slope of her neck.
Bile rushes up my throat, but I swallow it down.
“Well, I just wanted to say hey. Maybe the four of us could double date sometime.”
“Excuse me?” My body vibrates with anger.
“You and Cade, and me and Bex, silly.”
Bex.
She called him Bex.
I want to wipe the smirk clean off her face, but I force myself to calm down. Hurting Brook again will do no good. Even if it did make me feel better for a few seconds.
“You’re crazier than I thought,” I say, tugging Annabel away from her.
“You know, Mia, I think given half a chance you and I could be friends.” Her words roll off my shoulders, and I let them. I have no desire to make friends with the devil, because I have no doubt that girl is pure evil, and the fact that she’s been with Bexley makes my heart ache.
He’s mine.
At least, he was. For a little while.
Now he isn’t mine, and I’m not his. What we had is tainted by what happened Saturday night.
“God, she’s such a bitch,” Annabel says once we’re clear of Brook.
“She wants Cade,” I state.
“Well, duh. But pulling Bexley into it?” She gives me a pointed look. “You can’t let her get to you.”
“Easier said than done.”
Annabel glances away, chewing her bottom lip.
“What is it?” I ask.
“There was a party?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Electi stuff,” she says, a trace of hurt in her voice.
“You know I don’t want to be tangled up in all this.”
“But you are, and I know it sounds really selfish, but I can’t help but feel like you’ll leave me for them. You and Sasha are already—”
“No. No way.” I squeeze her hand. “Sasha is an ally, and I won’t lie, it’s nice to have her in my corner through all this. But trust me, I’d rather just be plain old Mia Thompson.”
She gives me a weak smile, and I want to say something to reassure her that I’m still the same Mia. But the truth is, I’m not. And whether I like it or not, there will always be things I can’t tell her.
In psychology, I choose a seat right at the back. I can’t explain it, but I need to know where Bexley is. I don’t want to feel his eyes on me for the entire class, begging, pleading. Because nothing is going to change the fact that he had sex with Brook. Nothing is going to erase the image of him thrusting into her, clawing at her body like he couldn’t get enough.
At least he thought it was me. He doesn’t have to live with the pain of knowing.
Except he does, a little voice whispers. He watched Cade touch me. He watched my body betray me, betray us both.
God, what is this nightmare I’ve found myself in?
I feel him before I see him. The air grows thin, as if it’s being sucked from the room. Bexley finds me and hesitates, but I shake my head. He can’t sit with me. If he tries, I’ll have to leave. I’m not ready to face him. It’s bad enough being in the same room as him.
Tears burn the backs of my eyes, but I steel myself. I can’t keep letting my emotions get the better of me. If I’m going to play Cade at his own game, I need to toughen up. I need to learn to manipulate my feelings the way he manipulates everything and everyone around him.
Bexley winces, dejection flashing over his expression, but, to my relief, he seeks out an empty seat in another row.
I thought it would help, watching him instead of him watching me, but I can’t focus on a word the professor says. All I can see is Bexley and her. Together. Their naked writhing bodies. My fingers curl into a fist, my nails biting into my palm. It isn’t until I feel blood that I notice I’ve cut small crescents into my skin. Wincing, I dig some tissue out of my bag and clean my hands. The guy beside me shoots me a funny look, and I glower at him.
By the time the professor dismisses the class, my stomach is knotted so tightly I feel nauseous. I want to escape, to get far away from Bexley, but the girl at the end of my row is being so freaking slow at packing up her things. The second she leaves, I slip into the aisle, but Bexley is right there.
“We need to talk,” he whispers over my shoulder as we file out in the crush together.
“No, we really don’t.”
“Mia, come on. Don’t do this.”
“If I remember correctly, I didn’t do anything.”
The second we reach the door, he gently grabs my elbow and steers me aside, letting the rest of the students pass us. “Please, just hear me out.” Pain is etched into his expression, but I can’t do it. I can’t forget.
“I need to go,” I say, unable to meet his heavy gaze.
“Mia, please… this is killing me.” The room is empty now except for the professor, but he pays us little attention.
“You had sex with her,” I hiss, the words rippling through me. “With Brook.”
“I thought it was you. I didn’t—”
“Don’t you see it doesn’t matter?” My chest heaves with the weight of my words. “Nothing we do or say is going to change the fact that Cade owns us now. Everything we do, everything we do and feel… he knows, Bexley. So this, us… it’s done.”
“No,” the blood drains from his face, “you don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do. If I want to survive this thing, I have to accept that I’m his. Now please, don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.” I yank my arm free and shoulder past him, hurrying from the room.
Before I do something stupid.
Before I beg him to take me far, far away from this godforsaken place and never look back.
Annabel doesn’t want to hang out after class. I get the impression she’s hurt about the party, even though I tried to explain to her that it wasn’t one. Nothing about it was fun, not a damn thing. But it isn’t like I can tell her the truth. Not all of it, anyway. I leave my last class of the day ready to head back to my dorm room alone, but I find Sasha waiting for me.
“This is a surprise,” I say. She’s almost as elusive as her brother and his Electi friends.
“I thought we could hang out.”
“At the house?” Because I’m not ready to step foot back in that place. But then an idea hits me.
“No, we don’t have to go there.”
“It’s fine.” I nod. “I’ve got to get used to being there. Besides, we can stay in your room, right?”
“Or we could check out the pool. I have extra bathing suits.”
“Maybe.”
“Cool. Come on.” Lacing her arm through mine, she guides me to the parking lot, and we climb into her silver Porsche Boxster.
“How were classes today?” she asks, gunning the engine.
“Okay.”
“Did you see…”
“You
know I did.”
“And?”
“And nothing.” My shoulders lift in a small shrug. “I told him it’s over.”
“It’s for the best.” She offers me a sympathetic smile.
“Did you hear the rumors about him and Brook? I don’t know why she feels the need to spread that crap. I had a front row seat to the show.” Pain lashes at my insides.
“I don’t think that’s about you.”
“Cade,” I say. “She’s trying to make Cade jealous.”
“Stranger things have happened.”
“How do you do it?” I ask.
“Do what?”
“This. Be one of them. It’s exhausting, and I’m not even an Electi.” My head falls back against the soft leather rest.
“It’s all I’ve ever known,” Sasha replies. “For as long as I can remember, it was me, Brandon, and the guys. Girls tried to make friends with me, but they just wanted to use me to get to the guys. So eventually, I just stopped making friends.”
“It sounds lonely.”
“It is what it is. I accepted my fate a long time ago.”
“And you and Brook… you’ve never seen eye to eye?”
“God no, she’s a vapid bitch who takes after her mother. I didn’t speak to my dad for a month when I found out he was seeing her.”
“What about Brandon? What does he think about everything?” He and Tim are the two Electi I still haven’t gotten a read on. Tim loves Fawn, I don’t doubt that, and from afar it looks like he’s one of Cade’s closest friends. But there’s something that doesn’t quite add up.
“Brandon doesn’t give a crap so long as he’s drowning in beer, pot, and pussy.”
I smother a snicker. From what I’ve seen, that sums up the Cargill heir perfectly.
“Are he and your dad close?”
“My father isn’t close to anyone, Mia. I think he thinks if he lets Brandon get it all out of his system now, it’ll make his transition into Q life smoother.”
“So when will his Eligere be?”
“Next spring.”
We finally pull up at the Electi house and my skin vibrates, my heart racing in my chest. They’re all here. Their cars line the driveway like perfectly polished weapons. Including Alex’s Porsche and Bexley’s BMW.
Sasha reaches for my hand and squeezes gently. “You’ve got this, Mia,” she says, and I gulp.
“Yeah.” A thin smile graces my lips.
I really don’t.
But if I want to find a way out of this nightmare, I know I don’t have any choice.
5
Bexley
The house is in silence when I get back from college on Monday afternoon despite all of their cars being here.
I don't bother looking for them. Instead, I grab some food from the kitchen and head up to my room, locking the door from the inside and falling down on my bed, wishing that I was back in my dorm. Hell, wishing I was back in Sterling.
Listening to Mia tell me we were done earlier hurt. It really fucking hurt. But what can I do other than let her walk away?
Deep down, I know she's right.
There is quite possibly nothing either of us can do for us to be together.
I might be new to this world, but I already sense that you don't go back on things like the Eligere.
I blow out a long, frustrated breath.
I've successfully avoided Cade and his lapdogs since yesterday morning when the truth was revealed, but I know my time is running out.
I'm one of them now. Certain things are going to be expected of me. Although I still have no fucking clue as to what they could be.
Needing to talk to someone—someone who doesn't live under this roof and isn’t controlled by Cade—I pull my cell from my pocket and find Hadley Rexford's number. I know she left a few years ago, but I need to know more about Cade and his family.
"Hey," she says with a bright smile as she answers my video call.
"Hey." My voice is much less animated than hers, and her face falls immediately.
"I was going to ask how things were, but I think your face pretty much says it all. How was the weekend?" she asks with a wince.
"Well," I say, placing my cell on the bed and quickly pulling my shirt off. "I got this," I say, showing her my new brand.
"Holy shit," she breathes, her eyes so wide it looks painful. "It's really real."
"You thought I was lying?" I hate that my voice breaks on that question. She has every right to question my words after everything that went down in Sterling Bay, but it still stings.
"No, not at all. No one knows all the things you do unless they're part of this. But seeing that, it just makes it so—"
"Real," I mutter. "Tell me about it."
"Did it hurt?"
"Not as much as what came after."
"What happened?"
"I didn't tell you everything on the beach," I admit, scrubbing my hand down my face. There is so much she still doesn't know.
"Oh?"
"Did you know Mia Thompson back in high school?"
"Err… the name is familiar, but I can't picture her."
"She'd have been in your class at Gravestone High. She's a freshman at Gravestone U and—"
"Bexley," she interrupts, "I'm actually a year older than all of you. After everything with… After all that, I retook my sophomore year here. So she'd have been in the class below."
"Right, okay." Hadley seems impressed that I just skim over that nugget of information, but really, after everything I've discovered recently, it's hardly earth-shattering. "Anyway, Mia is… Mia is Cade's prosapia and—"
"Bexley," Hadley warns, "tell me you haven't."
"I didn't know about any of this bullshit when I first met her."
"You need to walk away." She lets out a resigned sigh, her face deadly serious.
"I can't, Hads. I can't leave her with him. I don't trust him."
"Jesus." She drops her head into her hands. "Carry on and you're going to end up getting yourself killed."
"Rather me than her."
Her chin falls in shock. "Wow, she must really be something, Bex."
"She is. She's… fuck—" I hang up the second my door flies open.
"What the fuck?" I bark as Kingsley marches into my room like he owns the fucking place. "How'd you—"
His manic laugh cuts off my words. "You think I'd let you lock yourself away, Easton? Clearly you’re stupider than you look."
I glance behind him to see Alex loitering in the doorway.
"Who were you talking to?"
"None of your goddamn business."
"I can find out anything that goes on under this roof. Don't forget that."
"Whatever," I mutter, staring out the window instead of looking at him, knowing it'll piss him off.
"You need to get dressed. You and Rexford have a job."
"A job?"
"Yeah, you're Q's little bitch boys now. They tell you to jump, you ask how high."
"What about you?"
He laughs again. "What about me?"
"They order you around like that too?"
He shakes his head, not even bothering to answer my question as he begins ripping drawers open. He throws a black hoodie and a pair of black sweats at me. "Black, always. Meet me downstairs in ten."
Spinning on his heels, he marches out of my room, barging through Alex who's still awkwardly standing there. It's only now I realize he's dressed as Kingsley is expecting me to.
"Look at you, doing as you're told," I mutter, nodding toward his outfit.
"What's the alternative?"
I shrug, because fuck if I know.
Making quick work of changing, I follow Alex down to where his highness is waiting.
"So, who were you talking to?” he whispers as we descend.
"Your sister."
His steps falter a little. "Hadley? Have you told her?"
"About you, no. She knows about everything else, though."
; "She's good people. I'm glad you've got her."
"You should too."
"It’s not my place to tell her. That's a job for Harrison, don't you think?"
"Yes, but if she's going to be able to help you then I say go for it. Something tells me we need as many people in our corner as we can get right now."
He mutters an agreement as we hit the hallway and find Cade dressed all in black. "Let's go," he barks, spinning away from us and marching out of the house.
"What about the others?" Alex asks as he climbs into Kingsley’s Range Rover. Much to his irritation, I take the passenger seat, seeing as it looks like this little mission is just the three of us.
He glances over at me as he puts the car into drive, his lips pursed in frustration.
I smirk at him.
We're equal now. Unless you look at the history books, which suggests that once upon a time the Easton line reigned supreme, not Kingsley.
My chest puffs out in triumph when he focuses his attention back out the windshield. The second we pull away from the house he turns the stereo on and blasts Bring Me the Horizon loud enough to ensure we can't have a conversation.
Fine by me. I have no interest in talking to the motherfucker.
"Where are we?" I shout as we pull into an old motel parking lot on the very outskirts of Gravestone.
Reaching out, Kingsley turns the music off. "Part of being Electi means you’re at Q’s beck and call. That means tidying up their messes and running their errands."
"Just spit it out."
"You don't get a choice,” he says. “You do what they say, when they say, and you never ask questions."
"Right." I roll my eyes. It's not like I was expecting anything different.
"Why aren't the others here? I thought you worked as a team."
"Usually we do, but Q still wants to know what you two are made of, so this is all yours." He looks at me and then catches Alex's eye in the rearview mirror. "Room one-two-nine. An associate got a little carried away with his party. Everything needs cleaning up with no evidence left behind. You think you can do that?"
"Clean a motel room?” I grumble. “Yeah, I think we've got it covered."