“I do enjoy punching that face of yours,” I joked and he chuckled loudly.
“Give it to me good, baby, you know how I like it,” he teased, pushing to his feet and tugging his shirt off, revealing his ink and making me look up at him.
“I had a brother,” I said without standing up, feeling like I should give him something true even if I couldn’t offer the whole story. “And I guess, I’ve never really wanted to be close to other guys in any real way since he died because I hate the idea of replacing him or trying to emulate that bond with anyone who isn’t him.”
Kyan nodded like that actually made sense to him, scratching at his ribs where a tattoo of a raven in flight sat and my gaze trailed across some more of his ink with interest. He really was an artist and he’d made his flesh into his canvas.
“I have no blood brothers,” he said slowly. “So I can’t really begin to imagine what it might be like to lose one. That said, in my family, chances are any brothers I did have would be conniving sons of bitches anyway. But I did choose two brothers for myself – three now in fact. And I can’t say that letting you into the fold has lessened my love for the others.” He shrugged. “So maybe stop second guessing what this shit has to mean for you or your past and just do what feels right. If being one of us makes you happy then just…be happy. Fuck knows there’s more than enough in this world to make you feel like shit most of the time.”
“That’s…actually really deep for you,” I said, pushing myself to my feet as I looked at him and a smirk tugged at his lips.
“Oh yeah, I’m good at deep. Just ask Tatum. Girl likes it real deep. But I guess you figured that out for yourself already, huh?” he taunted and I remembered exactly why I thought of him as an asshole ninety nine percent of the time as jealousy rose up in me, igniting the lingering anger from my argument with the girl in question. “Do you wanna tell me why she came storming back from this little workout the two of you had looking all hot and bothered in all the wrong ways? I had to fuck her through four orgasms before she even began to calm down-”
I threw a punch into his gut with my bare fist and he oomphed out a breath as he laughed through the pain.
“Was it that you couldn’t hit the spot?” he choked out as he backed up, clearly baiting me, but I let him do it because I wanted to vent some of my own anger and I knew that was what he was after too.
“I’m guessing all she’s got with you is sex then?” I taunted as I hounded after him. “Because there’s no way in hell that I can believe she likes being around you for your riveting conversational skills.”
“Are you trying to rile me up by suggesting that my girl only wants me for my cock?” he laughed. “Because you wouldn’t hear many complaints from me if that was the case.”
Kyan took a swing at me which I managed to block before I threw my fist into his ribs, striking that raven right in its smug little face.
“That’s not a good thing, idiot,” I grunted as he swung a knee into my side and pain ricocheted through my flesh.
“Well, sadly for you she loves everything about me. But I will admit that my cock is pretty high up there on the list. Can’t say I’d mind watching you bend her over your desk and give her the cane though. I bet she’d be into it if we asked.”
“Stop making student/teacher jokes,” I snapped, sweeping his legs out from beneath him with a bark of triumph. “That’s got nothing to do with what I have with her.”
We fell into a furious battle of fists and power as we rolled across the hard floor and I grunted as he hit me with the force of a fucking sledgehammer. We shouldn’t have been doing this without gloves and I knew we’d both be black and blue tomorrow, but it was too late to do anything about that now.
After taking way more hits than I liked, I managed to flip him over beneath me and wrench his arm up his back, driving my knee down into his spine to keep him there.
I counted to three loudly, knowing he was too much of a stubborn bastard to tap out himself then shoved myself to my feet. Kyan rolled onto his back, panting and laughing, his chest glistening with sweat.
“Are you touchy about the student/teacher thing because you don’t want me thinking you want to pound me too?” he joked because apparently he was looking for another kicking.
“Fuck off,” I growled without any venom as I moved to grab a towel from my bag at the side of the room to mop my brow.
“So… Saint has claimed monopoly of our girl because he’s got an itty bitty hole in his shoulder, leaving us on the subs bench until further notice,” he said as he got up and followed me across the room. “That leaves us with two options – we either suck each other off to help us get through this dry patch…”
“Or?” I asked, choosing not to dignify that with a response because I certainly wasn’t going to fuck another one of my students. Especially not one with stubble, countless tattoos, broad shoulders and a dick.
“Or, we head back to your place and get fucked up while planning ways to get revenge on the Lord of Darkness for breaking his own precious rules.” Kyan’s eyes glimmered with mischief at that idea and I couldn’t help but smirk.
“Option B has a lot of appeal,” I agreed, grabbing my shit and turning my back on the gym as I switched off the lights and followed Kyan out.
“Great. Because I already assumed you would say yes and I’ve already had the perfect idea for how to get under his skin.”
“Oh yeah? How?” I asked as we began walking towards the exit.
“I’ve designed a new tattoo which will drive him in-fucking-sane every time I show him it. And I brought everything I need to add it to my collection. After that, let’s sneak back to The Temple and rearrange the food he’s got stored down in the catacombs.”
“I can log into the school database and drop his GPA to a 3.7?” I suggested with a smirk.
“Fuck yes. His head might actually explode if that happens.” Kyan threw an arm around me and howled with laughter and I actually found myself joining in.
Maybe he had a point about me letting him in. It certainly beat sitting around and moping on my own. And if it also equalled Saint Memphis’s head exploding then all the better.
I met Mila a few hundred yards from The Temple and walked to English with her while the Night Keepers walked behind us like three dark shadows. I put some distance between us and them so I could chat to my friend in private, but she kept glancing back over her shoulder at them like their presence was unsettling.
"So, what’s the real story about Saint’s injuries?" she asked and my stomach knotted as I stuck to the story that we’d all decided on.
"There’s no other story. He fell off Kyan's dirt bike," I said with a shrug.
Saint had fed the lie to his dad too and a short article had been printed about it in the Sequoia Tribune to cover any students making up their own rumours once they saw his arm in a sling. But there had been plenty this week so far, so it hadn’t exactly been effective. Some people believed he’d been beaten up by Kyan and others took to a more elaborate story that he’d been attacked by a bear on Tahoma Mountain before he killed it with his bare hands.
"I’ve never seen that boy on a bike," she half laughed but I couldn't even muster a smile.
“It was a dare,” I answered, the story well memorised by now.
"God, I bet he's been a nightmare to live with.”
“He’s good so long as I’m around to tend his wounds,” I mused.
“Is he making you into his nurse now as well as his slave?" she hissed.
"No...it's not like that," I said, wanting to explain, but how could I? I couldn't even tell Mila about my dad until an official story came out about his death. Otherwise how was I supposed to explain me knowing? And that meant I couldn't go near the truth about Saint nearly dying for me.
"What's it like then?" She narrowed her eyes at me. "Please tell me you're not going all Stockholm on the Night Keepers, girl."
"No," I said quickly, wishing I could explain. And maybe
I could a little. I'd never promised to keep my feelings secret. And Mila was my friend. A girl. And it was so nice being around her again. I had so much going on right now that I was seriously gonna go crazy if I didn't get some of it out. And maybe it would distract me enough from Dad and all the bad shit I was trying not to let spill over in my chest. The fact that me and Monroe weren’t talking since our fight was playing hard on my mind too. But every time I considered trying to bridge the gap between us, I remembered what he’d said to me and it got my blood boiling all over again. "They aren't who I thought they were though."
Mila arched a brow, but she didn't look judgemental, just curious.
I sighed heavily, tugging her along the path at a quicker pace even though the guys were plenty far behind us now. "Did you know all the terrible shit the Unspeakables did? I mean, really terrible shit."
Her eyes swirled with interest. "What do you know?"
I leaned closer to her, telling her everything I knew about them. How Deepthroat had tried to date rape Kyan, how Bait had seduced and manipulated an underage girl and taken her virginity, and every other crime they’d committed. Each story made her lips part wider until she was practically gaping at me. She’d known the rumours, but not the whole story and I could see her disgust as I told her the truth.
"They punish people who deserve it," I finished.
"Except you," she said fiercely and I loved her for that.
"Yeah, except me. But a lot has changed since then. I got my revenge and I think...they really are sorry."
She cast another look over her shoulder. "Even the devil's earth-dwelling cousin?"
I snorted a laugh. "Saint is complicated. Things aren't exactly right between us, but he cares about me. More than I ever thought he could care about anything."
"So what are you saying…you're dating them? All of them?" She sounded somewhere between incredibly impressed and totally horrified.
"I guess so," I said, unsure myself. It was easier to put labels on what me and Blake and me and Kyan were. But Monroe I could never mention, and Saint was just...Saint. I wanted them all though, I couldn't deny that. If any of them had asked me to be theirs alone though, I knew I couldn’t do it. Belonging to one of them meant belonging to all of them, it was just how it was. Maybe a precedent had been set by the Night Bound legend or maybe it had nothing to do with that at all, but I knew I didn't desire one of them more than the rest. It didn't even make sense to me. I had never wanted anything long term with any guy, now there were four who I desired and yet I could put no label on exactly what it was I wanted from them. Or they from me. We just needed to be together. It was as simple and as confusing as that.
"Tatum, girl, you are the definition of taking on more than one person can handle," she laughed.
"I can handle it," I teased. "I think."
"I can handle one man-snake just fine, but three? Do you like, get with them all together?" she asked, her horror giving way to her desire for the juicy details.
I laughed and it felt good to feel some light in me again. "No. I mean, not no. There was one time Kyan and Blake got handsy with me while Saint watched."
"Oh my god," she groaned. "You're gonna be on one of those lifestyle shows aren't you? Like that woman who married her dining table and the six chairs."
I laughed again. "Mila. I'm not marrying anyone, trust me. This is just...temporary." Even saying that made my heart clench up into a tight ball. But there was only six months until graduation and then what? Blake, Kyan and Saint had lives waiting for them beyond the walls of this school. And the Hades Virus wasn't going to be around forever keeping us contained here. They'd find a vaccine eventually. They had to. And Monroe...what would he do? He would have made his move on Saint and his father by then or he'd miss his chance. What if he ended up in prison? I cringed at the thought and was glad when I realised Mila was looking down at her phone, not reading my expression.
The idea of losing my men was suffocating. And that made me fear just how deeply my heart was invested in them. It was the one thing I'd sworn they could never have. And I was still trying to guard it. But was it already too late?
"Danny's practising dirty talk," Mila told me. "He legitimately just told me he's getting as hard as an elephant's tusk thinking about what he wants to do to me tonight." She sighed dramatically as I laughed. "I guess that's an improvement on him telling me he wanted to spread open my pomegranate and lick out the seeds the other day. Honestly, that boy. Points for creativity, but minus points for ew."
"He's sweet though," I commented and she nodded in agreement.
"So sweet. He got me this for Christmas, god knows where he found it or who he bribed to get it in the gate." She pulled a pendant out from under her shirt with a chunky gold heart on it and a thick blue sapphire in the middle of it. "It's the fugliest thing I've ever seen in my life let me tell you. But he's mine so I'll wear it and punch anyone who dares mock me for it." She twisted it over to show me a large engraved D on the back of it. "He told me I can now take his D with me everywhere. Total keeper, right?" Her tone was mocking but there was a glimmer in her eyes that said she meant those words.
"How's the sex training going?" I smirked.
"Girl, I am not cut out for hard labour. I wish someone would just take the boy to a fuck-ya-girl right summer camp or something. Do they have those? They totally should." She narrowed her eyes, a hopeful glimmer entering in them. "Wait a sec, how good are those Night Keepers in bed? The rumours about them are so overblown I dunno what to believe. Don’t judge, but I glimpsed Kyan's dick after you fish-dunked him and he went naked swimming in the lake. I legit had to double-take that he wasn’t wrangling the loch ness monster between his thighs. And Blake streaked when he won last year's football season so I know he's at least got the equipment. Saint's got that look in his eyes that says he'll murder you viciously but he might just make you come fifty times in a row first."
I breathed another laugh. "What are you saying? You want me to send Danny to Night Keeper Camp?"
"Well, are the rumours true about their performance because Katie Hawkins - who everyone's calls Whore-kins now by the way since she has officially blown ninety percent of the football team - said Blake fucked her so good last summer that she's still mourning the rest of her life without sex as good as that. Shrine to his cock and all."
"Mila!" I laughed, losing it completely. It felt so good to talk about something trivial for once. I could keep all the darkness in me at bay and just bathe in her shining aura.
“Well? Come on girl, don't hold out on me," she pushed.
"Kyan and Blake, well…they can fuck you like they’re paid to do it. Big money too. I haven't screwed Saint, but sure, the making-you-come-while-he-murders-you thing sounds about right."
"It's official, Danny is totally getting tips from them! Please ask," she implored, clapping her hands together in a prayer.
I smirked, shaking my head at this crazy idea. "Sure, I'll ask. But not Saint, if he gets tips from him Danny will end up attaching his knife to his dick or something and I won't be responsible for the murder of your vagina, Mila."
She burst into hysterics and I felt the guys' eyes burning into our backs. I guessed they'd find out why we were laughing soon enough.
"Get them to talk to him after school today, pinky promise it." She thrust her little finger at me and I hooked mine with hers, grinning.
I wished I could tell her then how much she meant to me, how much I needed her. But I knew that would lead to me unravelling again and I wouldn't be able to explain why I was crying. So I kept smiling and pretended the world wasn't dark and my future wasn't terrifyingly empty.
We made it to English class where Miss Pontus was trying to speak over the babbling students. Blake caught up with us, wrapping his arm around my waist and snatching me away from the seat I was about to drop into beside Mila. I caught her hand, tugging her with me as he stole me away to the back of the class and pulled out a chair for me. I grabbed another s
eat for Mila and we dropped down side by side. Blake sat next to me with a smug expression, his arm slung over the back of my chair.
Kyan arrived, not leaving Saint's side who was still walking slowly so as not to jolt his wounds and the two of them scowled at Blake for claiming the space beside me.
Miss Pontus cleared her throat as they made it to the back row and dropped into seats beside Blake. "We have an announcement from Headmaster Monroe," she said, trying to speak over everyone while no one listened.
Kyan put his fingers in his mouth, whistling sharply and everyone fell deathly silent. A ripple of fear passed along the front row of the Unspeakables and I spotted Deepthroat glancing back at me, her nose still bandaged from where I'd broken it. A sick kind of satisfaction filled me at the sight. It was less than she deserved and if I could, I would have broken more bones in her body in payment for what she'd done to Kyan. Fuck her. He should have let her rot in prison for it. But then I imagined what he had planned for her after graduation would crush her more thoroughly. So I could wait for that.
Miss Pontus nodded at Kyan in thanks then read the announcement from her iPad. " Headmaster Monroe would like to extend his sympathy to Saint Memphis after a motorbike accident caused him great injuries during the holidays and asks that everyone in his class treat him with care and offer him plenty of kind words and…blow kisses to warm his heart and help speed up his recovery.”
My stomach clenched and I swallowed a laugh at Monroe's joke despite still being angry at him, his words aimed to thoroughly piss Saint off. I glanced at Saint's face, finding him glowering darkly. A few girls in the row ahead of us turned to look at him, their lips parting as if they really were going to offer him sympathetic words.
"Say a single word that suggests I am made of anything but stone and I will ensure your families never find your bodies," Saint said calmly and they quickly turned away, their necks colouring red as they bowed their heads.
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