by James Tate
“She had nothing to do with it,” I forced myself to say with careful neutrality.
My father barked a harsh laugh. “Oh no? You didn’t publicly put a slew of kids—from influential families, I might add—in the ICU to save her getting a solid fucking? What, you can’t share your toys any more, Sebby? I remember a time—”
“It was nothing to do with her,” I barked, cutting off his disgusting reminiscing. “She was just a pawn that Katelyn Huntley chose to get at me.”
There was a long pause, then my father made a thoughtful sound. “Huntley, eh? You’re sure this was one of their stunts?”
I hesitated in my answer just a second. Riley had been confident this was Katelyn’s doing, and I agreed. “Yes, without doubt.”
“That still begs the question how they knew you’d react so violently at this little attack on that Deboise slut.” His insult of Riley made me want to throttle him, but I settled for strangling my steering wheel instead. “You’ve clearly got something going on there, Son.”
Threats underscored his seemingly innocent words, and I knew Riley’s fate hung on how I reacted … but I couldn’t do it. Ignoring her at school the past week had damn near killed me and then to find those fuckers all over her, trying to defile her … nope. No more.
“You listen carefully, old man,” I told my father in a deathly quiet voice. “You lay one finger on Riley, you make one more thinly veiled threat against her, and I will personally see to you getting skinned alive. After all, you know I have that skill, don’t you, Dad?”
Tension lay thick in the long silence after I delivered my threat, and I scarcely dared to breathe. I had never, never threatened my father.
Fuck. I’ve just signed Riley’s death certificate. I need to get her to run… hide…
The explosive laughter down the phone shocked me back to reality, and I pulled the phone away from my ear for a second, double checking it was still Rome Beckett on the other end.
Eventually, my father stopped laughing long enough to speak. “I see how it is, Son,” he chuckled, sounding like he hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time. Hell, I’d never heard him laugh like that. “Sounds like this little girl has more under the surface than we saw from the pathetic creature who cried while shooting that Huntley scum. I’ll be keeping an eye on this interesting development.”
The line clicked and went dead before I could respond, and I smashed my fist into the steering wheel.
“Fuck!” I yelled, thankful for the privacy of my heavily tinted windows so passersby couldn’t see my loss of control. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
I threw my phone onto the passenger’s seat—Riley’s seat—and it bounced onto the floor.
Shit.
My reckless threat had an even worse result than I’d first feared. My father no longer wanted to kill Riley … he was curious about her. This was much worse.
I drummed my fingertips on the leather of my steering wheel, staring out the windscreen and debating my next moves. Take Riley and run? I knew Richard had fake IDs made up for her, I’d found them when snooping his office one night. Knowing Richard, they’d be immaculate forgeries … but he was still Delta. And Delta—right now—was firmly under Rome Beckett’s thumb.
Not for long, though.
My father was becoming less and less interested in Delta day to day, to the point where he was already handing over part of his responsibilities to me. I wasn’t dumb enough to think he was just prepping me to take my seat in a few months when I turned twenty-one. He was up to something.
A flash of blonde hair grabbed my attention, and anger boiled inside me.
I slammed my car door open, stepping out onto the sidewalk and grabbing the arrogant Huntley bitch by the throat. Ignoring her strangled squeals of protest, and the shocked gasps of her friends, I hauled her into an alleyway and slammed her into the dirty brick wall. An overflowing dumpster sat just feet away, and its pungent smell reflected the human trash in front of me.
“Sebastian,” Katelyn purred, a suggestive smile curving her lips despite the firm grip I had around her throat. “I wondered when you’d come to your senses.”
Her body curved into mine like a cat in heat, her hands snaking around my waist like a lover’s embrace. Was she totally oblivious to the danger here? Or just reckless as shit?
“Katelyn, I swear to fucking God,” I growled, barely containing my fury, “it is only through the grace of our family feud that you’re not getting your neck snapped right now. Fuck it, maybe I should do it anyway and just deal with the consequences later. It might be worth it to rid the world of you.”
Her smile widened, totally ignoring the choke hold I had on her as she smirked. “So what are you waiting for, Sebastian? Kill me now. Or are you scared what my daddy will do to you?”
My temper flared and my hand tightened, causing a strangled sound of protest from the Huntley bitch. “Don’t fucking call me that, Katelyn.”
She stared back at me for a long moment, and finally I found a flash of fear in her gaze. Finally, she seemed to be getting it.
“You make one more move against Riley, and even Graeme Huntley won’t be able to keep you safe. Understood?”
“What’s your fascination with her anyway?” she demanded, her face twisting in ugly anger. “She’s a dirty, slutty tramp who probably would have had a good time this morning if you hadn’t interrupted. She’s not one of us.”
This time, instead of being driven into a wild rage at Katelyn’s hateful words, I started laughing. She was so painfully insecure, so threatened by Riley … I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
“Touch her again and I’ll make you wish you’d never been born,” I promised her in a dangerously quiet whisper, then released her with a shove and started to stalk out of the alleyway.
“You can’t protect her forever!” Katelyn yelled after me, her voice an ugly mix of fear and hate. “You can’t be everywhere!”
I turned my head just enough to catch her rubbing at what would undoubtedly be some bad bruising on her throat soon. “Try me, bitch.”
As I left her there in the dirty alley and returned to my car, two things became painfully clear in my mind.
Riley was still in danger, and I was done with giving her space.
As soon as I got the rest of this shit under control today, which required heading to the hospital with Dylan and Jasper to assess injuries and deal with paperwork, I would be at Riley’s side.
And I wouldn’t be leaving her unprotected again.
14
My afternoon with Evan turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. A Delta medic—sent by Beck—had stopped by and made a huge fuss about checking me for injuries, applying bruise balms and making sure I wasn’t concussed from the kick I’d taken to my head. To my relief, Evan shooed her out as soon as it was clear that nothing was broken and I wasn’t about to slip into a coma. Not that she wasn’t lovely, I just hated being touched by anyone I didn’t trust.
She stuck around long enough to call Beck in front of us, giving her report and informing him that we were asking her to leave. After she was gone, we simply avoided all topics related to my almost-rape, the man I’d been forced to kill, the blade that Delta held over all our necks, and definitely anything associated to Sebastian Roman Beckett. In the void created by those off-limits subjects, I actually got to know Evan a whole lot better.
I learned that his dad was a serious piece of shit who Evan suspected was abusing his mom, but she was too brainwashed by the lifestyle that Delta gave her to say anything. He had an older sister who’d been sent away to finishing school—which I understood was a rich person version of reform school—when she was fourteen and Evan hadn’t seen her since.
All in all, I felt sorry for him. His home life sounded tense and unhappy, which sort of explained why he was the most withdrawn in the Delta heirs group. He put up a front of being a playboy, but I’d never seen him follow through like Jasper. He acted like the smooth, arrog
ant powerful heir, but didn’t hold a fraction of the natural respect and fear that Beck demanded. He had a quiet and dangerous, mysterious vibe but it lacked the scary depths of Dylan’s haunted eyes. He was a chameleon, adopting little bits of all his friends but never revealing the real Evan.
But I saw glimpses of it today, just sneak peeks, and it made me want to get to know him better. I wanted to strip away the layers of Evan, and find out who he was. Deep down.
“Dragon Ball Z is without a doubt the best Japanese anime on the market,” he said, arguing with me. We’d been binging on the first season.
I shook my head. “I’m not disagreeing with you, but I would be a liar if I didn’t say that at times, having to watch one more full episode of them ‘powering up’ makes me want to rip my fucking hair out.”
He shrugged. “Drawing out the suspense.” He nudged me. “I’m definitely Vegeta.”
I snorted. “Beck is Vegeta. The hot headed asshole, who has ‘grown quite fond of us.’ ” That made me snort out more laughter just thinking about how those two assholes were the same. “And none of you are Goku—he’s just too nice and dumb, even if he is mega powerful. Dylan is probably Piccolo, the wise badass one.” I eyed Evan. “You can be Trunks if you want. Vegeta’s son is more your attitude.”
Evan pissed himself laughing. “I cannot believe you watch Japanese anime. What the fuck? Now you’re even hotter.”
I nudged him. “Shut up. What’s your next favorite?”
Evan was suddenly very serious. “Kenichi, of course.”
I stilled. “What is this Kenichi you speak of? I don’t know Kenichi.”
Evan’s face lit up and he snatched the remote up from the table. “Oh, fuck, Rile. Hold on to your designer underwear. You’re in for a treat.”
* * *
Hours later, while opening the pizza boxes, I smiled at him. “Thanks for staying with me today. I needed to ... not be alone, I guess.”
He nodded, and didn’t say anything back for a few minutes while he chewed the massive amount of supreme pizza he’d just crammed into his mouth.
“I get that.” His comment came some moments later and didn’t invite any further discussion so I let it drop.
We continued watching anime—Kenichi was fucking amazing—and eating pizza until it was late, and we really couldn’t ignore the fact that Beck still wasn’t back.
“Do you think he’s okay?” I finally asked Evan, after catching myself staring at my front door for about the millionth time. “What would Delta do to him?”
Evan frowned and scratched at the back of his neck. “Honestly, I thought they’d be done by now. I haven’t heard from Dylan or Jasper either so they must still be in chambers with the board.”
I nodded slowly, chewing my lip and staring at the door.
“You’ve forgiven him then?” Evan asked gently, and I didn’t play dumb pretending I didn’t know what he was talking about.
Shaking my head, I looked to my hands and my ratty, chewed nails. “No. Not even close.”
“Good,” he replied, surprising me into looking up at him. “We all betrayed your trust, Spare. We all pretended you were one of us, when all along we knew Delta would pull something like what they did. But Beck…” he broke off with a grimace, running a hand through his hair. “He went too far. He shouldn’t have gotten in so deep with you, not when there were so many secrets between you both.”
I gave a sarcastic sort of laugh. “Never thought I’d see the day one of you disagreed with his actions. You all seem to worship the ground he walks on.”
He shook his head and flicked the TV off. “We’re loyal to the death, but it doesn’t mean we’re sheep. He fucked up, and he knows it, but if it makes any difference I’ve never seen him like this before.”
The whole subject was making me uncomfortable. No, I hadn’t forgiven Beck. It was sort of his fault I’d become a killer, for fuck’s sake. But in the same vein, he’d saved me this morning and possibly killed at least one of my attackers. Now he was facing Delta’s wrath over it so … yeah. Uncomfortable.
Complicated.
“I should go to bed,” I muttered, pushing up from the couch and tossing my empty pizza box on the table. “Do you mind staying?”
Evan gave me a quick smile and grabbed a throw blanket from the back of the couch. “Totally fine. I’ll stay until the boys get back, but I’m sure it won’t be long.”
“Cool.” I rubbed at my arms as I made my way toward my bedroom, but paused when he called out my name.
“He probably doesn’t deserve you, Riley,” Evan said quietly. “But you’re exactly what he needs.”
If that wasn’t the kick in the gut I didn’t need right before I tried to get some sleep.
I just shook my head without answering, because what could I say. Beck and I were two disasters constantly drawn together through some fucked up attraction. But it wasn’t like the disaster in us canceled each other out when we got close. Instead it intensified and created a fucking hell of a storm. We knew it. But we still couldn’t walk away.
After peeing and then brushing my teeth, I crawled into bed and pulled the covers tightly around me. Today had been up there with one of the worst of my life, although it hadn’t made the top two, which spoke of how fucked up the last three months had been.
Shit. It was my eighteenth birthday next week. The point where I thought I would be able to run away and forget Catherine Debitch and this shitshow she had dragged me into.
What a naive fool I’d been.
They had me. I was going nowhere.
“Go to sleep, Spare!” Evan yelled from the couch. “I can hear you thinking from over here.”
“Fuck you, Evan,” I shouted back, rolling to my side and pulling the pillow over my head.
He chuckled but was smart enough not to make the sort of remark Jasper would.
I tried my best to empty my mind. To forget everything and get the sleep my shook up body needed, but I couldn’t shut it down. Mostly I was worried about Beck.
After two hours of tossing and turning, I finally reached for my phone.
Me: Are you okay?
I desperately wanted to call him. To hear his voice and judge for myself; it was so easy to lie over text. But I also didn’t want him to think that I cared too much.
The phone was clutched in both hands as I stared down with desperation. I never even noticed Evan perched in the doorway, not until my phone buzzed and he wandered closer, leaning over to read the text.
Beck: I’m fine, baby. I’ll be back in ten minutes.
My heart squeezed in my chest. It actually hurt, and I almost coughed to try and relieve the pain. My fingers were moving before my brain caught up.
Me: Don’t call me that. Please. Just don’t. I just needed to know you were not going to get into trouble for me. Don’t come back here. Evan can stay, or I’ll be on my own.
My finger hovered over the button to send it, when Evan cleared his throat. “That won’t stop him, you know. If anything, you’re just waving a red flag at a bull by pushing him away so hard.”
I paused, my eyes lifting to meet his. “What are you saying? I should stop trying to reject him? You think Beck just likes the chase?”
Evan shook his head. “Fuck no. If you were any other chick, your attitude would have fucked him off long ago, and he would have lost your number in a split second. But like I said, I’ve never seen Beck like this. Not ever. I think you might be the first thing he’s ever wanted to fight for, Riles. He’s not scared off by challenges. Your anger does not scare him either.”
I threw my hands up and the phone went flying off the side of the bed. “What can I do then? I’m not playing around. I’m so fucking angry and broken up by what he did. What you all did, but most of the blame is with Beck. He fucked me knowing that he was going to betray me. The rest of you don’t have to wear that.”
Evan almost preened. “I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me for long. No one could hate Trunks.”
His gaze turned thoughtful. “I am a little pissed that Jasper won the bet, though.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What bet?”
Without an ounce of contrition, he grinned. “We were betting which one of us you forgave first. To be honest, I chose Dylan. You seemed to be closest to him behind Beck.”
Another twinge in my chest. Not as strong as the one Beck caused, but it was still there.
“We were close,” I said softly. “And that’s why I’m still fucking furious with him. Not to mention, he hasn’t even tried to fix it.”
Evan cleared his throat, and I stood suddenly because that was a suspicious sound. Bending down to grab my phone, I narrowed my eyes on him. “Spit it out…”
He looked uncomfortable. “He’ll kill me for telling you this, and trust me, Dylan knows how to kill a person in like eighty-four brutal ways, but he’s been really broken up. He fought with Beck, and it was fucking insane. They almost brought down a damn building. If I didn’t know better, I might have guessed that you and Dylan had something going on as well…”
He trailed off, leaving that little fact dangling there, like he thought I was going to fall to my knees and confess. “I have been a busy little Delta whore, haven’t I?” I said sarcastically.
Evan laughed. “Ah, if only that was the case. But for real, you should talk to Dylan. Before he accidentally kills all three of us in anger. The dude doesn’t have much in the way of family life, just like the rest of us, and to lose someone he cares about. He’s not doing okay.”
I almost felt bad then. Almost.
My phone beeped again and I looked down to realize that the message from before had been sent, somehow. Must have knocked it when I dropped the phone.
Beck: You know that’s not going to happen. You belong to me, Riley Jameson.
My resolve wavered again. Damn him.
Evan caught the message, and a shit-eating grin lifted his lips. “Don’t fucking say it,” I warned him.
He didn’t speak, but the grin remained firmly in place.