by James Tate
A knock on the door startled us, and I almost dropped my phone again. Evan’s entire demeanor changed, and he shifted into what I like to call “stealth mode.” He crossed to where his jacket was, and I blinked as he lifted a gun from one of the pockets.
Fuck. He’d had that with him the entire time and I hadn’t even known.
He lifted the peephole so he could see who it was, holding the gun out to the side, like he could be back in a defensive position in a moment if needed. “We need to get you a security camera here,” he muttered, but then relaxed, lowering the gun.
He pulled the door open and Beck, Jasper, and Dylan were waiting on the other side. Stone faced. Dressed in dark jackets with windswept hair. The weather was wild out there. Their eyes were almost the same. Fierce and untamed.
They filed in silently, and as Evan closed and bolted the door again, I was swept off my feet. Dylan held me tightly, his arms trembling slightly as he lifted me. He’d moved so fast that I hadn’t seen a thing until I was in his arms.
“I’m so sorry, Riles,” he murmured close to my ear, sounding broken up. Evan’s words hit me then, I remembered everything he’d said, and I allowed myself to relax against Dylan. Even going so far as to wrap my arms around him and hug him back.
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” I said over and over, like I was trying to convince us both.
When he finally set me down, his face looked as devastated as his voice had sounded. “I can’t believe we let them touch you,” he growled in that graveled tone. “Fuck. I wish I was there to kill them all.”
Evan snorted. “Yeah, trust me, Beck needed no help.”
My gaze was drawn to Beck. Everything about me was drawn to Beck, and I fought the natural urge to go closer. Jasper distracted me when he swept me into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he told me, pulling back so he could see my face. “No more separation at school.” He was dead serious. “I don’t care what’s going on in our personal lives. If you still hate us, that’s fucking fine, but you will not be separated from all of us again.”
He set me on my feet, and I swallowed some of my angry pride and nodded. “Agreed. We will present a united front, because that Katelyn is definitely here to fuck shit up. To separate us. To create chaos. I don’t know exactly what Huntley’s end game is, but I’m determined to destroy them first. And to do that, I need you all. I need Delta.”
“You have us,” Dylan said quickly. “We have your back.”
Jasper whipped out his phone then in a rush. He was dialing as he lifted it to his ear. “Yeah,” he said when they answered. “I need you to buy a couple of apartments.” He then rattled off the address and name of this building.
I opened my mouth, slammed it closed, before opening it again. But I didn’t protest. I’d agreed to this outward showing of unity, and I would still have my own place here. A little protection around me was not something to complain about.
“Kick them out,” Jasper replied to whatever the other person had said. “Or offer them double what they’re worth. I don’t care how you do it, just get us a few apartments on Riley’s floor.”
He hung up.
Beck shook his head. “If you’d asked me, I would have told you that I’ve already arranged to buy out this floor. Even if Riley didn’t want us to move in here, I still preferred she have no neighbors that could be easily manipulated into betraying her.”
I closed my eyes, searching for some inner peace. These spoiled, arrogant assholes, were so used to ramrodding their way into everything. Always getting their own way. I was kind of glad I’d made it a little hard for them. At least for a while.
“It’s time for you all to go now,” I said. “I’m tired. We have to be at school tomorrow, and I don’t need to keep up appearances until then.”
Jasper, Evan, and Dylan didn’t argue with me. They just hugged me tightly, and one by one filed out the door. I always knew Beck was going to be the most difficult to reason with. He was a fucking immovable rock.
“You can go too,” I said to him when we were alone in the living room.
He responded by dropping his ass on the couch.
“Beck…” I said warningly. “I’m grateful you saved me. I really am. But I don’t forgive you. We are not friends. You don’t get to spend the night in my home with me. I need the space. I need you to fuck off, just for a while.”
He shook his head, picking up the remote. “I let you out of my sight today, and you almost got raped. Gang fucking raped. Don’t push me on this, Butterfly. Not tonight.”
All of my fury and fear and pain rose up in me then. Tonight was my breaking point, and suddenly words were spewing from me with a ferocity that was almost scary.
“I hate you, Beck!” I snarled. “I fucking hate you! Don’t push you? You fucking pushed me right off a goddamn cliff. How could you betray me like that?”
I curved forward as if to protect myself, but I was really holding my chest so that my heart didn’t burst from it. Something that might have been impossible, but the pain I was experiencing made it feel like it could happen. A sob escaped.
This fight was a long time coming. I’d tried icing him out, but that hadn’t done anything. So now he could see my fury. My agony.
He was on his feet again, paying no attention to the television. “I told you, Butterfly,” his soft voice about killed me, “this is a game. If you don’t play the game, you lose. Losing is not something that I’m interested in.”
I shook my head violently, straightening. “No. No fucking games any longer. That’s just an excuse you all use to do fucked up shit. This was real life. This was a real choice that you made. You hurt my best friend. You hurt Dante.”
Beck’s face darkened, shadows crossing it and turning perfect, handsome lines into something that scared the ever loving shit out of me. “Trust me, Dante deserved everything that was coming to him.” He was very close now. I could have reached out and touched him. “Not to mention, it was Dante or you.”
I had not expected those words to come out of his mouth, and I gasped a few times as I tried to comprehend what he was saying … or more accurately, implying.
“What did Dante do? Why was it Dante or me? What does that even mean?”
Beck moved with that stealthy speed that was almost inhuman, and his spicy scent hit me. I forced myself not to step into him. Not to touch him.
“Our parents are not good people,” he said without much inflection. “You must already have seen that. They will stop at nothing to get what they want. To force our hand. If they knew that you meant more to any of us than just the fifth seat of Delta, they would use you against us.” His hands twisted in the hair at the base of my neck, pulling me to him. “They would hurt you, Butterfly. Break those perfect wings. Destroy your fighting spirit.”
I couldn’t breathe, my hands somehow against the hard planes of his chest as he continued. “I would take Dante a hundred times, and beat him a hundred times more to make sure it’s not you.”
A gasp choked from me, and I frantically tried to suck more oxygen in before I passed out. “No!” I cried, finding my anger again and shoving him as hard as I could.
He let me go, because there was no way I could have forced him, and I pressed myself against the wall. “I don’t believe you. You’re just telling me what I want to hear. You’re a fucking brilliant liar; you had me completely fooled.”
Beck scrubbed his hands through his hair, sending the thick dark strands into more disarray. “I don’t fucking lie, Butterfly. I’ve never lied to you.”
Lies of omission were still lies.
His face softened, and it was such a weird expression on Beck’s features that it had me pausing.
“You’re scared,” he said softly.
Fuck yes I was. My life was in shambles, and I’d lost the one safe anchor I thought I’d had.
“You don’t want to believe my words, because then you’ll be vulnerable again. You’re scared to trust us again because then we’ll
have the power to hurt you again.”
My temper made itself well known. “Can you fucking blame me?” I was close to screaming. “You fucking assholes almost destroyed me the last time I played happy freaking families with you. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“We are a family,” Beck said, his calm fading. “You’re just delaying the inevitable. The five of us, that is meant to fucking be.”
Today we were both a storm, mingling together to form a hurricane that would destroy everything.
And leave no survivors.
“Please just go, Beck,” I said hoarsely. The moment his nickname left my lips, sadness crossed his face, and for a moment my resolve wavered. I’d called him Sebastian most of our time together. Something he had loved. But right now, I needed the distance. So Beck it was. “I’m not ready to forgive you. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready. You can come in here with your pretty excuses and perfect lines, but in the end, you could have warned me. You could have done things differently. There’s always a choice.”
His gaze devoured me. It was like being burned from the inside out, the heat in my center flowing like lava through my veins. The longer he stared at me, the more my resolve faltered.
I missed him so much.
“Go to bed, Riley,” he murmured. “There will be no solution to this issue tonight. Tonight we just need to survive.”
More angry words were on the tip of my tongue. More accusations and pains I wanted to slash him with, but all of a sudden, I was tired. Not even just tired. Exhausted. Weary. Broken.
For the second time tonight, I crawled back into bed, and closed my eyes. I had no idea what Beck was doing, I didn’t even bother to look again. I just wanted to escape.
15
The next morning I woke in Beck’s arms, and for a split second, right before reality crashed into me, I snuggled closer. Letting my face rest against his chest, enjoying the safety I felt being cradled against him like this. I breathed in deep, absorbing his sexy, masculine scent before the haze of sleep faded and it all came back to me.
Delta. The man I’d killed. The rape attempt.
As carefully as I could given how sore I was, I extracted myself from his embrace and slid out of the bed. Beck was still asleep—possibly the first time he’d ever slept longer than me—and I allowed myself an indulgent moment admiring his sculpted chest and broad, strong shoulders. Of course the devil was beautiful, how else did he lure you into evil?
“You can always come back to bed, Butterfly,” Beck’s sleepy voice murmured, his eyes still closed. It was the dose of reality I needed, though, and I scampered my ass into the bathroom to take a long shower. My whole body ached from the attack, my muscles all locked up and screaming at me, so the hot water was sheer heaven.
Showing up at school today was so far down my list of things I wanted to do, but I’d be damned if I’d let Katelyn think she had won for even a second. So I took my time to wash and blow dry my hair into a silken sheet, then carefully applied makeup to ensure all the small marks—fingertip bruises along my jaw—were covered. My uniform would cover the rest of the damage from kicks and punches and really, I’d survived worse after the plane crash. This damage was mental, and to my frustration that wasn’t something I could cover with concealer.
When I finally emerged from my bedroom, in full uniform with heels and all, Beck gave me a slow once over then nodded his approval.
“Say the word at any point, we can turn around and come home. Ducis Academy doesn’t rule us, we just let them pretend for the sake of appearances.” His words were intended to comfort me, but I just shivered with the weight of my new life. How the fuck was I going to survive this cut throat world?
“You’ve got this, Riley,” Beck said softly, clearly seeing my hesitation. “You’re the strongest person I know.”
I snorted a laugh. “Don’t lie to me, Beck. I’ve met Dylan.” I rolled my eyes and bit back a wince of pain as I brushed past him to grab my school satchel—Prada, of course. Avoiding his questioning gaze, I simply held the door for Beck to exit my apartment. “I guess you’re driving me?”
He nodded, waiting for me to lock up, then made as if to take my hand before thinking better of it. “Yes, I brought your favorite car. A peace offering.”
I pursed my lips and decided not to acknowledge that comment. Yes, we had aired some of our issues last night, but things were far from okay. This was real life. Real, bloody, painful, heartbreaking life. People don’t just magically forgive and forget overnight.
We drove to school in near silence, neither one of us really knowing how to handle this diplomatic truce, so it was a relief when we pulled into the parking lot and spotted Eddy waiting with Jasper.
“Holy fucking shit, girl,” she exclaimed, tackling me into a huge hug when I stepped out of Beck’s Bugatti. “I’m so, so, so, so sorry. I can’t believe they did that. What could have happened if Beck and Evan—”
Her rambling was cut off by Jasper’s hand over her mouth, and she released me in her surprise.
“Eddy, shut up,” Jasper hissed to his sister, “Just. Shut. Up.”
My bestie looked confused for a second, then her face flushed with red as she realized how uncomfortable I was. “Crap. Sorry, girl. You don’t wanna talk about it. Totally understand.” She mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key.
“It’s fine,” I said with a weak smile, digging my fingernails into my bag strap. “But yeah if we could just … not talk about it. That’d be great.”
“Absolutely.” She nodded her agreement. “Anything you want.”
Eddy grabbed my hand and started walking with me toward the main school building, but Beck pushed between us and claimed my hand with his own.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded, stopping in the middle of the path and staring pointedly at the hand which Eddy was holding a second ago.
Beck glared. “United front, remember?”
My eyes narrowed at him. “United, yes. Dating, no.” Using my other hand, I peeled his fingers off and took a deliberate step back. “Besides, don’t you have a degree you’re supposed to study for? This is the high school building.” I waved my hand in the direction of the building in front of us—in case he wasn’t aware.
Beck’s jaw tightened and his eyes flared with anger at my defiance. I knew how messed up it made me, and it was certainly something to discuss with my future therapist, but fuck me if my belly didn’t flutter with desire at his pissed off face.
“We’re not leaving you alone, Riley. Not today. Not. Ever.” His words were quiet, his teeth still clenched and his fists tight at his side. Such a control freak.
“Okay well, one of the guys can come. But you’ve spent too much time tailing me and not studying. You probably need all the degrees you can get if we’re going to change the world.”
He stepped closer to me, tipping his face down to meet mine as I looked up. “Is that what we’re going to do, Butterfly?” he breathed. “Change the world?”
Tilting my chin higher, I met his gaze just inches away. “You’re damn right we are. Starting with this corrupt company we’re about to inherit.”
A small smile touched his lips as he studied my face, and I was powerless to look away. Damn him.
“You’re incredible,” he murmured, then planted a quick kiss on my cheek before I could step away. And by my cheek, I meant way too close to my mouth for it to be anything but sexual.
“We’re not okay, Beck,” I snapped, stepping back a safe distance from him and his sinful lips. “Don’t mistake this truce as forgiveness.”
He just winked at me. That smug fuck winked at me then shouted for Evan to accompany me to class and disappeared toward the college side of Ducis with Dylan and Jasper.
The first step into the school was much fucking harder than I’d ever admit to. There were students everywhere, and immediately I had a flashback to yesterday. To the crowds that pushed and kicked at me. To their faces, all cut from the same ang
ry, disgruntled, evil cloth.
My breathing intensified, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure I could actually make it inside. My feet didn’t seem to want to move.
“Riles?” Eddy said softly, pressing closer to me. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head minutely, unable to speak. What was happening to me?
“You’re having a panic attack,” Evan growled, low and close to my ear.
His heat surrounded me as he pulled me closer into his arms, pressing my face to his chest. From the outside, it probably looked like we were just hugging, but from where I stood, it was exactly what I needed to snap myself out of the panicked state.
Evan smelled fresh, like clean laundry and the newly turned spring air. It washed away some of the school scents that had immediately assaulted me. Rubber from shoes. Unwashed teenagers. Stale cigarettes from whichever teacher or student was sneaking out for a smoke.
“You okay?” Evan asked, his hand rubbing gentle across my back, in a soothing circular motion.
I nodded, pulling back finally. My breathing and heart rate had calmed, and I felt much more ready to get my game face on.
Lots of faces were watching us, and I wasted no time in shooting Evan a wink. “Thanks for that, babe,” I said sweetly. “You always know just the right thing to do.”
Whispers started, and I smirked. Evan, catching on quickly, slung his arm around me, and walked me down the hall to my first class. Eddy peeled off about halfway along the hall, giving me one final hug before she disappeared into her classroom.
“Everyone is watching us,” I muttered from between my clenched-teeth smile.
Evan chuckled. “Don’t worry yourself, Spare. They’re looking at me.”
I shot him a disparaging look before shaking my head. I had Evan’s number now, and he was nowhere near as confident as he portrayed to those outside of his inner circle.
Classes passed in slow motion. I barely paid attention, too frazzled to give a fuck about the lessons. Evan remained by my side in every class, mostly playing with his phone, or occasionally nudging my leg with his when all of the staring got too much.