Kyan gave me a cocky smirk as my gaze trailed over his tie which he’d hung around his neck without tying it. The four buttons he’d left undone revealed the flames surrounding the devil tattoo on his chest. He’d tossed his blazer over the back of his chair too and had rolled up his shirt sleeves to show off even more of his ink. He looked like a fucking dipshit and he knew it. He also did it more just to piss me off.
At least his hair had been tamed into its topknot, but the stubble lining his jaw told me he hadn’t bothered shaving for a few days. Honestly, if he was anyone else I would have had his ass expelled for the pure fact that his appearance fucked me off.
Before I could decide whether or not to fall for the bait he’d set me, Blake hopped over the table and damn near knocked my espresso over.
“I’m surrounded by fucking idiots,” I muttered as I rescued the coffee and Blake fell into his seat on my right.
He turned to throw a wink at the girls on the closest table as they watched his display and fell over themselves giggling in appreciation. Dickwad.
The waiters appeared with food for the other Night Keepers and I tried not to sneer at the plate full of deep fried grease that landed in front of Kyan. That asshole was gonna be one fat old man if he didn’t get that shit under control. Blake’s stack of pancakes slathered in cherries and syrup wasn’t much better either.
The ends of our table slowly filled with members of our clique, though I left decisions on who made the cut to Blake. No one sat opposite us, leaving the view over the room clear for us to watch our prey. Blake liked to joke that we were like kings sitting up here watching over the common folk. I tended to see that as less of a joke and more of a fact.
The waiters made quick work of rushing back and forth, handing out meals to the masses as I worked on finishing my food.
Just as I laid my knife and fork down, Kyan’s elbow rammed into my ribs.
“What?” I snarled, shooting him a dark look, but he wasn’t looking at me. His gaze was fixed across the room and there was almost a grin plastered on his face which was a feat in itself. Kyan only smiled in public if someone else was bleeding.
“The new girl just walked in,” he said without tearing his eyes away from her.
I turned too, lifting my grapefruit juice to my lips and looking over the rim of it as I surveyed the crowd.
I didn’t even have to hunt for her. The girl was like an emerald sparkling amidst a sea of shit. She wasn’t even trying and yet she stood out from a mile away.
A waterfall of honey blonde hair fell in waves down her back to the base of her spine and my gaze naturally followed that line over the curve of her ass. I scanned down to the hem of her forest green pleated school skirt which stopped just high enough to give me a glimpse of her tanned thighs. Her knee length socks took over from there, but I could appreciate the lines of her toned flesh through the tight material.
She was walking away from me and I was already captivated by the way her hips rocked and her hair swung.
She followed Mila Cruz through the crowd to a table of our followers and they made room for her to join them with wide smiles and enthusiastic greetings.
Gerald Holt gave her a huge grin as he leaned forward to drop a napkin over her lap and she laughed, waving him away with a casual gesture that said no chance asshole as she sat back, offering me a clear view of her face.
She had big blue eyes which sparkled with laughter beneath lashes long enough to kiss her cheeks when she blinked. A smattering of freckles graced her high cheekbones and her pink lips had a natural pout to them which instantly had me imagining my cock between them.
“Mine,” Blake growled beside me as he realised what we were looking at.
“Fuck that,” I muttered. “A girl like her is gonna want the top dog, sorry asshole.”
“Bullshit. She wants someone who can make her laugh, not a dipshit who doesn’t know to loosen his tie,” he goaded. “Besides, when did I ever agree that you were top dog?”
“You don’t need to agree, I just am,” I said dismissively and he bristled.
“Maybe she wants a man who will tie her to his bedposts and fuck her so hard she can’t walk straight the next day,” Kyan added in a low tone which made both of us pause.
I turned to him with an eyebrow raised. “Seriously?” I asked. “You wanna fuck a rich girl now?”
“First time for everything,” he said, his gaze sliding over the new girl in a way that told me he really was considering it.
“A nice girl like her won’t wanna mix it with you,” Blake taunted him. “She wants the golden boy.”
“Naw,” Kyan disagreed. “She’s no nice girl.”
“You haven’t even said one word to her,” Blake scoffed.
“Don’t have to, she has that look in her eye.” Kyan shrugged like that was an actual thing and I snorted a laugh.
“Whatever fuckers, the girl won’t look twice at either of you once she sees me,” I said cockily.
“Want a bet?” Kyan asked, tearing his gaze from the temptation in the room to offer me a taunting grin.
“We don’t need a bet,” Blake said irritably. “I told you, she’s mine.”
“You can’t just claim people, asshole,” I replied.
“Fine. I get first shot at her then,” he countered.
“How do you figure that out?” I asked.
“Because my mom is dead,” he said simply.
“That’s cold, man,” Kyan said, snorting a laugh.
Blake had started using that shit right after he’d snapped out of his grief. He wasn’t fooling either of us. He’d loved his mom and he was devastated when she caught the fucking Hades Virus. She’d been on a cruise to Hawaii right around the time when the cases there started exploding.
It turned out there was one or two things money couldn’t buy after all. And a cure to Hades was one of them. They didn’t name it after the god of the dead for no reason. I was just glad that we were holed up here away from all that shit. Everlake Prep was basically in isolation without even trying. The only place even remotely close to here was the town of Murkwell and that was still ten miles out. Beyond that, you had to drive fifty miles to find anyone else.
Who knew being shipped off to the middle of nowhere would come in so handy?
For the moment, the virus was mostly contained to certain hotspots around the world, but it was obvious it was going to continue spreading globally.
Blake hadn’t even been able to go and visit his mom to say goodbye. He’d had to do it over FaceTime, watching through a screen as day by day it ravaged her body and finally stole her away from him for good. Shit like that had to sting. But he wasn’t letting it show. And if that was how he wanted to play it, then I wasn’t going to call him out on it. His grief was his own.
“The truth hurts,” Blake said with a shrug. “But it’s still the truth. And I need to bury myself ten inches deep in Tatum Rivers to try and forget it.”
“More like eight inches,” Kyan mocked, his gaze turning back to Tatum.
Tatum. Yeah, I could hear myself growling that name as I lost myself between her thighs.
“Are you seriously interested in her?” I asked, glancing at Kyan. He was as unpredictable as the damn wind, but he’d never fucked a girl from school before so it seemed unlikely.
He ran a hand over his stubble as he watched her for another minute before shaking his head. “Naw. Not worth the drama if she can’t handle what I want from a girl.”
I rolled my eyes at him and looked back at Blake instead. He was giving me the cocky fucker mask and I sighed dramatically.
“Fine. You get one free shot at the initiation party. I’ll keep it in my pants until then. But after that, all bets are off,” I said as my gaze drank in the sight of the new girl again. All of that blonde hair would look really damn good knotted in my fists while I fucked her mouth.
“Trust me, brother. I only need one shot,” Blake said with a smirk.
He might have
been right, but that was okay. He could take her for a test run before I took her for a ride. It didn’t make much difference to me. Point was, that girl belonged to me. She just didn’t know it yet.
I felt them before I saw them. Their stares burned, searing into my flesh like lasers.
“Holy shit, Tatum, the Night Keepers have noticed you,” Mila stage whispered loud enough for the whole table to hear. I’d hacked this mingling business already. Mila was connected. She knew everyone and everything about everyone. So long as I rode between her wings, I was going to sail my way right into the popular crowd. But there were three guys I supposedly needed to impress if I didn’t want to get outcasted and shirked from the community. The three guys who were currently assessing me like lions hiding in the long grass.
I let my gaze lift to the Night Keepers naturally, reacting slowly to Mila’s words and keeping my casual expression fixed in place. I sucked my lower lip in that way that drove guy’s crazy as I let my eyes meet Blake’s. Hunger, pure and simple, awaited me within them and sent a delicious warmth spreading out through the base of my belly. He looked like he was about to get out of his seat and come over so I flicked my gaze to the right of him, taking in the Night Keeper who sat in the centre of their trio. The obvious leader.
“That’s Saint Memphis,” Mila whispered in my ear, openly pointing him out like she didn’t care how clear it was that we were staring at him. I didn’t even need to hear his name to know who he was. Saint Memphis was the son of Troy Memphis, the Governor of Sequoia. His daddy was the most powerful man in the state. And it looked like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
Saint exuded power. His eyes were as cold and as impenetrable as iron, but a small smile twisted up his lips in a way that suggested he knew something I didn’t. His skin was heavenly dark and the perfect angles of his face looked like they’d been designed by an architect. His hair was well kept and his uniform immaculate. Every movement he made was controlled, refined. Like he’d practised each one a thousand times. My core liquefied as the intensity of him dripped through me like burning candle wax. He reminded me of an emperor watching a gladiator fight, a simple flick up or down of his thumb deciding whether I lived or died. And something told me that wasn’t too far from the truth.
I let my eyes slide away from him and felt him stiffen the moment I did, as if he was shocked that someone would dare break his gaze.
On his right, was a beast. That was the only way to describe him. Visually, he was everything Saint was not. Relaxed, brutish, unruly. But as his eyes scraped over me with the sharpness of a knife, I could tell he was just as deadly.
“And that’s Kyan Roscoe,” Mila supplied.
His hair was pulled into a topknot and stubble clung to his jaw like he gave no fucks. He continued to give no fucks throughout the rest of his appearance, his blazer abandoned, his sleeves rolled up to reveal an artwork of tattoos. His knuckles were bruised and split like he’d spent the night pounding them into someone’s face.
My heart stumbled as he rubbed his thumb against the corner of his mouth, a dark hunter shining behind his eyes. It felt like a target was painted on my forehead and he was about to loose an arrow that would carve a hole between my eyes. My breathing was getting heavy as I pictured this wild man’s hands on me. All three of their hands…
“They’ll want you to initiate at their party tonight,” Mila said, slicing through the red hot fantasy currently playing out in my mind.
I ripped my eyes away from them, turning to give her my full attention as I tried to quiet the rampant pounding of my heart. Down girl.
I blew out a laugh. “Initiate me? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Everyone around the table exchanged worried glances and I looked to Mila for an explanation. She tossed her hair over her shoulder with an ominous laugh.
“You’ll see, babe.” Her eyes glittered darkly and I realised nearly everyone in the room was glancing my way like I had a glowing beacon on top of my head. The word fledgling was passing behind hands and under people’s breaths and I guessed that was aimed at me.
I could feel the Night Keepers still giving me their attention and my spine prickled from all the eyes on me. They were picking me apart, hunting for weaknesses and I suddenly realised I needed to prove I wasn’t the type to be messed with. I hadn’t come here to fall under the rule of some preppy assholes. I wanted to make a few friends and glide through this year pressure free. But right now, the pressure on me was mounting and I knew I had to do something about it.
A whistle caught my ear and I frowned as I looked at Blake who was staring right at me.
Did he just whistle for me like a dog?
He jerked his head to beckon me over and my brows jumped up.
“Oh my god, Blake Bowman just summoned you,” a girl Mila had introduced as Pearl hissed from across the table, using a sheet of her inky black hair to cover her face as she spoke. She looked crazy excited, like I’d just been handed an invite to Prince Charming’s ball. But no one summoned me. It was rude, not to mention arrogant as hell.
I waved my toast at Blake to show him I was busy eating then took another bite out of it. A ripple of tension passed through the Night Keepers. It was almost imperceptible, but their gazes sharpened just enough to let me know I’d offended them.
Blake pushed his tongue into his cheek, leaning back in his seat so the front two legs must have been off the ground. He cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered, “Tatum Rivers, come over here!”
Blood rushed into my cheeks and I glanced at Mila who was staring over at the three guys with her lips parted. “You’d better go.” She turned quickly, prodding me in the side.
“Hey,” I hissed, but she continued prodding until I moved. Damn her.
I pushed back out of my seat and lifted my toast to my lips, finishing it in two angry bites before making a beeline straight for these so called Night Keepers.
The entire hall of students were giving me their attention, all conversation abandoned. I felt like I was walking up to the chopping block.
Heat slid down my spine and spread everywhere as the pressure cooker I was apparently in reached boiling point. The three guys before me eyed me like I was a sacrifice being offered up at their altar. And it sure as shit felt like that as I approached.
I lifted my chin, masking my expression so they couldn’t get a read on my fear. My dad had taken me out to the woods in northern Virginia every summer since I was thirteen. He’d leave me in a cabin for three days with no food or water and I had to fend for myself. Last year, a black bear had come up behind me while I’d been out foraging for berries. I could still remember the icy cold clutch of fear the moment I’d first seen it. But Dad had taught me how to react in just that situation. I had to harness my fear, conceal it, make sure the animal didn’t get any scent of it on the wind. Contrary to popular belief, unless a bear attacks, you aren’t supposed to play dead. When encountering them in the woods, the key is being calm, collected and totally in control. So I employed that tactic now as I approached the table. Sure, I wouldn’t have approached a bear in the wild, I would have been backing the hell away. But these boys were a different breed. A dangerous breed. The kind you had to make see you as an equal if you wanted to walk away alive.
I switched my focus to Blake as I reached the table and relaxed a little at the grin on his face.
I rested one hand on the back of the chair opposite him, giving him my undivided attention.
“Hey golden boy, you called?” I took a stick of spearmint gum from my pocket, unfolding it from the wrapper and placing it into my mouth. His eyes watched the movement with undisguised heat in his gaze.
“Hey, Tate.” He threw a glance at Saint and my gaze travelled with his, landing on Lord Cold Eyes and assessing his reaction.
My heart was pounding a mile a minute and I wasn’t even sure why. They were just boys. Beautiful boys, but so what? I’d seen their kind before. I’d even had them moaning my name an
d begging me to date them. So why were these guys any different?
The answer was instinctual. I just knew in the pit of my soul that they weren’t your average assholes. From the way every student in the dining hall seemed to be holding their breath and straining their ears to listen in on our interaction. And from the way power rolled from them in waves. In another life, they would have been princes and lords. But here, they were just rich boys with big heads and bigger balls. And that, I could handle.
“We’re throwing a party tonight,” Blake said and my eyes snapped back to him.
I nodded, acting casual as hell and trying to ignore my pulse as it skipped and thumped in the base of my skull.
He stretched his muscular arms and placed his hands behind his head. I wasn’t woman enough not to check out his broad chest as it pressed against his shirt.
“We’ve decided to give you an invite,” Saint said and my throat constricted as I turned to him.
“So should I expect it to arrive via trained eagle or something?” I taunted, taking in the shiny cufflinks on his shirt. Despite the fact that they were all sitting down, I somehow felt as tall as Thumbelina standing on a toadstool beneath them.
Blake chuckled and I swear Kyan’s mouth twitched. Saint didn’t laugh. Didn’t even smile. He gave me a stone cold wall of an expression and I mentally slapped the wild part of me as she imagined sliding her panties off for him. I wondered what it would take to crack that wall…to make that emperor moan my name and crave me like heroin. Trouble always seemed to find me, but at Everlake, I couldn’t run away from it. So I needed to play this just right.
If winning these guys over was what it took to have an enjoyable time here, then challenge accepted. But I wasn’t gonna bow at their feet to earn their approval. I could do better than that.
“The eagle is on its way.” Blake winked at me. “You can skip the invite though if you come as my date. And I promise you will come.”
Kings of Quarantine: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 1) Page 4