“You threatened me if I didn’t do it.”
“All’s fair in love and war,” Saint said with a shrug. “We wanted you. We wanted you badly enough to try and force your hand. But ultimately, you were the one who chose this life.”
“You’re all deluded,” she scoffed.
“Well, we never claimed to be sane,” Blake added with a grin.
“One day you’ll realise that this was fate,” Saint purred, reaching out to tuck a lock of her long hair behind her ear. “And you’ll wonder why you ever wanted to escape it.”
Tatum tutted dramatically, pushing to her feet and gathering the dirty plates from the table.
I stood and helped her grab them and was surprised when Blake did too.
Between us, we carted them to the sink and I set the water running, planting myself before it to wash them for her.
Blake started drying and she eyed us suspiciously before heading off to take a seat on the couch. It pissed me off that she was made to clean up after them and cook for them all the time like some kind of live-in cleaner.
Kyan headed off down to the crypt and by the time we were done with the dishes, he’d returned with a crate of beer, a bottle of Jack and some rum to mix a drink for Tatum.
Blake headed across the room and changed the music so that Believer by Imagine Dragons washed over us as he cranked the volume, ending the classical playlist Saint had been listening to. To my surprise, Saint didn’t seem to mind at all and he just moved to take his seat on the wing backed chair beside the fire, leaving the rest of us to join Tatum on the couch.
I chose a spot at the opposite end to her and Kyan dropped down between us, taking up most of the additional room.
Blake didn’t even hesitate before moving to sit on the floor before her, turning sideways so that she could place her bare feet in his lap. He took one of them into his grip and slowly began to rub it for her, his thumb circling against the arch of her foot and she bit her lip as she looked down at him, like she was torn between pulling away and letting him continue.
My hands balled into fists as I watched them and I had to bite my tongue against the desire to tell him to get the fuck off of her. The lines between protective and possessive were blurring in my mind when it came to her and that wasn’t a good thing. That girl wasn’t mine. Never could be, never would be. So she could get a foot rub from any fucker she wanted to. Even if it made my blood boil and my jaw grind.
I pulled my eyes away from them and grabbed a beer, finding Saint smirking at me like he’d taken a peek into my head and had pulled out every thought I’d just had. I gave him a flat look, mentally directing him to eat shit. If he really could read minds then maybe he’d do it and give us all a laugh.
“Maybe we should head out tonight,” Kyan suggested. “We could tell the Unspeakables that we wanna play hide and seek and hunt them down like animals.”
“And then what?” Saint asked.
“String them up by their ankles and leave them outside all night,” he replied with a dark smirk.
“No,” Tatum snapped. “You’re not using them for sport.”
Kyan sighed dramatically like she was being unreasonable and Blake chuckled.
“We could call Bait down here if you want someone to beat up, Kyan?” he suggested.
“Leave Bait alone,” Tatum said firmly. “I think he’s suffered enough.”
“For putting your life at risk and letting that fucking rapist in here to lay his hands on you?” Kyan snarled. “Bait could suffer in agony every day for the rest of his miserable life and he’d never come close to paying for that.”
“Agreed,” I said and Tatum looked at me in surprise.
“It’s raining now regardless,” Saint interrupted lazily. “I don’t wanna go out in that and there’s no way that cretin is stepping a foot over my threshold.”
“I can’t be fucked to beat him up anyway,” Kyan added. “There’s no point to it with someone like him. I might as well be pounding on a corpse for all the resistance he’d put up. I can’t get my kicks out of fighting someone who can’t match me.”
“You wanna take me on then, Roscoe?” I offered and he straightened in his chair instantly.
“Or you could take me on and I could leave you groaning in pain on the ground again,” Tatum mocked and Kyan looked at her hungrily.
“Only because you took the cheap shot,” he grunted.
“Oh, so you using your weight and strength advantage to overpower me is fair game, but me going for your weak spot is crossing some arbitrary line?” she asked.
“Fine. If it means that much to you, then you can say you beat me,” Kyan said, rolling his eyes. “But if you’re going to be touching my dick again tonight, I’d rather you didn’t use your knee.”
“Keep dreaming, asshole,” she muttered.
“She’s not going to be touching any part of you,” I said as I swigged my beer. “That’s why she made those fucking rules. To remind you that you don’t just get to do whatever the fuck you want with her whenever you get the urge to.”
“What crawled up your ass tonight, Nash?” Blake asked, still rubbing Tatum’s foot like he couldn’t think of a single thing he’d rather be doing than that and the looks she kept shooting him said she liked it way too much.
“He’s jealous,” Saint taunted.
“Of what?” I asked,
