“Time for bed, Barbie,” he commanded, his jaw ticking as he glanced at me accusingly. But we’d never said we couldn’t have fun with her so he could fuck off if he was going to try and get pissed at me over it.
He held out his hand to her and she took it without question, the smile from our game lingering on her lips.
She didn’t even say anything to me before walking away with him, teasing him about eating the pizza after all of his complaints and he made a joke about only doing it because she was feeding him like a temptress.
My smile slipped off of my face as I watched her head up to his room with him, my pounding heart sinking like a stone in my gut. She didn’t even look back. I was probably a fucking idiot for thinking she’d really been enjoying herself anyway. She’d made it clear she hated all of us, for good reason too. She was just making the best of a bad situation.
“I’m going out,” Kyan snapped, slamming the near empty bottle of Jack down on the table before grabbing his leather jacket and striding out of The Temple with no further explanation. He didn’t need to explain anyway. He was obviously hungering for a fight, needing to wet his fists in blood before his rage would settle enough to let him sleep tonight. I almost felt bad for whichever unlucky fucker ended up on the receiving end of his temper. I doubted they’d be in great shape come morning. If he left them breathing at all.
Monroe was looking up at the balcony where we could just hear Saint and Tatum talking and as her tinkling laughter rang out, he got to his feet abruptly too.
“Thanks for the pizza,” he muttered. “I’m gonna head to bed.”
“Night,” I agreed, leaning back against the sink as the cold chill of my grief crept in on me again.
I was an idiot if I thought Tatum Rivers would ever want to be any kind of balm to that pain in me. She was only here because we’d caught her, chained her and forced her into submission. But one day she’d leave us. I knew it. She’d run as far and as fast as she could and if she was lucky she’d manage to hide beyond our reaches for the rest of her days. Because being bound to us would only ever be a curse. But I was too selfish to give her up now. So all I could do was hope that she never managed to escape. Or even better, that one day she’d decide she didn’t even want to.
Winter started to take a grip in Everlake and it rained more often than not as November arrived. My routine with the Night Keepers had become a habit and though I pushed back at them as often as I could, I knew I needed to do more. It had been a couple of weeks since Kyan had broken the last rule and there hadn’t been one infraction from any of them since. It was infuriating. He didn’t even sleep in a bed with me anymore when it was my time to share with him; he just left me alone while he slept on the couch in the lounge. It hurt me in a way I couldn’t explain and didn’t want to explore. Curled up in his sheets with the scent of him everywhere made me long for him and hate him in equal measures. My revenge on him had obviously broken the fragile relationship we’d formed and I had to accept that. It certainly wasn’t going to stop me from seeking the blood I was owed for everything they’d done to me. They’d probably all despise me in the end, hypocrites that they were.
I got back at the three of them in small ways whenever I could, but there was nothing like the juicy excuse of a full punishment to make them pay. I even left the door open to the bathroom a couple of times as I showered, hoping one of them might wander in and earn themselves a dose of revenge. But no. Blake and Kyan were being as diligent as Saint. And Saint was living up to his name for once.
Since Kyan was still hating on me and Blake didn’t seem interested in provoking my wrath, I wasn’t sure how to get to them next. So as I sat watching the two of them play Xbox, keeping a tally of how many of each of their players the other killed – upon request – I shot a text to Monroe who was currently sitting in the armchair opposite me watching them play.
Tatum:
I need more excuses to punish these assholes.
Monroe’s phone buzzed and he took it out of his pocket, his eyes flicking to me as a smile pulled at his mouth.
Monroe:
Maybe we can cause a few ‘accidents’ around the house.
I rolled my eyes, sinking lower in my chair. It wasn’t good enough. We had to strike at them where it hurt most. I was getting the sneaking feeling that Monroe was trying to stop me from doing anything too reckless. He never had any great ideas about how I should fight them and I had a strong inkling that that was because he didn’t want me facing the punishment I’d get for it in return. The harder I hit them, the harder they’d hit back. But I didn’t care about that. We were supposed to be bringing them to their knees, but so far all I’d achieved was icing Blake’s balls and turning Kyan into an insufferable asshole. I couldn’t exactly call it a win.
I sighed, pushing out of my seat. “I’m going to the library.”
Blake gave me a thumbs up while Kyan ignored my existence. Monroe got up too, yawning broadly.
