We soon arrived back at the church and my heart thrashed a little harder as he guided me inside.
Kyan was sprawled on the couch playing some zombie video game and Saint was standing in the kitchenette like the ghost of a dead soldier.
“Here she is.” Blake shoved me forward, making me stumble several steps ahead of him. “Monroe’s training her in kickboxing. Says she has to attend lessons three times a week.”
“Did you forget to mention that, Barbie doll?” Saint hissed.
“Well…no. I didn’t have my phone.” I shrugged, not telling them that I now did have it. Although it was probably sticking out in the pocket of my slim-fitting sports leggings fairly obviously.
“Well now you do.” Blake patted my hip where it was sitting before shouldering past me and dropping down into an armchair. “And if you ever miss a call from us, you can expect to pay for it hard, Cinders.” He snatched up a control and joined the game Kyan was playing. “Saint will be your wicked step-mother and me and Kyan will play the role of your step-sisters. I reckon we can fit you up that chimney to give it a good sweep – it probably hasn’t been done in a century.”
“Yeah and if you do a poor job, we could set a fire while you’re working and see if you make it out the top,” Kyan tossed in with a smirk and I scowled, opening my mouth to retort when he released a yell as his character was munched on by a zombie. It was a shame one didn’t burst in the door and really take a chunk out of Kyan.
I was left to the mercy of Saint which I imagined he had none of. But I wasn’t afraid this time. Not now I was refuelled, full of ways I could start fighting back. Man, if he wasn’t a teacher, I would have given Monroe one hell of a thank you blowjob. I wouldn’t just blow his dick either, I’d blow his fucking mind.
“Here,” Saint demanded and I walked towards him at a slow pace. “You must be hungry, Barbie.”
My brows lifted and I wondered if I was going to get an actual meal. He swiped up a glass of water and a plate of pasta from the counter, holding it out for me to take. Holy shit.
Saint smiled darkly as I took them, gesturing to the dining table just beyond the kitchenette. I turned and headed to it, placing down the pasta and water, dropping into a seat.
Saint moved to stand behind me and my neck prickled from the closeness of him. “I want you to stay fit,” he purred. “You can use the gym here when none of us are in it. And you can have your lessons with Monroe to keep that fine ass of yours in shape.”
“Thanks,” I said dryly and Saint’s fingers combed through my ponytail.
I picked up the water, my mouth still dry from the workout and I tipped my head back to drink the whole thing. The second it washed over my lips, it burned. I’d taken in a whole mouthful, realising it was vodka far too late and I spat it everywhere, dropping the glass and making it roll across the table, pouring across the mahogany.
Saint yanked my ponytail so hard, my neck snapped back and I was forced to look up at him with my heart thumping wildly against my ribcage. “If you ever disappear like that again, I won’t feed you vodka, I’ll feed you fucking arsenic.”
“Fuck you,” I spat, unable to fight it back. I’d wanted to say those words all day. I’d wanted to scream them while clawing his eyes out.
He yanked me out of my seat then threw me down on the table face first, pressing his weight over my body to crush me to the wood.
“Want to say that again, Barbie?” he growled dangerously.
“I want to say it at least a thousand more times,” I admitted and Saint’s laughter suddenly filled the room. He released me and I pushed myself up, ignoring the bruising ache in my hips as I found Kyan and Blake looking at me from across the room with hope in their eyes.
Saint sailed towards them, turning and perching on the edge of the couch. “We didn’t break her,” he spoke to them like I wasn’t there.
“I knew it,” Kyan growled with a hungry smirk that said he couldn’t wait to start pushing my buttons again.
And game on fuckwits. Because I couldn’t wait to start pushing a few buttons of theirs.
My phone rang and I jerked upright, glancing over at the nightstand where the screen was illuminated in the dark. Whoever said there was no rest for the wicked had certainly been right about that.
Am I really lucky enough to be rescued from my daily torment?
It was four thirty, I’d been waiting on that fucking alarm to pull me from the dark at six am and fate had done me one better.
I rolled towards my cellphone, glancing at the caller ID to make sure that it wasn’t some cock-hunting sophomore who’d managed to get a hold of my number somehow and decided to try her luck at offering me a wake up blowjob. That shit had happened before more than a few times, though after I’d had those girls expelled it seemed to have broken the curve. Most of them had caught on to the fact that Blake was the only one of us who might be tempted by that shit. I hunted my own prey and told them exactly what time of day it suited me to have my goddamn cock sucked and Kyan just kept his pursuits off campus. Luckily for me and the universe, the person calling me was one of a very select few who could get away with that shit during the night.
“Father,” I said in greeting as I connected the call, wincing a little at the rough edge to my voice from lack of use.
The half second of hesitation let me know he’d heard it and was less than impressed. Be prepared for all eventualities, Son, and life will never figure out how to kick you in the ass.
“Son,” he replied curtly, his tone letting me know he was in his office. Late night work, or I guess early morning work, only ever took place when absolutely necessary and the fact that he was taking a moment to call me let me know that something important was happening. “It’s time to consider a supply run. The Hades Virus is spreading rapidly and the public are panic buying at an alarming rate. The stores are failing to re-stock and there are certain items which are becoming increasingly difficult to get a hold of.”
“I have storage space here, I can easily gather supplies,” I agreed instantly as I knocked the covers off of me and stalked downstairs.
“Good. Toilet paper stores are running particularly low and the manufacturers are having trouble keeping up the supply chain.”
“Got it.” I made it to the fridge and drew out a bottle of water so that I could banish the damn roughness in my voice.
Father hesitated and that was enough to make me fall still. That man was the king of the pregnant pause. He could use a simple lull in conversation to make you feel a thousand different emotions at will, but this time I could have sworn that it was a genuine sign that he was unsure about what to say next.
The sound of a door closing came down the line and I fell still, wondering what could possibly be so damn important that he didn’t trust his staff to hear it.
“Listen to me, Saint. This thing, this virus, it’s getting worse before it gets better. A lot worse. I suggest you prepare the means to keep yourself isolated for an extended period of time just in case you need to.”
“I can stock The Temple with everything we need,” I assured him.
“If you plan on letting others join you while you quarantine yourselves, pick carefully. You don’t need to be carrying dead weight through this.”
“I never do.”
“Good.”
“Have the CDC got any news about a vaccine?” I asked him. We’d be on the front line to receive one once it was produced at least. Money could certainly guarantee that much.
“Slowly. Too fucking slowly. Stay safe, Son, the future of our family lies in your blood.”
“You too, Father.”
That was the closest anyone in my family ever came to implying love for each other and we didn’t express even that much all that often. This virus situation really was getting bad.
The line went dead and I pursed my lips as I moved to the drawers beside the front door and pulled out a lighter and a firecracker. I headed down the short corridor to Blake’s ro
om at the back of the building first, pushing his door open and looking in at him where he slept in the middle of his huge bed.
“Wake up,” I snapped. “We have work to do.”
Blake cursed as he pushed himself upright, scrubbing the sleep from his eyes as he called out to ask me what work, but I was already heading down the hall to open Kyan’s door.
I lit the fuse and tossed the firecracker into his room before pulling the door shut again and striding away.
I made it back to the kitchenette before the thing exploded and Kyan’s curses poured through the building.
He burst out of his room and ran at me with the clear intention to beat the living shit out of me for that prank but there was no time for that shit.
“Suck it up, Kyan,” I snarled. “This is important.”
The rage in his eyes flared as the bloodlust called to him but through pure force of will, he managed to fall still. He stood in the centre of the corridor, muscles flexed and hair spilling into his eyes as he panted with the desire to rip me a new one and waited for my explanation.
Blake appeared behind him and I set my water down on the counter. “We need to go and secure supplies in case of a shortage,” I said in a tone that brokered no arguments.
“Now?” Blake asked.
“No. I just woke you up in the middle of the fucking night to say let’s do it tomorrow,” I deadpanned.
“Alright, asshole, I’m just asking. No need to get your cock in a knot over it.”
Kyan snorted a laugh at the joke, I did not.
“Are we locking Tatum in the bathroom while we’re gone or bringing her?” Kyan asked, scrubbing a hand over his face in an attempt to wake himself up more thoroughly.
I hadn’t given much thought to the situation yet, but I guessed it made sense to bring her. “Get her up, tell her she’s coming with us but not why, we’ll need the extra man power and I don’t wanna outsource this. Let her piss herself thinking we’re taking her out to kill her until we get to the kitchens. But do it quickly – we leave in three minutes.”
“Done,” Kyan turned and stalked back to his room and I met Blake’s gaze as he lingered.
“Your dad thinks the Hades Virus is gonna make it all the way out here?” he asked.
“My dad thinks it’s practical to prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t come to pass, rather than hope for the best and be left standing with your jaw wide if everything does go to shit. Now hurry up, we’re down to one minute.”
He turned and walked away from me and I hurried back upstairs to pull on sweatpants and a black hoody. I never dressed this casually unless I was working out, but I didn’t have the time to worry about that now. I didn’t even do my fucking hair. The world really must have been coming to an end.
When I made it back downstairs, I found them all waiting for me. Kyan had given Tatum one of his hoodies to wear. It fell down to her mid thigh over her leggings and had the words Paradise waits for no man scrawled across the black fabric in pink lettering. There was some move being made there. He hadn’t given that to her out of the kindness of his heart. He didn’t even have a heart. Whatever the fuck he was playing at could wait though. I didn’t have time for it right now.
I moved to the side of the room and lifted one of the flagstones to reveal the safe hidden beneath it, quickly entering the code and opening it before pulling out the set of master keys for the entire campus. This had been a prize that took some getting, but through a series of blackmail letters and a few nice, honest bribes, I’d managed to get members of the cleaning staff to duplicate every single key on campus. Just in case.
I threw the keys in my pocket and locked the safe again before hiding it once more.
“C’mon.” I led the Night Keepers out into the dark where a crisp frost coated everything and we started jogging for the Redwood Dining Hall.
The only sound in the still grounds was that of our pounding feet and heated breaths which sent little clouds of vapour billowing around us.
The others kept up with me and I changed our pace to a run, glancing up at the starlit sky as the moon shone down on us.
We made it to the dining hall and I led everyone around back to the kitchens and store rooms. There were two thousand kids attending Everlake Prep, not to mention the staff. So they kept a hell of a lot of supplies onsite to feed us. Though that number had dropped significantly now that a lot of the students had taken their chance to run home to Mommy and Daddy. At last count, we were down to about a thousand - half the usual amount of students.
I quickly unlocked the doors and led the way into the darkened space.
The huge kitchens sat before us but I ignored them, turning left towards the store room and hesitating by a rack of keys which hung on the wall.
“You two go and pull a few carts around to load up,” I commanded, pointing at the keys. The staff here used golf carts with trailers to transport stuff from the delivery point at the main gate and take it around campus so we could use them too. “Barbie, you’re with me.”
If Tatum Rivers was afraid of being left alone with me in the dark, she didn’t mention it and she dutifully followed me further into the building as Kyan and Blake left to get the carts.
I opened the double doors at the end of the short corridor and flicked on a light to illuminate the huge room. There were stacks and stacks of all kinds of tins and containers everywhere, labelled to show what kind of food they held and I hesitated as I looked at it all, realising one small issue with my grand plan. I had no fucking idea how any of this shit was put together to create something edible.
“What are we doing here?” Tatum breathed, giving in to her need to ask at last.
I smirked as I realised I had her to myself for the first time, but I didn’t have time to indulge in any of the dark and sinful things I wanted to do to her.
“Gathering supplies,” I growled. “I’ve been advised to prepare for a period of complete lockdown and luckily for you, you’ll be in the house with all the food.”
“You think we’ll have to lock ourselves in The Temple? The four of us?” she asked and I didn’t miss the horror in her tone at the thought of that. And who could blame her really, I wouldn’t want to be locked up with three bored demons for days on end if I was her. Who knew what cruel and terrible things we might do to her?
“Tell me, Tatum,” I said, turning to pin her in my gaze and ignoring her question as I asked one of my own. “Are you one of those society brats who never has a clue how your food makes it onto your plate or did your daddy want to instil a sense of independence in you by encouraging you to cook for yourself?”
She frowned for a moment before it all clicked together for her.
“I’m guessing you’re the brat who just let it appear in front of you?” she challenged.
“Too fucking right I am. And I intend to remain that way. So?” I closed in on her until she was boxed in against a wall of toilet paper and her sweet breath fluttered over my lips. But mixed with the usual scent of vanilla and honey blossom which clung to her, was the scent of cheap whiskey and leather which Kyan always reeked of. I growled beneath my breath as I realised the point of the hoody and Tatum’s breath caught at the sound.
“I can cook,” she answered my question and I wondered if she thought that would make me leave her alone. But I was hooked on her now, this girl had caught my attention and I didn’t see it wavering any time soon. So any hope she had of that was built on a foundation of sand which I would send crashing down at every opportunity I could.
“Good,” I replied. “Then it looks like we’ll have an in-house chef for the foreseeable future. Though I warn you, I can get quite unpleasant if my food isn’t up to scratch.” I reached out and caught a lock of her blonde hair, twisting it around my finger as she looked up at me.
“You can get quite unpleasant over a lot of things,” she murmured.
“Mmm.” I didn’t disagree with her. I was a venomous creature at the b
est of times and vicious at the worst.
I shifted closer to her again until her back was pressed to the mountain of toilet paper, still twisting that lock of hair around my finger.
“I’ve been wondering something about you, Tatum Rivers,” I said in a dark tone which commanded all of her attention.
“What’s that?” she asked, seeming equal parts intrigued and repelled as she looked right into my eyes.
There weren’t a lot of people who could hold my eye like that and I smiled at her. It wasn’t friendly. There was more poison in my smile than in a Black Widow spider, but I gave it to her all the same.
“I want to know if you taste as sweet as you look…”
She inhaled sharply at that, her lashes fluttering as her gaze fell on my lips like she was almost tempted to let me find out.
I tugged on the lock of her hair, letting it uncoil as she gasped again and my thumb traced the curve of her lips. They parted for me and my smile darkened as I moved my other hand to the hem of Kyan’s fucking hoody.
“I thought this wasn’t part of the deal,” she said, her breath hitching as I painted my fingers up the outside of her thigh, pushing the hoody up over my wrist as I went.
“So tell me to stop,” I replied, my thumb catching on her bottom lip as I dragged it down. “Or are you curious too?”
My other hand made it to the waistband of her leggings and I skimmed my fingers along to the point just below her naval.
“A kiss from you would be laced with venom,” she said coolly, shifting her head back an inch so that my hand slipped from her mouth.
“I wasn’t offering you a kiss,” I replied, holding her eye as I moved my other hand, running my thumb down the seam of her leggings that dipped between her thighs.
Kings of Quarantine: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep Book 1) Page 30
