Pride (The Elite Seven Book 2)

by J. D. Hollyfield

  Crow patches me up, and I’m out headed to campus. I’m sure my eyes are bloodshot, but they’ve been that way for weeks now. Sleep is something that hasn’t come easily to me in a long time.

  I enter through the counselor’s office, and see her door, a shiny plaque with her name sprawled across it.

  Lillian Griffin, MD

  Head Master Counselor

  I lean against the wall, thinking how messed up it is that someone as demented as her can have so much power in such a top school—

  “Mason?” I bring my focus to the voice calling my name. “Oh my god, Mason, is that you?” Chastity Griffin. Lillian and George Griffin’s daughter. It’s been years since I’ve seen her. Two years to be exact. “What the heck happened to you? I came home from cheerleading camp and you and Evelyn were gone. Lillian told me you were placed in a different home.”

  I’m sure she did. I bet she also left out what a sadistic bitch she is or how her father is a sick fuck who abuses girls. Looking at her now, I wonder if she even knows—if daddy dearest ever made his way into his own daughter’s room.

  “Yeah. Fuckin’ foster system’s a joke,” I lie, saving her the truth. She still looks innocent and unaware of the demon living under the same roof. Curiosity begins to build behind those innocent eyes, and I know I need to wrap this up, before she starts asking questions I can’t answer—

  “Weird though, Lillian never mentioned you went here. What are you, sophomore? Junior now?”

  Fuck. Chastity knows how old I really am.

  Think…

  Think…

  “No, actually first year. Took a break for a bit.” Actually, your cunt of a step-mother locked me up in a prison until I bowed down to play her little puppet, set out to ruin lives.

  “Oh, well cool. Hey! That reminds me! I swore I saw Evie here too!”

  My skin prickles at my sister’s name. “Where?” I ask, causing her to jump.

  “Huh?”

  “Where did you see her?” I spit out. Lillian said she was here, but I’ve yet to find her. I went to the registrars’ office asking about her, but those assholes refused to give me any information. Student privacy policy my ass.

  “I thought I saw her walking out of the student center. She looked good!” Her eyebrows raise in confusion. “Tell her I said hi and maybe we can do coffee sometime?”

  I want to storm off and sit outside the student center in hopes to catch her. Shake Chastity with more questions. What was she wearing? Define good. Did she look like she had endured hell for the last two years? Instead, I rein in my emotions and nod, forcing my lips to curl into a slight smile. “Will do.”

  That easy-going smile she always carried is back across her face. “Well, cool! I mean, how crazy for all of us to end up at the same school? Are you here to see Lillian?” she asks, unaware of how I truly ended up here.

  “Yeah. She’s my counselor.” And the devil in disguise. The one person I dream about slitting their throat and watching her die slowly. The one who’s made it clear she holds all the cards, as well as the strings controlling my life.

  “That’s great. It’s great to see you again. I hope we get to catch up on campus!” She goes in for a hug, which makes me uncomfortable, then disappears in Lillian’s office. A short time later, she and another male student exit, leaving the door open as Lillian waits for me to enter.

  Fuck.

  It’s now or never.

  “Well, don’t you make a handsome college student,” she purrs, closing the door and walking in front of me. Her clothes, as always, are form-fitting, her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She looks back to inspect me, and it turns my stomach. Deleting the space that separates us, she brings her hands to my shirt and brushes them down my chest with open palms. “Still working out I see. And I’m loving the new additions,” she says, inspecting my arms. Not caring if I snap her wrists, I grab for her hands and remove them from my skin. “Always so feisty. You should learn to enjoy this. Us. Because if I want something from you, something as simple as your cock, Mason, I’ll get it. Understood?” She doesn’t wait for my response. Pushing away from me, she heads to her desk, sits, and digs in her drawer. “Oh, don’t look so grouchy. You’re about to get an opportunity of a lifetime. Sit.”

  Doing as she says, I throw myself into the seat across from her. “I want to see my sister,” I bark out.

  “And you will. Business first, pleasure later.” Shuffling through her desk drawer, she retrieves a manila envelope. “Ah, here we are. Mason, are you familiar with the seven deadly sins?”

  I take some time to understand her question. “Like the church shit? Evil versus good?”

  “So smart, my pet.” She laughs, and my skin pebbles with disgust. “The seven deadly sins. Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Sins that live inside us all. The excessive desire to want more. The desired evil that’s rooted in us all. Every single human being in this world fights the urge to indulge in what God considered a sin. To lie, to steal, to deface. Given the chance, anyone would shame another to rise above. Strip one of their innocence. Harm someone just to boast they have the power to do so.”

  She’s starting to confuse me. “Where the fuck you going with this?”

  “Patience. Way before your time, and mine, a secret elite society was formed. The Elite Seven. It was created by guided influential leaders, ones who would go on and flourish in molding our country into something magnificent. Every four years, seven new members are hand chosen for The Elite. But they aren’t just hand-picked, they’re put to the test—given a task of sin to prove themselves. Once proven, they’re initiated for life. They want for nothing. They suffer for nothing. Sins become them, and they become the being of their life.”

  “And what does this have to do with me?” I ask, uncertain I want to know the answer.

  “To be a part of The Elite of course. The leader. The alpha of the seven.”

  “Yeah, well I want nothing to do with ruining someone’s life.”

  “Oh, but that’s not for you to decide anymore, is it? You gave that right to me the second you agreed to my terms. You will do as I say, or the liveliness of your sister will suffer.”

  The power she has over me kills me.

  She tosses a sheet of paper at me, and I catch it. I vaguely glimpse at the other names and titles, until I get to mine. “Pride?”

  “Of course. Don’t you find your sin fitting? You have no regard for others. You’ll lead an army. Six, to be exact, and single-handedly assign each sinner a task. You will, with no care for the people they hurt, deface, suffer, make sure each task is completed or they’ll be banished from the society. Their lives mean nothing to you.”

  “But they do. I’m not a fucking monster.”

  “Aren’t you, though? Agreeing to bow down to the devil herself and do her bidding? What does that truly make you, Mason?”

  The father of all sins.

  My understanding makes her smile. “You get it. The anti-Christ as some would define it. If you agree with me or not, I picked you because you carry the same corrupt sense of values. Just as I, you cannot be fooled by the vices of others. You should see this as a good thing. From someone who has nothing, you’ll be seen as someone who has it all.” She shrugs her head. “Arrogant. Probably conceited. Not liked amongst the rest being the alpha, but that’s what makes you Pride. You don’t care.”

  This is all too much for me. Run a club? Ruin lives? Taking the sheet of names, I toss it back onto her desk and stand. She doesn’t react to my defiance. Simply stands on her heels and walks around her desk, encroaching my personal space. She reaches for the hem of my shirt and her fingers disappear under my shirt. My body stiffens as her fingers latch onto the button of my jeans, then work it undone. “This wouldn’t be so bad for you if you’d loosen up a little. You and I…we can have a little fun with this.” I want to break each finger that touches me, but I refrain, thinking of Evelyn. “That’s a good boy. See? A little playtime
between us may turn out to be enjoyable for us both.” She pulls my zipper down and reaches into my briefs to cup my soft cock. A sudden knock on the door and the sound of Chastity’s voice saves me and she retracts, taking a quick step away.

  I pull my zipper back up just as her door opens, and Chastity peeks her head in. “Hey. Sorry. I left my phone on your desk.”

  Turning, Lillian spots the pink, glittered phone and hands it to her. “Better hurry. Class is about to start,” she chirps. I snatch my backpack off the ground and head toward the door. “Hey, Mason?” she calls for me, and I force myself to turn around. “Make sure to read the homework I sent you for our session, okay?”

  “Yeah, whatever,” I reply before getting the fuck away from her.

  What the fuck have I signed up for?

  My biology professor pushes up his bifocals, holding up a stack of papers. “This is just a simple test to see what you remember from high school. Consider it a recap.” He walks to the end of each row and disperses small stacks, having the students take one and hand them down the line. I take one and look around, seeing if anyone else is dreading this shit, but people begin scribbling down answers as soon as they get their paper. I take a deep breath and crack my stiff neck. My pencil is tightly gripped between my fingers as I begin to read the first question. Then the second. When I get down to the bottom of the page, I realize I don’t know a single answer.

  A sound breaks the silence of the room, and a few classmates lift their heads my way. Without realizing it, I’ve snapped my pencil in half. The number of eyes staring at me weigh too heavily on my anxiety and I get up. I toss the blank test onto the professor’s desk and leave. The anger swirling inside me is a deadly potion of hate and resentment. She did this to me on purpose. Lillian. She created my schedule knowing this shit would be too hard for me. I wasn’t a strong student even when I was in high school, and she robbed me of the last two years of a proper education.

  I take the stairs down two at a time and burst through to exit the doors of the science building when my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. I reach back and stop at the bottom to read the screen. My breath catches, threatening to knock me flat on my ass at the message.

  Cunt Griffin: Bayler Dorm. Room 313. Consider this a gift. Play nice or I’ll take your toys away from you.

  I’m changing routes before even finishing the text and book it toward the campus dorms. Knocking into people as I storm through the quad, I’m out of breath by the time I make it to the building. I reach for the door, but it’s locked. I take my fist and bang for someone to open and get lucky when another student exits. I slide in just as the door closes and head to the staircase. Avoiding the check-in, I take the stairs to the third floor and pound on the door. A girl sees me, and instead of turning me away, her eyes light up as she opens the door.

  “Hey there,” she purrs in a flirtatious tone. “You know, I could get in a lot of trouble letting you in, but you’re cute so—”

  “Evelyn Blackwell. I’m here to see her,” I spit out, catching my breath.

  Her face falls, mistaking my relationship to her. “Oh…down the hall.” I waste no time stepping to the side and racing down, looking at each room number. “I’m in three-oh-one if you get bored of that,” she yells as I stop at room three-thirteen. I lift my hand and bang twice. Without waiting for a response, I turn the knob. My heart is racing, and a wave of sickness sweeps through me. I’ve been waiting for this moment since the night Lillian tore us apart. The door shoots open, and my eyes land on her standing by the window, her back to me.

  “Evie?” I’ve always promised to be strong for her, but seeing her, after all this time apart, it becomes too much. Her name falls from my lips on a coarse whisper. She turns, a tender look on her face. My breath catches at how much older she looks. Her hair, the color of whiskey rests just below her shoulders, her similar gray eyes illuminating the same sadness I see in my own. She’s too thin. Her heathered shirt hangs over her slim shoulders, her collarbone protruding. When our eyes meet, it takes a mere flicker of recognition for it to register.

  “Mason?” she whispers in disbelief. “Oh god, Mason?” Her face explodes with emotion, tears welling in her eyes as she runs into my arms. I lift her up and hold her tightly to my chest, fighting my own tears.

  “It’s me, little sister,” I murmur, no longer able to stop my own tears from falling. I’m so overcome with emotion, I don’t know what to say. I’ve dreamed about this day—when I got to reunite with her and tell her how fucking sorry I am. How I tried. But right now, nothing seems justifiable. No words can make her understand how crushed I’ve been since that night. “I’m here now,” I whisper in her hair, smelling the sweet scent of flowers and soap. Just like when she was a kid. My heart cracks, and I lose it. I start to cry, holding her tighter. I’m a fucking bastard brother for not fighting harder. “I’m so fucking sorry,” I choke out. Her arms wrap around my neck, and I feel the wetness of her own tears on my skin.

  “I love you, Mason.”

  More words that gut me deeper. How can she still love me? I let her down. I always promised her I’d keep her safe and look what’s happened. I don’t know what she’s endured, but the threats Lillian left me to ponder, I doubt are good. I need to know, but I can’t find the right words to ask.

  “Where have you been? I’ve tried…I’ve looked…” She can’t finish her own sentence. Her choked sobs steal the words from her, and we both squeeze tighter to one another. The pain from that night seems fresh all over again. The torment of them ripping her away from me. Her desperate pleas. My failed struggle to save her. Save us.

  I don’t know what to say to her. I want to tell her the truth. About everything. But Lillian’s message is loud and clear. “I got into trouble right after they split us up. I’ve been in jail since.”

  She fights out of my hold, her eyes swollen from her tears, but wide with shock. “Jail? Why—what did you do?”

  Nothing is what I want to tell her. I chose not to help Lillian sooner. “I got into a bad fight.” Which isn’t a complete lie. Choking Lillian close to death isn’t far from the truth. “I tried to find you, but I was restricted where I was. They didn’t allow me to talk to anyone. Well…except one person.”

  When I see the look of fear in her eyes, I know she knows who I’m talking about.

  Fuck.

  “Lillian Griffin,” is all she says. I want to cry all over again. What did Lillian do to my sister? “She knew where you were, didn’t she?” I nod, and bring my hands away from her shoulders, allowing us some distance. She turns away from me, wrapping her arms around her thin waist. “She lied, you know. I never—”

  “Don’t even finish that sentence,” I growl, taking a step closer. “I never thought for a fucking second you did anything wrong.” She turns around, hope in her eyes. I continue. “She’s a lying bitch. She set you up. She set us both up.” Her lower lip starts to quiver, and I eliminate the few steps separating us and engulf her back into my arms. “I don’t know where to begin. How to start to explain how sorry I am. I don’t know what you’ve been through, and I don’t know how to ask you to tell me. But we’re both here now. And things are going to be okay.”

  Her chest rises and falls, taking a deep breath. “Why us, Mason? What did we ever do to her?”

  “I don’t know. But I’m gonna figure it out.” I pull back and catch her eyes, the same grey color as my own. “I need you to stay away from her though, okay?”

  She breaks away, trying to give herself distance, but I grab her arm, stopping her. “I’m serious, Evelyn. She’s the fucking devil.”

  She whips around to face me. “Don’t you think I know that?” Guilt stabs me in the heart at her words. “I’ve tried to run from her. But she finds me every time. And now, I’m here. She’s my counselor, Mason. She has all control over my schooling. She’d always tell me I’d be thankful for being such a good little whore because one day…” she fades off, and the look in her eyes gut me. She
loses herself in a memory before coming back to me. “And now I get it. It must have been you she was talking about. I’ve been good. I’ve listened. Because I thought…just maybe it would be…” She breaks down. My arms are around her as her knees buckle. I take us both to the ground as her body convulses in deep, gut-wrenching sobs. My heart breaks open in a million pieces, and I pray for time to take us back. If I knew, I could have gotten us out of that house.

  “If I could take everything back I would. Fuck, I would. I’m so fucking sorry,” I cry into her hair, soaking her soft curls. “I never stopped thinking about you. If I could’ve done something, I would have. But I was stuck. I had no way…”

  She fights out of my hold, bringing her warm hands to cup my cheeks. “Oh, Mason, I know you would have. The whole time, I was dying for you. I didn’t know where you were. I didn’t know what they had done to you. If Lillian had her claws in you as well…I couldn’t imagine what they had done. Was it bad? Were you hurt?”

  My body begins to throb all over again.

  The horrific pain.

  The vivid memory of my ribs snapping from a steel boot, a fist, cracking of a metal rod. Remembering the darkness due to my swollen eyes. The lack of food for days. The solitude for months upon months.

  I squeeze my eyes shut, needing the images to go away.

  “Hey, it’s okay now. We’re together.”

  I open my eyes. She looks back like she’s the one saving me. Still, behind the torment, I see innocence. Kindness. “I…I need to ask where you’ve been.”

  It’s too soon. I fucked up, and she instantly shuts down on me. There’s an overcast of sadness in her eyes. She squirms from my hold and stands, making her way back to the window. “I don’t…I can’t talk about that.”

  My heart sinks. My biggest fear was Lillian had been telling the truth. My biggest hope was she hadn’t been. I stand. “Evelyn—”

  She turns. “Mason, please. In time, but not now. Okay?” Fuck, not now. I need to know. Lillian’s life will end tonight. Evelyn can live the rest of hers in peace knowing she’s dead, and I’ll live mine behind bars knowing my little sister no longer needs to be scared. But I just got her back. Causing her any more stress than I have is the last thing I want. I nod.