by V. Darling
“Looks like.” King cracks his knuckles on the end of his baseball bat.
“Certainly seems that way after holding my sister down and attempting to rape her.” Saint leans against the mantel, the picture of reserved rage. Inside, I know his heart is every bit as black as mine, and he can’t wait to see Justin bleed.
“Your sister came on to me.”
“Gosh, let’s not do anything to make Saint mad,” I say.
Saint strides forward and punches him in the nose.
“Oops! You made him mad.” I snap another picture. This one of Justin holding his bleeding—very likely broken—nose. “That’s the thing about rape—she’s not coming onto you if she’s bent over the hood of a car screaming for you to let her go.”
“Come on, you know how girls are. They want it, they don’t. She didn’t know what she wanted.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. If I know anything about Scout Taylor it’s that she knows exactly what she wants and she’s never been shy about demanding it.”
“Amen, brother,” King says.
River just nods from his position by the door.
“Wanna know what else I know about the Taylors?” I circle Justin like prey, leaving him just enough room to think he can escape. The truth is, there is no escape from this punishment. It’s been coming a long-ass time, and it’s gonna hurt like hell in the harsh light of day.
He shakes his head, glancing from Saint to me, then to King, and finally at the bag in River’s hand.
“They’re big on revenge,” I whisper from behind him. “All of us Royals are, really.”
River comes forward and hands me Saint’s black weekender, and I tip out the contents, all over Justin. Dildos of every size litter the floor. There are rolls of duct tape and lengths of rope, and lastly, every letter he sent to Scout outlining his plans for blackmail.
“You fuck with The Royals, we fuck you back, harder, and so much worse than you ever imagined,” I say through my teeth,
“You won’t get away with this,” Justin spits.
“Maybe, maybe not. But I have three other girls willing to testify in court that you did to them exactly what you did to Scout. Know what else we found? The IP address of the original uploader of one little sex tape. And guess where it leads? Right here, to a computer owned by none other than Justin Theodore Hearst. You know the cops don’t take too kindly to the distribution of child pornography, and since Scout is technically only seventeen ...”
“You, dumb fuck.” River shakes his head. “Do you know how easy it was to trace that link back to you?”
“What are you going to do?”
“First, we’re gonna fuck you up real good and proper, and the rest depends on you,” I say, grabbing his hair and yanking his head back. “You ever talk to her again, you look at her, you so much as fucking breathe in the same room as her and all of your little secrets come to light.”
“And to the attention of the Scarsdale police,” River says with a smirk.
“But more than that, you ever bother Scout again, and I’ll kill you with my bare hands. You’re lucky Saint was there to stop me in that hospital, or you’d already be dead.”
“I won’t.” Justin shakes his head, his cheeks ruddy and lined with tears. “I won’t even look at her.”
“Mmhmm. I’d like to believe that, but I’m just not convinced yet. Saint, would you like to do the honors?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” Saint steps forward and bends to grab a roll of duct tape. He elbows Justin in the face, knocking two teeth clean out of the little rodent-fucker’s mouth. Saint picks them up from the floor and smiles.
“Trophy,” he says as he pockets them, and then he picks up a short dildo from the floor. Saint pulls up a length of tape and places it over the end of the latex dick and then jams it into Justin’s mouth. His protests are muffled as Saint winds the tape the whole way around the fucker’s head. Saint produces a knife. Justin’s eyes grow wide and he shakes his head.
“One other thing you should know about Saint ... he likes his knives. A lot.” I chuckle. “And people think I’m the scary one.”
Saint lifts the knife to Justin’s face and kisses his skin with the wicked-sharp blade. He applies barely any pressure and the finest line of ruby-red blood wells on Justin’s cheek. Saint slices through the tape with ease and the roll drops to the carpet with a thud. He pockets the knife, and picks up a bundle of red rope.
Justin shouts behind his gag. Saint bends and ties Hearst’s hands behind his back, and shoves him with his boot. Justin falls forward, his large body hitting the floor like a sack of shit. Saint sits on his ass, pulling Justin’s legs back towards him, and then, with a few easy maneuvers that come far too naturally to my best friend, Justin is bound, naked, and hogtied in his gaming room.
“Damn, son,” King crows. “That’s gotta be some kind of record.”
Saint shrugs, but his grin is cocky and self-assured. “My record is one minute. If this fucker didn’t squirm so much, it might have been less.”
“Jesus,” I say, clapping Saint on the back. “Remind me never to enter your Red Room of Pain.”
“Like you’d ever be invited.”
“Can we get on with this?” River says impatiently. “Violet’s texting me every ten minutes to bring her candy and pizza pockets.”
King laughs. “You’re so fucking pussy whipped.”
“Oh, like you aren’t? I see you sniffing around Blythe.”
King just shrugs as Saint fastens another rope to Justin’s arms and more still around his legs. Then he hands River one length and tilts his chin to the corner of the room. Saint takes his rope and hoists Justin off the ground, tying it off against the banister before securing River’s side to the heavy oak billiards table. The kid squeals like a little pig, but he’s not going anywhere.
“Voila. Hog-tied pinata.” Saint stands back and appraises his work, and of course I snap a few more incriminating pictures. King hands Saint the baseball bat, and my friend grins like the lunatic he truly is. “Let’s see if I can win a prize.”
He swings. Bone cracks. Justin cries out behind his gag. And me? I smile. This asshole is going to take everything we give, get everything he deserves. You don’t fuck with The Royals without getting fucked in return.
I SNAP THE LAST PICTURE and smile at our handiwork. Justin is still hogtied with a dildo in his mouth, a plethora of rubber cocks around him, and a baseball bat sticking out his ass.
We steal out into the night like phantoms and climb into our getaway cars: King and River in his Jeep, and me with Saint in his mom’s Mercedes.
Saint smiles at me from the driver’s seat. “Where to? Home or the hospital?”
“Home.”
“My parents are back, but you’re welcome to stay if you want.”
“Nah, I don’t think I’d be welcome,” I say quietly. Saint shoots me a quizzical look but I blurt out, “For what it’s worth, I like this darker side of you.”
“Of course you do. That’s why we’re friends, isn’t it? My darkness calls to yours.”
“Something like that.” I stare out the windshield, unable to meet his gaze. “You’re gonna need it to take care of her.”
Saint shakes his head and darts his eyes from the road to me. “Aww, man. Don’t do this shit.”
“I have to. You know I have to. I can’t stay here.”
“Because running away solves everything, right?”
“I’m not running. I’m leaving so your sister can have the kind of man she deserves.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Navrin.” I stare out the windshield at the empty streets. This town looks so quaint and peaceful from the outside, but it’s filled with predators, thirsting for blood, fighting for dominance. “She deserves a man like Navrin.”
“And what if she doesn’t want Navrin?”
“Then she doesn’t know what’s good for her.”
“Careful. You�
��re starting to sound an awful lot like Justin.”
“You know what I mean, Saint. Together they can heal one another. He needs her more than I do right now.”
“So that’s it. You break up a perfectly good relationship, you ruin her life and your brother’s, and you’re out? You got my little sister beneath you and now you’re done?”
“It isn’t like that. You know it isn’t.”
“What I know is that you’re a fucking coward.”
“You’re right. I am. And she deserves better, don’t you think?”
He bangs his head against the seat rest. “Fuck!” Saint sighs and glances at me. “She’s never going to forgive you for this, Lev.”
I nod and swallow hard. “I’m counting on it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Scout
Thanks to Dad’s never-ending tour and my mom’s skincare company, my parents are rarely home, so I forget to be quiet when Saint and Lev come home, and instead I squeal when I see him and jump into his arms. Their faces are grave, and a strange sense of awareness and dread fill me as I slide down Lev’s body and glare accusingly up at them. “What did you guys do?”
Saint glances at the ceiling and walks by me into the kitchen. “I’ll give you two a minute.”
“Lev?” I demand, hugging myself to ward away the chill in the air.
“Can we talk?”
“We are talking,” I say flatly.
“In your room.”
“Fine, but just so you know, Daddy snores so loud that there’s no chance of him waking if we talk down here. They’re in the other wing, remember?”
He nods and I just roll my eyes and walk upstairs. I wait until we’re in my room with the door closed before saying, “You went to see Justin, didn’t you?”
Lev sits on my bed as I pace the floor, an angry cat prowling her cage.
“I know this week has been hard on you.”
Tears prick my eyes. This last week at school has been absolute torture. After my very public crucifixion in the cafeteria, I might not have gone back at all if it weren’t for Saint and Lev giving me multiple pep talks. The bathrooms were filled with new graffiti, and whispers and taunts of “whore” and “brother fucker” followed me everywhere I went.
Lev scratches at his stubble. “Justin should no longer be a problem.”
“What the hell did you do? Whack him?” I say sarcastically.
“Almost, yeah. Three times now I’ve almost killed that son of a bitch. I’m hoping he finally got the message.”
“Lev—”
He holds up a hand and I stop in my tracks. I don’t like his tone. I don’t like this face. My Lev is full of cocky arrogance, and this new Lev, who broods quietly, is not the one I love. “If he gives you any shit, if he so much as looks at you, I want you to tell Saint.”
Ice fills my veins. “Why would I tell Saint? Where will you be?”
“Not here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m leaving town, Cub.”
“Leaving town, or leaving me?”
“It’s better for everyone this way.”
“Oh, totally. I mean, school has been amazing this week, what with the constant slut-shaming for cheating on my boyfriend with his twin brother, and having my first time plastered all over the internet. Everything is so much better now that you’ve stuck your dick in me and ruined my life.”
He scoffs. “You think this is easy for me? Knowing I made a mess of everything? Knowing my selfishness ruined you? Ruined my brother?” He shakes his head and whispers, “It should have been me. It should have been me in that accident. It should be me in that hospital bed.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t you ever fucking say that,” I shout and stalk toward him, taking his face in my hands. He hangs his head. This is not normal the way we wound one another, the way our words cut bone-deep.
This isn’t love. It’s a damn cage.
“I don’t want you to disappear. I don’t want you to remove yourself from my life, and I couldn’t stand it if you weren’t here to torment me, so don’t ever say anything like that again.”
“We’re so fucked up, Cub. Every time I look at you, I see what I took from him. I don’t want to love you.”
“I know.”
“But I do. I love you so much it’s destroying me.”
“I know that too.”
And I do. We can’t keep going this way. We’ll rip and shred, and tear one another apart. We don’t make sense, and yet, this relationship is the only thing that truly does make sense. He’s the only thing I see. He’s the only boy—the only man—I’ve ever seen.
“So what the hell are we supposed to do?” I bury my head against his chest, breathing him in.
“I have to leave.”
“No. I need you here. Your brother needs you. King and Saint need you. You can’t leave us. You can’t leave me. I won’t let you.”
“I don’t see what other choice we have. I can’t stay here with my dad. We’ll kill each other. Nav is going to need time to heal, if he makes it out of that goddamn coma at all. It’s my fault he’s in there.”
“And mine. He took that car to confront Justin because Justin tried to rape me. I don’t see how any of that is your fault.”
“Because I fucked his girlfriend,” he says, and I flinch. He runs a hand down over his face. “I’m the reason he was drunk enough to think he could take Justin on his own.”
“We’re the reason. This thing between us is consensual. I’m just as much to blame as you are—maybe more. I broke his heart, Lev. He wanted to wait until we were married. He saw a life for us, a future, and all I saw was you.”
“I can’t stay here.”
“This is your home.”
“You’re right. It is my home. You’re my home, but I still have to leave.”
“Lev.”
“You won’t change my mind on this.”
“Where are you going? You can at least have the decency to tell me that.”
He stands. I wrap my legs around him, crushing him to me. I won’t let go. If he can’t get free, he can’t leave. He kisses me deeply, passionately, pausing only to kiss the tears from my cheeks. His erection presses against me, but he doesn’t grind into me, he doesn’t slip a hand between us. Instead, he lifts me off him and deposits me on the bed.
“Don’t do this. Please don’t do this.” I swipe the tears from my eyes with the backs of my hands.
“When you were seven years old, and I kissed you for the first time, I swore I’d do everything I could to protect you if you were mine. Instead, I’ve done everything I could to ruin you, to hurt you, and I never wanted that. I never wanted anything but for you to be happy ... just not happy with him. I wanted you for myself. I wanted you happy with me.”
“I am happy with you,” I sob, and the irony isn’t lost on me.
He takes my chin in his thumb and forefinger and tilts it up to him. “Happiness isn’t ruin, Cub. I’ve destroyed you. I got what I wanted, and it wasn’t what I wanted at all. If you love me, if you ever loved me, you’ll let me go.”
I shake my head, but I know that steely determination in his eyes. I’ve seen it before too many times to count. Lev kisses my forehead, my nose, and finally, my lips. I grab onto his shirt and pull him closer. I try to pull him down on me, I try to hold on for dear life, because my world is spinning out of control and Lev Fox is the only thing worth holding onto. He’s the only thing that makes sense, but he grasps my wrists and pries my fingers off him one by one. I scream, and cry, and whisper. I beg. Scout Taylor doesn’t beg. At least, she never had until now. Until him.
He walks from the room and I want to go after him. I want to grab onto his legs as if I’m a child begging a parent not to leave, but I can’t move. I’m shaking so hard my stomach turns. My head pounds, but my heart? My heart is completely obliterated.
In the hall, he and Saint are talking. I can’t make out what they’re saying over the sound of my sob
s, but I know Saint will talk him out of this. Saint will change his mind. He has to. Only, a few minutes later Lev’s bike starts in the drive and Saint enters my room and closes the door behind him.
“You didn’t ... you didn’t stop him.”
“Have you ever known anyone to change Lev’s mind once it’s made up?”
“Why didn’t you stop him?” I sniff and wipe the tears from my face with my sleeve.
“I couldn’t, Peaches. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but he did the right thing. We all need time. Nav needs it to heal, you need it to recover and get over him—”
“Get over him?”
“And Scarsdale High needs him to lie low so everyone has time to forget.”
“Fuck everyone else. What about him? What about me?”
“This is the best thing for you.”
“You’re not him, Saint. You’re not him and you’re not me. After six years, you can’t even admit you like Nova, so don’t pretend to know what’s best for me and Lev.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that Nova would be better off without me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“She’s innocent, Scout. I’d break her, just like Lev has broken you,” he snaps, and the words ring between us, angry, sharp, and true. Saint scrubs a hand over his face. “I don’t relish this. I hate seeing you this way. I hate seeing him like this, but it’s best for everyone if Lev is gone.”
“It’s not better. You’re wrong.”
“You think that now because your heart has just been torn in two, but that’s why he had to leave. He left to protect you. He left to stop hurting you.”
“Well, he’s wrong.”
“Maybe. But it’s done, Peaches.” Saint stands and sighs. “It’s better for everyone if you forget Lev Fox.”
No. He’s wrong. They’re both so, so wrong. I’m not better off without Lev and he’s not better off without me. And as for forgetting, how do you forget the other piece of you? The part that makes you whole?
They’re wrong, and I’m going to find Lev and prove it to him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
