Page 22 of Speak No Claim

The heat pounded against my shoulders, drowning out everything except for the thoughts in my head.

It wasn’t her.

I hated loose ends, and now she’d become one.

Leaning my forehead against the tile, I contemplated what I couldn’t let go. They say your body gets used to whatever it’s given. It’s our natural state of survival. It was adaptation in its truest form.

I was lucky if I slept two to three hours a night, never fully reaching the deep sleep phase. The faintest sounds woke me up, always feeling like I had to look over my shoulder, unable to trust anyone.

Including my own father.

“Devereaux,” Caspian interrupted, shouting into my bathroom suite.

“Fuck off,” I greeted, not bothering to get out.

Caspian Hawthorne was another founding family of the Graves Academy like mine. He was also one of the brothers I was closest to. We grew up together. We’d been thrown into the same life since we were old enough to walk, raised under the same rules, the same expectations, the same blood oath.

Our mothers were best friends and people assumed that made us closer. Maybe it did. That didn’t mean I trusted him. Trust wasn’t something I was ever capable of giving anyone, not after the way I’d been raised.

However, if one person had earned the closest thing to it, it was Caspian. We’d been through a lot together, including our initiation.

“Nice,” he hissed. “Aren’t you just a delightful bag of shit this evening?” He chuckled, sitting on the edge of the sink.

I heard his drink clank. He must have been at the party.

“The girl?” he asked, with no hesitation.

“You mean the pain in my fucking ass.”

He laughed again, singing out, “You’re playing with fire, you know she’s off limits.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t? Hmm… she’s sleeping right next door at her uncle’s house. She’s your new neighbor. I bet you could see her bedroom if you stand out on your balcony.”

“What’s your point?”

“I thought I was making it,” he sniped. “What the fuck? Maybe I should draw you a picture instead.”

“Get the fuck out,” I gritted, not wanting to hear the nonsense he was brewing.

“What are you going to do about the council?” he questioned, ignoring my demand. “You know they’re not happy. They want the girl. You know that as much as I do.”

“Why don’t you let me worry about that?”

“What about the rainforest princess?”

“What about her?” I turned off the shower, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around my waist. “She’s not anyone’s concern, but mine.” Opening the curtain next, I stared at him. “Are we clear? No one is to lay a fucking finger on her without me approving it first.”

“Oh…” He cocked his head to the side. “That means she’s up for grabs?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do you?”

“Caspian.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. Annoyed was an understatement. “I’m done with this conversation.”

“I think you need to look up the definition. You haven’t answered any of my questions. You’re just barking orders like I have to listen to you, as any of us do, and you know that’s not how the game is played.”