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So why the hell would they have any interest in looking out for me?
I blinked, shaking my head slightly as my mouth dropped open. This couldn’t be right. They had to be messing with me.
Misael laughed. “Ha. Told ya Princess wouldn’t believe it.”
“Why—why do you want to protect me?”
“It’s less a matter of want, and more a matter of dibs,” Kace said, his face scarily blank as he narrowed his eyes slightly. “We got as much reason to hate you as anybody else around here. But protecting you… that makes you ours. To dole whatever punishment you deserve without having to share.”
I felt like I’d been drenched in ice.
“Excuse me?”
“It ain’t that hard to comprehend, Princess.” Kace huffed a breath, his muscles flexing as he crossed his arms. “We can’t lay it out any clearer than that. But I can guarantee the three of us are better than a whole school-full of assholes like Logan running around looking to take out their anger on you.”
I shook my head. No. This isn’t happening. They couldn’t possibly think it was sane for me to even consider their “offer”. To throw myself at their mercy, hoping against all odds that they would be kinder to me than the other students here.
They wouldn’t be.
How could they, when Bishop was still standing less than a foot away from me, angry energy pulsing from him with such force I could feel it like a physical blow.
They wouldn’t protect me.
They’d destroy me.
Unthinking, I pushed at Bishop, shoving him as hard as I could before sprinting away. I needed to get him, get all of them, away from me. I needed to run, to escape this hellhole, to wake up from this never-ending nightmare—
But it was futile. I didn’t know who grabbed me, but before I could make it to any kind of safety, I was pulled back. Strong arms held against one of them while Bishop stepped in front of me again, looking down at me.
“Well. At least you’re a bit of a fighter,” he said with a chuckle. I was shocked to hear a measure of respect in his voice. Then his hazel eyes hardened like glass. “But I’d encourage you to weigh your options, Princess. We don’t give second chances.”
Ten
The house was quiet as I lay in bed that night, my thoughts tumbling around in my head too fast for me to sleep.
It was dark out. The stillness was something I still wasn’t used to. It made it feel like our tiny rental house—or maybe the whole neighborhood—was haunted. The walls held that kind of creepy, oppressive feeling that made it hard to fall asleep. This wasn’t the first night I had lain awake after a hot shower—or as hot as I could get it, considering lukewarm seemed to be the hottest setting for all the water in the house—staring up at my ceiling.
I had considered telling Mom about the Lost Boys’ proposal earlier. There had to be something I could do about… that. Wasn’t there? Some kind of rule against it, against that kind of blackmail and coercion.
But even if they existed, who could enforce those rules when the Lost Boys ruled the entire school?
Slateview High had a principal, dozens of teachers, and guidance counselors. There were people who were supposedly there to help the students get through their schooling, to deal with kids who broke rules or didn’t play well with others. But I had never once seen the admins intervene, and the more I thought about it, the more certain I became that going to the principal would only make my position at the school worse.
And if it came down to whether I wanted to deal with three dangerous, unpredictable boys or a whole school full of people like Logan and Serena, the choice wasn’t easy. I wasn’t sure how long I could survive having the whole school after me. And if I refused their offer, then I’d essentially be up against the school and the Lost Boys, who would have even more of a reason to retaliate against me…
Ugh. This is stupid. Honestly considering taking them up on their offer is insane.
I would be theirs, belong to them, in exchange for protection. What kind of protection was that?
My mind drifted back to the incident in the morning with Logan. How he’d so easily tugged me down a hall. The way he’d laughed as he’d groped me in full view of everyone. How people had encouraged him.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew where that’d been heading. And if the Lost Boys hadn’t shown up, I knew what would’ve happened. No one else would have stopped it; they probably would’ve thought it was what I deserved.
I sighed.
I wasn’t even sure anymore what I deserved. Surely it couldn’t be… whatever this fucked up situation was.
With a muffled groan, I rolled over, lifting my phone off its spot at the edge of the mattress to check the time. It was after one o’clock. I pressed the button to shut the screen off and forced my eyes closed. Maybe if I just kept them that way long enough, I might be able to drift off, to get some sleep. I’d need at least some kind of rest to be able to face the day tomorrow, with a school full of people who hated me and a trio of boys I still wasn’t sure were the better option.
