AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Kaia, these aren’t the type of questions I was expecting when you said you wanted answers,” Elijah grumbled into his lap, tugging with both hands on the hair at the back of his head. He continued to mumble under his breath, but I couldn’t make it all out.
I was grateful I couldn’t hear him; it couldn’t be good. He was practically shaking as his words came out through gritted teeth. After several awkward moments, he straightened, wrenching his hands from his hair, then raised an eyebrow at me.
Unfortunately for Elijah, E.Z. had caught on to my line of questioning and knew what I was getting at. He looked at Elijah rather than Aiden and me as a wicked smirk replaced his usual grin.
“Kaia Jelly Belly, it was just one prostitute. He has an addiction, Okay?” E.Z. said, completely straight-faced. He leaned forward, reaching across the table for my hand. Holding my fingers, he lowered his voice like he was trying to lessen the blow of his following words and was begging for my consideration. “It was an accident. You can’t blame Aiden for that. He was respectful afterward and buried the body. Deep.” His voice dropped an octave to stress just how deep. “Really deep. Where no one would find it. But at least she got a burial, right?”
“What are you guys talking about right now?” Griffin grumbled from his corner. His arms were crossed so tight it stretched the linen of his shirt beyond anything that should have been possible. So much so that I genuinely eyed the shirt, expecting it to burst its seams any minute.
E.Z.’s voice snapped me out of my distraction.
“Did anyone else notice our Kaia Shortcake was excited that Aiden fucked his mom?” E.Z. asked, practically glowing. A smirk that powerful must have hurt his freakin’ face.
“What!” My eyes flared open wide. “No, I wasn’t! I was excited to discover his secret, not that he’s a mother fucker!”
A twinkle of humor flaring in E.Z.’s eyes said he knew exactly what he was doing and enjoying the shit out of it. If I didn’t change the subject, it would only get far worse from there.
"You know what….” I waved them all off like they were the ones being ridiculous and not me. “Never mind. I don’t know how we got onto that line of questioning.”
“Neither do the rest of us,” Elijah deadpanned, then sat up straighter. “Why don’t I just lead from here? I really don’t feel like being up all night listening to any more of this nonsense.”
“No, Elijah,” E.Z. quickly defended me, losing his smirk. “I insist. Please let her continue. She’s doing great.” He paused for a moment, taking a breath. “I need to hear what else she will accuse Aiden of.”Maybe he wasn’t defending me after all.He lost all attempts at seriousness, and his smirk's full strength returned. “She hasn’t touched on that situation with the breadsticks yet.”
“Did that happen?” I gasped, leaning forward. There were too many rumors to possibly remember about Aiden’s disappearance, but that one was a doozy. Everyone knew that one.
“Nope. This is done.” Elijah jumped to his feet, looking enormous in the small cabin, towering over where the rest of us sat. He held his hands up at E.Z. and me, gesturing for us to stop talking, then pointed his finger in Aiden’s face and practically growled, “Do not answer that. I will talk from here on out.”
Aiden threw his hands up. “I didn’t—”
Elijah cut him off with a snarl. “I said. Do. Not. Speak.”
Poor Aiden, he looked so frazzled. Anyone who was a victim of that massive Ash-hole got my sympathy. I wanted to give him another hug.
Elijah started to pace the length of the cabin. He was back to pulling out his hair and looking like he was begging for patience. Maybe without such thick, glossy black hair, Elijah would look as unattractive on the outside as he was on the inside.
Despite how much of an asshole he was, I still wanted to replace his fingers with mine. His hair looked so soft and pulling it would give me a different emotion than frustration.
That thought angered me even more. Elijah was just piling on reasons for me to hate him.
“OK, so eventually, I want to know what is going on between you two,” I said, waving my hand between Elijah and Aiden while eyeing them, “but that can wait. Let's move this conversation along," I said to Elijah, who was still pacing across the cabin rigidly. “Before you wear a hole in the floor, why don’t you tell me what made the escape so urgent. They would have let me out eventually. Even Victor, who, by the way, is a complete dick…” I leered pointedly at Aiden, Victor’s son. He held his hands up, agreeing with me. I narrowed my eyes at him, then continued. “Even Victor talked about what would happen when they let me out. His proposition was downright awful, but it would have been better than watching Liam die.”
There was no need to go into further detail about the meeting; Elijah was there, after all. He could fill everyone in later. I couldn’t stomach going into all that again.
Elijah stopped his pacing and turned to me. “I overheard Victor secretly ordering someone to kill you. He had no intention of letting you out of that cell alive. It was supposed to happen this morning, so we had no choice but to rush an escape.”
Chapter11
Kaia
“What?” I exclaimed, my head jerking back in shock. “Why would Victor want to kill me? I am not a threat to them.”
I expected something about how the Keeper they chose was horrible, but that would not have justified leaving. That may have been the only acceptable explanation, yet I didn’t believe a word.
“I don’t know why they wanted you dead,” Elijah said. “I wouldn't believe it if I hadn’t overheard the conversation myself.”
“Why would anyone be conversing about a secret assassination plot where someone else could overhear them?” I asked, not buying any of this.
“They were in the late queen’s garden. No one is allowed there.”
