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I take that as my cue and stand to leave, but the second my chair scrapes back, a hand wraps around my wrist.
“Don’t fuck this up, Little Bird. Just keep your head down and your gaze averted. You might not last the week, but don’t fucking bring us down with you.” Eldon’s eyes shimmer with a rage that catches me so completely off-guard that any kind of verbal response is lost in me. It’s a complete contrast to the carefree grin he offered moments earlier.
Actions speak louder than words though and I really don’t take too kindly to being grabbed like that. Punching him in the gut, I’m met with tense muscles, but I still manage a dig harsh enough to make him grunt.
His groan echoes around me as I get the fuck out of there, slamming my bedroom door shut behind me as quickly as I can, too nervous to chance a peek over my shoulder as I go.
That was probably more aggressive than necessary, but he just reminded me that no one can be trusted. He needs to know I’m not a weak push over, an easy target, or someone that will effortlessly fall in line at his order.
I’m panting as my back hits the wood, prepared for some kind of response, but nothing comes except a short, sharp laugh, and I could swear it’s Brax, but that’s impossible. Right?
Nevermind surviving Silvercrest, I need to survive living in this goddamn house.
6
ELDON
Beads of sweat trickle down my spine as my muscles strain beneath the unforgiving rays of the early-morning sun. My hair drapes over my eyes as I lower my body to the ground once more, grunting, and lift myself back through the push up before doing it again.
“Ninety-two,” Zane calls out. “Ninety-three.”
“You’re being a pain in my ass,” I gripe, repeating the motion again, but my snark doesn’t stop him from continuing.
“Ninety-four…”
I don’t need him to count and he knows it. But he was out here earlier than me this morning, which certainly isn’t the norm, and now he’s grinning from ear to ear because he’s gone through his exercises already.
Fucker.
It’s not my fault. I couldn’t help it. I woke before my alarm was due to go off, disappointment racking my veins as I gasped from the dream I was torn from. A dream which involved a naked Raven and my cock. Just as I was about to paint her with my cum, I woke up and had to finish myself off because there was no way in hell my solid-as-fuck cock would go unnoticed otherwise.
The memory of the vision infiltrates my thoughts once more, my dick stirring beneath my shorts, but I force myself to trample it back down. I can’t remember the last time I had a wet dream, especially not over someone I just met, but it was so vivid. Her creamy skin beneath my olive palm, her bright pink hair fisted in my grip, and that sassy mouth of hers raw and red from the abuse of my cock.
She literally knocked the wind out of me last night when she unexpectedly jabbed me in the gut, but it seems that’s a turn on.
“One hundred,” Zane hollers, slowly clapping as he pulls me from my thoughts, and I stop, falling back to my knees as I take a breath.
Reaching for my bottle of water, I glance out over the edge of the cliff, mesmerized by the ripples of water in the distance and the charming way the sun cascades over the peaks. The view is too stunning for a place like this. We’re unworthy of it, really, and I can’t help but soak it up every day, letting the calmness attempt to brighten my darkened soul and tainted past.
It doesn’t last for long though, reality always rearing its ugly head.
“Fuck off, Zane. Your clapping is pissing me off too,” Brax bites from across the grass where he’s working through some deadlifts. Zane shuts up, much to my annoyance since he completely bypassed my irritation but listens to him.
Creed flops down beside me, perspiration clinging to him as he closes his eyes and tilts his face up to the sky. “Remind me why we do this to ourselves again?”
“Because we have to do better, be stronger, and outwit these fuckers if we want to survive the year, and the next, and the next,” I state. As much as I get a rush from the adrenaline, a nice dopamine boost from all of this, I’d much rather be curled up in my sheets with my dick in my hand. Unfortunately, it really is a matter of life or death.
“We probably should have woken Raven up for this too,” Creed murmurs, and my lips purse.
“From the swing she took at me last night, I’d say she’s not as weak as you think.”
“Are you sure, or just too chicken to admit that you’re soft?” Brax says with a chuckle, and I stick my finger up at him. He knows that’s not the case, but he doesn’t want to admit she’s not as weak as he first expected. “Besides, she ran her mouth about the food last night, she needs a reality check today. She needs to see we’re not fucking around and this is serious shit.”
“And how does that look to you? Just walking her into the lion’s den and letting her die?” Zane asks, his brows furrowing slightly at the words on his tongue. Brax shrugs, too accustomed to this life to offer any kind of empathy.
“Of course not,” Creed mutters, still not opening his eyes as he sighs. “Ignore Brax. She’s one of us. We protect her just like we would protect each other.”
“Says who?” Brax barks, clearly not appreciating how this is going.
