AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You don’t think I need to know every little bit of information about the organization that kidnapped me? Killed my friend? Tried to kill Ryker?” My voice rises in pitch with each word I speak, until I’m almost screaming. “Keeping secrets is what started this entire mess in the first place!”
Raymond jumps to his feet, and the aggressive movement causes both Landon and Ryker to rise as well, boxing me in, their shoulders brushing my own.
“I’m trying to keep you safe!” he roars.
“I can’t be safe if I don’t have answers!” Tears of indignation prick the backs of my eyes. “Just tell me the truth.”
He scowls at me, and I can’t help but think that he has never looked more different from my dad. Meaner. Angrier. Scarier, too. “This is why I don’t tell you everything, Ellie. You’re too goddamn emotional. You’re going to get yourself and everyone you love killed.”
“Shut up.” My nails dig into the fleshy part of my palm as I tighten my fist.
“There are some things that need to remain buried,” he continues, his eyes dark with anger. “You’re just a damn child?—”
“I haven’t been a child in way too fucking long,” I interrupt, my tone acerbic. “Not since my parents were apparently murdered by The Divine One.”
“Maybe they deserved to die!” Raymond snaps, and his words… They're a slap to the face. I physically stagger backward, as if he punched me. “Maybe the world is a better place without them in it. Did you ever think of that?”
I don’t know what comes over me then. It could be raw, unencumbered fury. It could also be grief. Or maybe I simply snap, the thin tether connecting me to my sanity severing irreparably.
The next thing I know, I’m punching Raymond in the face.
Oh… Fuck.
15
ELLIE
“Istill can’t believe you did that, princesa.” Zane holds an ice pack to my busted knuckles, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
And heat.
Lots of heat.
Trust the resident psychopath to get turned on by me punching someone.
“Yeah, well, that makes two of us.” I cringe when Zane applies a little more pressure with the ice, causing pain to reverberate through my hand.
I’ve never punched someone before, and apparently, you’re supposed to keep your thumb outside of your fist. Lilly told me that at one of our lessons, but I’d been too fueled with adrenaline and fury to pay her words any mind.
I just wanted Raymond to hurt.
Now, I’m facing the consequences of my actions after being unceremoniously kicked out of the hotel. Of course, Raymond had been much more diplomatic than that. He didn’t say, “Get the hell off of my property!” But he had strongly suggested that we go our separate ways and reconvene when everyone is more “level-headed.”
Guilt pricks at me when I remember the blood gushing from his nostrils.
“You should’ve seen his face.” Landon snickers from where he’s sprawled on the armchair, his legs spread wide, like his dick is too big to fit comfortably. The thought makes my cheek flush, arousal briefly overshadowing the pain from my injuries.
“Did you get a picture?” Zane asks seriously.
Beckett leans forward to hit him over the back of my head. “Don’t be a wanker. Of course, he doesn’t have a picture.” Then, almost as an afterthought, his multi-colored eyes turn contemplative, and he cocks his head to the side. “Wait…do you?”
Landon rolls his eyes but chooses not to answer.
The five of us sit in the living area of the dorm room. Landon has claimed one armchair while Dominic sits on the other. Beckett and Zane both sit on either side of me, an eerily similar position to the one Ryker and Landon took when we visited my uncle. And just like with Ryker and Landon, I can feel an almost palpable heat radiating from their skin, infusing me in warmth.
“So, do we believe him?” Dominic folds his arms over his chest. He’s wearing a distracting pair of gray sweatpants—something that should be illegal—and a white tank top that accentuates his toned muscles. I have to physically stop myself from drooling whenever I stare up at him.
And then his words register, a metaphorical bucket of ice water being tossed over my head.
