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I internally scoffed at that. Talking or remotely hearing anything about our so-calledfatherwas the last fucking thing I wanted to do or think about, but since he brought it up, I had to ask, “Is he here?”
“He should be. He’s probably in one of the locker rooms giving the recruits a pep talk.”
Damnit.
And that’s exactly where they were taking me.
Straight tohim.
Rhett had already filled me in on what I’d missed when he’d taken me to see the vet, so I was lucidly aware that Xavier—excuse me, I mean Niccolò—knew I was not only raped, but he knew about the meeting I had with Jerimiah and how he’d exposed all of my father’s dirty little secrets, and then some. He’d want to talk to me, but I wasn’t ready to see him, much less be face-to-face in the same room with him yet. There were years upon years of pent-up rage, pain, and resentment amassed inside of me. Keeping myself in check was a promise I couldn’t make to anybody, not even myself. I was liable to attack him.
I stopped walking when Rhett got us through the crowd and paused outside of a large metal door, which made Phantom’s large body slam into me from behind. The painful vibrations tingling through my limbs had me hissing under my breath and stumbling to catch my footing.
“Fuck, Samara.” Phantom grabbed ahold of my shoulders, leveling me back out. “Are you okay?”
“I can’t see him,” my voice shook. “I-I’ll kill him…”
Rhett grabbed my hand again and moved me away from the door and the other warm bodies around us.
“Listen to me.” He gently cradled my face, staring deeply into my eyes as my chest began to heave. “I know you’re angry, but you can’t lose control in there. Not in front of the other recruits. All that rage you’re feeling, save it for the trial.”
“He’s right, Samurai.” Isaac walked around me and stood beside Rhett, his sad eyes surveying me in my enraged state. “I want to kill him too, but as much as it hurts, we can’t. If he dies, Damien wins.”
“There’s a time and place for everything,” Phantom spoke next, moving to stand alongside his brothers. “And this isnotit. You’ll have your moment with him. That, we can promise. But not here, Samara.” He cupped my chin when I looked away andthen forced my gaze back on him, casting that weird fucking spell his eyes seemed to have over me. “Not. Here.”
Damnhim.
“Fine.” I pulled away and nodded weakly, my heart in my throat. “I won’t do anything crass. I promise.”
None of them looked convinced, but after a moment Rhett finally spun on his heel and opened the door, waving us inside.
Xavier was here as expected. I didn’t bother paying him any bit of attention when he was explaining the rules to me and my fellow recruits. We were ordered to dress in the apparel Sharkey and Prim were nice enough to provide for all the recruits and to wait in our designated locker room for further instruction. When he was gone, it took Kinsley no time at all to find me.
“FUCK NO!” she raged beside me as we sat on the bench, tears swelling against her eyes as she watched Rhett add another impossibly thick layer of Icy Hot against the bruises spread along my stomach and lower back. “You’renotdoing this. I-I won’t let you.”
She was already dressed and ready to go in her black athletics bra and matching shorts, her brown hair thrown up in a high ponytail. The amount of vaseline she’d rubbed all over her face had her flawless skin glistening under the lighting.
“Who did this to you?” she demanded, rising to her feet. “Tell me and I’ll go kick their fucking teeth in—”
“Kinsley, stop,” I pleaded, shaking my head as Rhett got up and instructed me to hold the end of the compression wrap against my side so he could wrap it around my injuries. “I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
“Bullshit,” she snapped right back at me, her chest heaving. “Where’s Xavier? I’ll make him fucking listen—”
“There’s nothing you can do, Kinsley.” Rhett stopped wrapping me up like a Christmas present long enough to look at her. “Just drop it, okay?”
“I will just as soon as I get some answers. Who the fuck did that shit to her?”
Kinsley’s harsh glare never wavered the longer she continued to scrutinize Rhett, who sighed and shifted his gaze to me for approval, frowning.
“It was Damien,” I answered as calmly as I could manage. “We got in an argument, and then he beat me. There, are you happy now?”
Rage instantly swarmed Kinsley’s face, her nostrils flaring. “That mother fucker,” she growled, her fists trembling at her sides. “Is that why I haven’t heard from you and why those assholes,” she jeered in Rhett’s direction, “wouldn’t let me see you?”
“Yes,” Rhett answered with an annoyed sigh. “She’s been through a lot. She needed to heal.”
“You’re unbelievable. You should’ve let me be there for her.”
“Since when do you give a fuck?” Rhett cocked his head to the side, pinning her with a nasty glare. “You’re only using her to save your own ass. Tell me I’m wrong.”
