Page 18

EIGHTEEN

JORDAN

“ W here the hell is Seven?” I asked, glancing around the cafeteria. It was nearly twenty minutes into dinner, and he was still MIA. It didn’t bother me that he might have skipped out on a meal, it bothered me that just this morning, Rosalie had pulled him in to talk to her and he’d acted weird the rest of the day.

Archer shrugged, his fingers wrapped around his fork. A darkness lurked within his gaze as if he was following that same train of thought. “Rosalie’s not here, either.”

Alarm bells echoed around my skull, my gaze drifting to the table she normally sat at. Sure enough, the chair she usually sat in was empty. A lump formed in my throat. It was no secret that Seven hated her. Now, they were both missing. He wouldn’t kill her…right? Not when he knew we’d notice his absence when she conveniently went missing. I’d been so focused on keeping her away from Ryder when I didn’t even think to shield her from Seven, too. He could be just as brutal.

By the time dinner ended, neither one of them had made an appearance. We were the last two to leave the cafeteria, my head spinning with all the possible outcomes.

“What the fuck?” Archer ground out through clenched teeth.

My eyebrows dipped in confusion, and I followed his line of sight. In front of Rosalie’s door was Seven and Rosalie. He was shirtless and it didn’t look like she was wearing anything but his shirt that brushed along the tops of her thighs. Their skin was flushed, pupils still blown wide. It was abundantly clear what they’d been doing.

The little virgin was a virgin no more.

I figured Archer would be happy about that fact since he blatantly told Seven he could be her first, but the way he was staring them down with a slight tick in his jaw had me taking a step back to assess the situation.

They still didn’t notice us as we cut the distance between us. Her back was to her door, Seven turned away from us as he reached forward and ran his fingers over the edge of her jaw. It was an intimate gesture; one I wasn’t sure he was even capable of. Did he like her?

As long as I’d known Seven, the only person he’d ever been soft toward was Archer, and even then, their relationship was filled with testosterone. Not gentle gestures and softness in their gazes as they stared one another down. This felt different, and Archer noticed it, too.

When we grew closer, Rosalie’s eyes flicked to us before they widened comically. Reluctantly, Seven dropped his hand to his side and turned, his shoulders tensing when his gaze clashed with Archer’s like he didn’t intend on gloating about this to us later.

Just to be sure, I walked right up to Rosalie, slipping my fingers beneath the hem of her shirt and swiping them along her entrance. She was soaking. A choked gasp fled her lips, her hands balling into fists at her sides as she fought the urge to shove me away.

I smirked in response, raising my fingers in the air for the other two to see. Blood trickled down my wrist, confirming what we already presumed happened. Seven shot me a glare before storming up to me.

“I said her blood was mine,” he growled, latching onto my wrist and wrapping his lips around my fingers before I could even think of tasting it for myself.

If anyone else had done that, I’d lay them the fuck out, but it was Seven. He got a free pass, but only one.

Rosalie glanced between us in confusion. “What?” she asked, turning to look at Seven.

He schooled his features, probably for our benefit more than for his. He wanted to act like it meant nothing, but maybe it didn’t. He could have just been dazed by lust.

“This was premeditated?” she continued, an edge to her tone that indicated she didn’t like that fact one bit, that she was hoping he’d deny it.

He snorted in response, a cold lens sliding over his blue eyes. “Of course it was. It’s not everyday you get to pop someone’s cherry.”

Her eyebrows tugged together again, her jaw set as she clenched it, mulling over his words. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest. Seven was an opportunist. Archer was watching her closely before his own brows pulled together. Stepping forward, he grabbed the neck of her shirt and tugged it down enough to reveal fresh cuts along her flesh.

He sucked in a sharp breath before stumbling backward and glancing at Seven. “You cut her,” he accused, an edge of hurt to his tone.

Seven ignored him, focusing back on Rosalie instead. “Since you’re not very bright, let me spell it out for you. It was a game, and you were an eager participant.” He smirked, a malicious curl to his lips.

Her eyes watered, but to her credit, she steeled her spine and took a step toward him. “Then game over.” Before anyone knew what was happening, she reeled her arm back and decked him in the face, the sound of her fist connecting with his jaw echoed through the hallway. His head snapped to the side with the impact, and she turned and slipped into her room, slamming the door behind her.

I snorted in amusement as he rubbed his face, glaring at the door like it had offended him.

“You deserved that,” I offered.

He shrugged carelessly. “Maybe. But I’ll get her back for that.” After the effects of her punch wore off, he dropped his hand to his side. “Might not want to leave her alone, though. She lured me out to the woods so I could kill her.”

Archer tensed. “What?” he demanded.

“Why didn’t you?” I asked.

Seven rolled his eyes like this entire conversation was pointless. “Because I’d be suspect number one obviously. Neither one of us were at dinner.” He ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “Anyways, I need to get this bitch’s blood off my dick. I’m taking a shower. She’s your problem now.” He turned and took off without a backwards glance.

Archer’s fists were tight at his sides as he watched his retreating figure. “Fucking dick,” he growled under his breath.

Agreed. He knew she was suicidal. Went to the woods regardless, with no intention of actually killing her because he knew he’d be found out, took her virginity, then laughed in her face about it. That was cold. Even for me.

I remembered the way it felt after I’d come to my senses and realized what I’d done to my own family. I remembered the look on Valentine’s face as he crumpled to the floor. For a year straight, my mind was plagued with morbid fantasies of taking my own life, knowing everyone would be better off. It wasn’t that I pitied Rosalie, because most of the people in this place have had similar thoughts at least once. But most of us haven’t acted on it. Not like she did or tried to do.

Archer’s words cut through my thoughts, and I was slightly relieved by the distraction, even if it was a temporary one. “Did you see that cut on her neck?” he asked.

I frowned and shook my head. I’d been too focused on wondering if Seven had actually fucked her or not to worry about any of the marks on her skin.

“It looks like either she, or Seven were going to slice it. The way it’s positioned across her neck. One of them started to do just that but stopped for some reason.” He bit into his lower lip, his eyes flashing with warring emotions like he was working to piece it all together. Finally, he released a loaded sigh. “Guess it doesn’t really matter. He met up with her with the intent of killing her. It doesn’t matter that he had a change of heart. He’s a selfish, heartless, piece of shit.”

My gaze jerked to his, my stomach recoiling with his words. “Archer…” I trailed off with reluctance, not liking the tone of his voice one bit, or the change in his demeanor.

“It’s done,” he growled. “Fuck him and fuck you if you’re siding with him.” He started walking, knocking his shoulder against mine before disappearing into his room at the end of the hall.

They both acted like hormonal little bitches. Clearly, he was so pissed off that he didn’t realize we still had a tiny little problem. Groaning, my head tipped back, the blinding white lights nearly crippling my sight. Huffing, I crossed the hall and opened Rosalie’s bedroom door.

She was facing the wall, the blanket tugged beneath her legs as she cradled the stuffed bear against her chest—the one Seven had mentioned merely weeks ago. I wasn’t sure if she heard me enter, but I knew she was awake. Her breathing was erratic, and it only took me a few moments to realize she was crying. Her bare legs looked unexpectedly smooth. I guess I just always figured that virgins didn’t care much about body hair since they weren’t getting any action. I’d never paid much attention to her legs before now to notice.

“You know,” I started, smirking when her body jerked with surprise. She didn’t bother to look at me, though. “It’s kind of an insult. We had a deal, little trouble. Your safety for whatever I want in return. You tried to bow out before repaying me.”

“What does it matter to you?” she retorted with a bite to her tone.

I let the door fall closed behind me and made my way to her bed, sinking down on the edge. She tensed, acutely aware of my presence and how close I was now. The shirt rode up so high on her, that the curve of her ass was visible. It took everything in me not to reach out and touch her.

Do it while she’s vulnerable.

Fuck her.

Make her tears yours.

I swallowed thickly, drowning the voices out just like I’d done the last time we’d been alone. It was hard, almost impossible sometimes, but occasionally, they’d relent.

“I care because you tried to take the coward’s way out.”

She scoffed, the only indication that she was phased by what I’d said at all. “It’s not cowardly to want the pain to stop,” she murmured. “To want the nightmares to stop.”

I didn’t care enough to even try to understand her reasoning. We had a deal, and soon, I would collect. Once my payment was received, she could go do whatever the fuck she wanted to herself. It made no difference to me.

“If people see you like this, they’ll feed off it.”

“Good. Maybe they’ll put me out of my misery since Seven was too coward to do it.”

I sighed and stood again. Striding across the room, I encased us in darkness before making my way back to her bed. “Scoot over,” I ordered.

She was silent for a few moments. “Why?”

“Because I don’t trust you not to do something stupid. So, move the hell over before I move you my goddamn self.” She huffed in annoyance, but she obeyed, the sheets shuffling with her movements.

Kicking off my shoes, I slid up beside her, lying on my back with my arm beneath my head. My heart thudded to a steady rhythm as the darkness started clouding my vision. Not because I was tired, but because the darkness lurked beneath my skin, always on the brink of surfacing. Archer was an idiot for forgetting that she needed a damn babysitter, leaving me of all people to do it. I was always on the brink of slipping into my mind, allowing the demons to take hold of me and consume my body from the inside out. I’d been putting them off for as long as possible, but they’d make an appearance eventually.

“How do you do it?” she whispered with her back still toward me.

My eyebrows dipped in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sighing, she turned to face me, her warm breath fluttering against the side of my face. “You act like everything’s fine, even after all you’ve done. The things you said to Valentine…did you mean that, or was that just a defense mechanism?”

My jaw ached as my teeth slid against each other. “I didn’t come here for pillow talk. We didn’t even fuck to warrant it. If that’s what you’re looking for, Seven’s room is right down the hall.”

She blew out a breath of frustration but was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. What did she think this was? That I’d become some shiny white knight? No. Everything I’d done so far to protect her had been for my own benefit. She was too na?ve for her own good. Without me or Archer coming to her aid, she’d probably already be dead, and not by her own hand.

Once Rosalie managed to fall asleep, I allowed myself to crash, too. She’d been royally fucked. There was no way she was waking up before me.

I awoke to my breath leaving my body, my oxygen depleting within my brain as I tried to figure out what the hell was happening. It was hard to see anything through the blanket of darkness that surrounded the room. For a moment, I thought it was merely a panic attack. I hated sleeping in unfamiliar places. But as the haze slowly disintegrated from my brain, I realized, someone was choking me.

Not someone.

Rosalie.

Had I really underestimated her? Was she truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be the frail innocent girl that needed protection? If I hadn’t dipped my fingers along her pussy, I wouldn’t have believed she was a virgin. Her grip was strong around my throat, her palm crushing my windpipe. How could someone as small as her be as strong as she was?

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, and the moon peeking through the window highlighted her face. If she wasn’t stealing my breath from my lungs, I might have gasped. Her pupils were gone, nothing but white staring back at me. Like she wasn’t herself, trapped within her mind as the darkness swallowed her whole. It did that to me sometimes, too.

I pried her fingers from around my throat with ease. She might have been strong for a girl, but I was much stronger. My heart thundered against my ribcage. How did I make her snap out of it? In her dazed state, she reached for me again, but this time, I wrapped my hand around her throat and slammed her against the mattress, positioning her body beneath mine. It didn’t work. Her nails bit into my bare arms, pain slicing through the skin. With my other hand I slapped her across the face. Hard.

She gasped, her body bucking beneath me. Slowly, her pupils dropped back into the center of her eyes. It was fucking sinister.

“Did you just fucking hit me?” she growled. “While I was sleeping?”

A breath of relief whooshed out of me, and I released my grip on her throat before rolling off of her, not even wanting to think about how good her body felt beneath mine. She was still wearing Seven’s shirt. That thought left a bitter aftertaste in my mind.

“You’re the dumb bitch who attacked me,” I shot back, my chest heaving with adrenaline.

She was silent for a few moments, her breaths coming in sharp and fast from being startled out of whatever that had been. I’d never seen anything like it before, and that was saying something. “What?” she finally asked. “That’s not possible…”

“Well, it happened.” I paused, glancing over at her again. “Were you dreaming?”

“I was having a nightmare,” she admitted. “I have them every night. Why?”

I shrugged, shaking my head. “Nothing. Go back to sleep. And don’t attempt killing me again,” I warned. “Next time, I’ll snap you out of it with my dick inside you.”

She didn’t bother responding. I waited for her breathing to grow heavy before allowing myself the chance to drift off again. Crazy ass bitch.

Rosalie was still sleeping when I woke up. Her blonde hair fanning out around her. She looked peaceful, like she hadn’t just attempted to murder me in my sleep mere hours ago. My gaze drifted down her body, and my breath hitched at the sight before me. The shirt had managed to slide up over her hips, either from me slamming her down on the bed, or from her restlessly tossing and turning. Her ass was round, bigger than I would have expected. Her thighs were thick, helping to hide her pussy from my prying eyes.

It had been a long time since a girl had even come close to making my dick hard. Options were limited here, and I was more of a one and done type of guy. Didn’t kiss, and didn’t eat pussy. Sex was a transaction, and I made sure they knew it before indulging them. Most of the time, anyways. It depended on the situation.

My hand came down hard on her ass and she startled awake with a yelp.

“What the hell, Jordan?” she snapped, scrambling into a sitting position, doing her best to cover anything she didn’t want me to see with the shirt she was wearing. She glared at me, staring me down like she was fantasizing about murdering me the next chance she got. Been there, done that. Only mildly impressed. “You don’t get to barge into my room, babysit me, and then wake me up like?—”

I rolled my eyes. “Breakfast time,” I clipped, cutting her sentence short. “You might want to shower first. You smell like sloppy sex and your cunt has a nasty twang to it.”

Her cheeks turned pink, and it took everything not to grin. I was lying through my teeth. I couldn’t smell her, but she did need a shower. It looked like a rat had made a home within her hair, there was dry blood on her skin, and dirt on her palms. She shot me a glare, the flush still coloring her neck and face from my latest comment. She scrambled off the bed and walked over to her closet, flinging the door open.

Once she’d gathered the clothes she wanted to wear, she turned to face me again. “I don’t need a babysitter,” she snapped, an edge of annoyance to her voice.

It was interesting watching her come out of her shell. When she first got here, she’d been so quiet and timid. Slowly, she was breaking out of that shell and hardening into something more. Maybe she’d have a chance of surviving this place, after all.

“Tell that to Archer and Seven.” I leaned my back against the wall, my eyes trailing down her body.

She winced at Seven’s name, as if hearing it was nothing but a painful reminder. It probably was. She let the bastard take her virginity and then he started treating her like shit right after it. She couldn’t have actually expected anything different from him, right? Since she arrived, he’d been nothing but an asshole to her. She might have been emotional and suicidal, but that didn’t change who he was. Even if he did say nice things to bring her guard down. With him, everything was a game. The sooner she realized that, the better off she’d be.

“Could have fooled me,” I drawled.

She rolled her eyes and turned toward the door, slipping out into the hallway. My gaze darted around her room, taking in the white walls, dirty clothes hamper, and bags positioned near her closet. There was nothing interesting about it—nothing that set it apart from the other rooms in the facility. Mine wasn’t much different either. I’d thought about painting the walls, but what was the point? Eventually, I’d run out of space and paint.

Glancing over, the stuffed bear Seven had mentioned was seated in the corner of the bed with its back to the wall and its black, beady eyes staring me down. Reaching over, I took the bear between my hands, looking it over. Its fur was softer than expected, sinking beneath the weight of my fingertips.

It looked like an average bear. What was so special about it?

I turned it over in my hands, my gaze skimming over the material of its back, until something gave me pause. A tie was wrapped around its neck, but on the back of it was a name.

Daisy .

Rosalie had mentioned that her sister had been killed at the hand of her stepfather. Did this belong to her? It would make sense why she was so protective over it if that was the case. Placing the bear back where I’d found it, I brought myself to my feet. Maybe I shouldn’t have allowed her to go shower all by herself. Anyone could have found her between the short walk from here and there.

I made my way out into the hall and headed for the women’s bathroom. When I poked my head around a corner, there were a few girls already in here. One of them being Shaylynn. When her eyes found mine, they widened. Luckily, she was dressed. Not that it would have stopped me.

“Why are you in the girl’s bathroom?’ Shay asked, glancing behind me like my friends would be lurking around the corner, waiting for the opportunity to strike at my command.

I ignored her, drifting toward the shower stalls. A few girls were naked, their eyes blowing wide in both fear and panic as they attempted to cover themselves. Toward the back wall was Rosalie. Her hair was damp, falling over her shoulders. To her relief, she was already dressed, her head turning in my direction, like she could sense me. Her jaw tightened in annoyance, but she was smart enough not to get an attitude with me. There were only so many threats I had left before I inevitably started acting on them.

She shot me a scathing glare as she brushed past me, holding her clothes to her chest. The skirt swayed around her thighs with her quick movements, and I had to jog to catch up to her. She didn’t slow, though. Not until she was pushing through her bedroom door and dropping her clothes and bathing products off.

“Do I need to file a restraining order?” she demanded, returning to the hall.

I laughed at that. “Not so sure it works that way in a place like this.”

She shrugged. “Maybe they’ll move me to a different facility.”

I nodded thoughtfully, stepping into stride with her. “Do it then. It’s not like I want to watch you constantly.” That was the truth. I’d much rather be holed up in my room drawing or sitting out in the garden.

“Then why are you?”

“We had a deal, remember? I keep you alive and you pay me back.”

She scoffed and moved ahead of me. She jumped in the cafeteria line, but lucky for her, I wasn’t much of a breakfast person. I’d let her escape me for now. Instead, I made my way to the table where Seven sat.

“Where’s Archer?” I asked, dropping into the seat beside him.

He clenched his jaw. “Don’t know, don’t care.”

I’d known them long enough to know that they’d work this out. They could beat the shit out of each other, swear to hate one another, and push each other’s buttons. But they’d always come back together like a pair of magnets. This wasn’t the first time they’d been at one another’s throats. Though, it was the first time that a girl had weaseled her way in between them.

As long as I’d known both Archer and Seven, girls were temporary for them. For me, too. It didn’t matter that Archer was obsessed with Rosalie. Like all obsessions, it would end eventually. She was new and different. That was the appeal. Once she gave into what he wanted, he’d get bored of her like all the girls before her.

“What the fuck?’ Seven growled with a dangerous edge to his tone.

I glanced over at him, but his eyes were focused on something across the room. His jaw was coiled tight with tension, his nostrils flaring. Following his line of sight, I shook my head in disbelief. Archer had just sat down next to Rosalie at the table she normally occupied for mealtimes.

“Seven…” I trailed off, knowing he was on the verge of combusting.

“No,” he growled. “If they want to play, we’ll play.”