Page 2 of Deviant Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 4)

So why does it feel like he was here? Like he was watching me?

There’s another bang, and after a few seconds and a glance at the clock, I realise that it’s just Dad back from work.

“Fuck my life,” I mutter, throwing the covers off and padding down to the bathroom, hoping that splashing my face with cold water will wash away the lingering fear that dream dragged up.

I shouldn’t be scared.

I’m not scared.

At least, that’s what I continue to tell myself.

I pee without putting the light on before ripping the door open again and coming face to face with a shadow in the darkness.

A terrified shriek rips from my lips before light floods the hallway and burns my eyes. They instantly water, but I blink, forcing them to focus.

“What’s wrong?” Dad asks, ducking down so he’s eye level with me.

“N-nothing. I was just still half asleep,” I lie. “I wasn’t expecting to find anyone loitering out here.”

“I wasn’t—whatever. You should go back to bed.”

I nod at him, although I already know that I’m not going to be going back to sleep anytime soon.

Closing my bedroom door, I lean back on it and tip my head to the ceiling.

I’m fucking exhausted.

Almost every single night since that night, I’ve had the exact same nightmare. Each time there’s something a little different, but every single time it concludes with Theo putting an end to the bullshit tension that’s between us.

It’s stupid.

I mean, I know he hates me. He’s made that more than obvious in the weeks since I started at Knight’s Ridge and somehow managed to find my way into his life. But I’m not sure he’d ever waste the time or energy to actually kill me.

Pushing from the door, I stalk back over to my bed and pull the covers around me while my eyes continue to adjust to the darkness once more.

It’s December, it’s arctic outside, yet still, the curtains billow in the wind from my open window. Something that drives my dad insane.

“If you want to get a job and pay the gas bill, then feel free.”

I laugh, hearing his voice in my head as clearly as if he’d just said it.

Tugging the sheets up to my chin, I lie on my side, watching the movement of the curtains and the different shapes that appear on the wall from the streetlights outside.

Eventually, the lingering fear from my dream begins to fade, and finally, I drift back off into a peaceful sleep.

Although, when my alarm blares the next morning, I don’t feel anywhere near rested.

With heavy limbs, I dress for school, pulling on the fucking awful uniform complete with pleated skirt and tie, and drag my hair back into a low ponytail. I don’t have the time or patience to do anything else with it.

My makeup, however… I spend plenty of time on that, perfecting my dark, brooding, resting bitch face.

With a spray of my favourite perfume, I double-check my face, making sure my heavy winged liner is on point, and tap my fingertip to my lip to make sure the deep red has dried before throwing my bag over my shoulder and swiping my leather jacket from the chair.

“Morning, Em,” Piper, Dad’s fiancée, sings when I join her in the kitchen.

Like most mornings, Dad is nowhere to be seen after working long into the night before scaring the ever-loving shit out of me.

“Excited for your last few days at school?” she asks, kickstarting the coffee machine beside her.