Page 6

Chapter Six

Archer

Seeing her again after so long has my head all fucked up. Vivian has always had that type of hold over me, all she had to do was enter a room and I would lose all train of thought. She became my sole focus.

Then she went and fucked me over.

She married Ezekiel, my best fucking friend. I used to dream of the day she would become Vivian Malik . Thanks to her need for power and revenge, she went and blew my fucking dream out of the water. She isn’t mine anymore—she’s his .

“You fuckers are going to stay away from my sister.” Vox sneers as he glares at each of us. Nova turns her back to Vox and faces us with a pleading look in her eyes. I don’t get it, even after all the fucked up shit he did to her— We did to her—she still stands here defending him, loving him and wanting him by her side.

I had that.

“What Vox is trying to say is?—”

Hayze cuts Nova off before she can finish. “You don’t have a fucking say in what we do, asshole.”

Vox scoffs and rolls his eyes like the condescending prick he is. “When it concerns my sister, I have every fucking say…” He lets his sentence trail off as he studies the three of us. When his eyes narrow and his lip lifts in a snarl, it hits me. When I look over at Ez, his mask is resting on the top of his head and poking out from under the hood of his jacket. “You motherfuckers hunted my sister, didn’t you?” It’s posed as a question but none of us answer.

Nova snorts, drawing our attention to her. “ A favor asked is a debt owed .” She snickers as she recites the line of the Filthy Few. We were once a brotherhood of our own until… everything went to shit. All our hard work, the pain and suffering we went through was for fucking nothing. The whole point of the Filthy Few was to find the proof we needed to get rid of Thomas and Nexus but our cause changed and became about protecting Vivian so she would never have to be blooded in. Before Nova showed up we knew Thomas was trying to find a way for Vivi to marry his cunt of a son to secure his place as the Lord of the Haven Saints.

“Why the fuck are you three going after my sister and forcing her to ask a favor?” The cold tone of Vox’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.

“We’re not,” Ez answers.

“Bullshit! Why the fuck are you bringing out the masks?” Vox has a hero complex right now and its starting to grate on every one of my fucking nerves.

“Because the Filthy Few isn’t just about you, dick, it’s about all of us and if we want to push her to ask a favor we will. As I recall, you managed to force Ezekiel’s sister to do the same thing,” I taunt but instantly feel like an asshole when Nova drops her gaze to the ground. Vox wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her flush against him as he shoots me a look I know all too well, he wants to break my face.

Bring it on .

I don’t have to hide now, he knows how I feel about his twin and I’m done hiding that shit. It’s time he realizes he doesn’t call the fucking shots around here anymore.

“Both of you shut the fuck up!” Hayze snaps, I turn to my brother and scowl. “Don’t fucking look at me like that, Archer!” He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before continuing. “Ez set us all up, can’t change that shit now, can we? I’m gonna be straight with you all, I want Vivian.” My jaw unhinges, Ezekiel looks just as shocked but it’s Vox who holds my attention. He doesn’t seem… surprised, nor does Nova. She just smiles proudly which is fucking weird. “I get it, you want to break our jaws then go ahead because I’m done playing this game where I act like I don’t notice her. I stepped back because I know Archer is in love with her.” I don’t get a chance to interject before he is pushing on. “I was okay as long as she was happy but then Ezekiel went and married her and fucked shit up.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point, Vox, is that I’m not backing down this time. I’m telling you this because of the friendship we once shared and that’s it.” Hayze steps forward only stopping an inch away from Nova, sandwiching her between them both. “Try and stand in my way or put a stop to this, I’ll break your nose and forget all about you once being my brother.” Hayze brushes past them without a backward glance.

“My sister’s the reason the three of you fled,” Vox mutters.

“No. We left because once again you and Ezekiel thought we were nothing but sheep the two of you fuckers could lead. He may have blindsided you with the whole marrying Vivi and shit, but everything else was on the both of you. As far as I’m concerned the both of you are dead to me. You got the girl and the ending you wanted but was it worth the price of your twin, best friends and The Brotherhood we created?” I don’t stick around for his answer, I chase after Hayze and catch up to him at the back of the dorms. He ignores me when I call out to him, so I run in front of him and block his path. Anger is burning in his green eyes, his chest is rising and falling in quick pants, his fists clenching at his sides. Out of the four of us, Ez and Vox were always tighter with each other than us but the same can be said for me and Hayze. We’re all brothers but even siblings have favorites. I know Hayze like I know myself, which is why I know he needs to be the one to speak first. If I do it, we will end up throwing hands and that’s not what either of us needs right now.

It takes him a minute to regulate his breathing, eventually sighing and scrubbing a hand down his face and that’s all I need to know we aren’t going to fight.

“Why didn’t you tell me how you felt about Vi?” I say barely above a whisper. In truth, I’m scared of his answer because much like him, I would rather see him happy with the girl and watch from the sidelines than break my best friend's heart by finally getting the girl I’ve always wanted.

Hayze tugs on the strands of his hair and begins to pace around in front of me. Out of the four of us, he is the more approachable and easy going except when it comes to his feelings, he hates talking about how he feels and always closes everyone out. The only person I have ever seen with the power to get him to open up is the girl that apparently both of us want and it would seem Ez wants her too, which makes this whole situation so fucked up!

“How the fuck was I supposed to tell you?” he growls.

My lungs deflate as I shove my hands in my pants pockets and rock back on my heels. “I don’t know, H.”

He stops pacing and faces me, the pained look in his eyes shreds my chest open. “The night of Darion’s party, we went to celebrate after we won the championship game.”

I frown. “What about the party?”

“That was the night I knew I first wanted her.” My brows nearly hit my fucking hairline.

“That was years ago!”

He nods. “That was freshman year.”

“I know!” I snap.

“But even before then, I knew I liked her, I just didn’t realize how much until that night. When she showed up with Vox, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.”

“Why didn’t you fucking say anything?” I shout.

“Because you were fucking looking at her the same way!” he roars. Understanding dawns on me, I remember that night because it was the first time I had even busted a move on Vivi that I couldn’t pass off as an accidental touch or something like that. That night, I kissed her.

“You pulled back because of me,” I mutter.

He throws his hands in the air. “Yes. I was good with it, I swear, but then…” He doesn’t need to finish, I already know what he is going to say.

“Ezekiel went and married her and made her fair game.” A whoosh of air escapes him as he nods.

“Yeah,” he whispers. I run my gaze over my best friend and hate myself for not seeing the signs earlier. For years he hid his feelings, but now, I see them clear as day. He’s hung up on Vivian and it’s scaring the shit out of him. Not only that, I know it's weighing on him that he’s still just as pissed with her as I am but it's the unknown that would be killing him.

Does she feel the same way about him as he does her?

A pit forms in my stomach, a part of me always knew he was different with her but being the selfish bastard I am, I chose to block it out and not see what was right in front of me. For years he stood back and watched me fuck up with Vivian. Every time I hurt her, it was him that would sit with her, cuddle her on the couch and watch her favorite movie to cheer her up.

What the fuck are we going to do now?