Page 35 of Loving the Tormentor

He smiles at me with that handsome face of his and points behind him with his thumb. "Chris is here to see you."

Now that's a great way to ruin my high.

"Awesome," I answer with my best sarcasm. "Can't wait."

The whole time I'm in the shower, I run through the potential reasons Chris would be here. Out of him, Wren, and I, two have initiated into the Silent Circle. They did. But only Chris is still part of it. Not because he wants to be, but because he managed to make a deal with my father that means they won't kill him for fucking them over a couple of years ago, and they still get to use him for whatever they need, as long as the apple of his eye, Ella, stays protected from anything and everything.

Every Shadow in the Circle has to serve a purpose. They can't keep their influence if they don't have powerful members. Every year, there’s a review, and if you haven’t been helpful, your membership isn't renewed. That's often translated into having an unfortunate accident that kills you. Chris is part of the lawyers in the Circle. He just passed the bar, but they wanted him long before and had him initiate when he was still at SFU law school because he already had a reputation for being a scheming asshole. The Circle loves a good manipulator. Eventually, his role will be a simple one. Members of the Circle, no matter the industry they work in, are always acquiring newcompanies through hostile takeovers, and they want Chris by their sides when they do that. Smart, if you ask me, and he's stuck there anyway.

Wren, however, managed to get out alive, and took his precious Peach with him. My father tried to keep them after initiations, but then quickly realized that having two completely unhinged people as part of the Circle was more danger than it was worth. Wren was their hitman for a short while, but it's not like he gets to live without a worry now. Many Shadows lost their lives because of him, and the Circle has been weakened since, but not dead.

Never. Fucking. Dead.

There's always a chance they'll get their revenge. Meaning, it's a good thing to have Chris on the inside, and Wren has been trying to make himself very small when it comes to them.

When I go downstairs, I'm dressed in simple black jeans and a black hoodie with three purple bats on the front. Just seeing the animal puts a smile on my face. Sophie’s weirdly obsessed with them, but then thinking about her reminds me of how far we are from each other. And that puts me in a vicious mood.

That's how I am when I walk into the kitchen to make myself a coffee. Chris is waiting right here at the table, sitting with his own cup in front of him, and he's not surprised in any way to see my usual sulky self. I couldn't care less. Wren pours me a cup and settles at the table too, while I lean against the counter.

"Alright, what's this about?" I ask, checking the time on the oven. I have to be at the music building in less than thirty minutes, so at least the Silent Circle talk can't be that long.

"Initiations," Chris answers as he observes me.

He's that kind of guy, always wanting to figure out everyone so he can anticipate their next move, press their buttons. What he never gets is that I have no buttons to press. It would mean I care about something here, and I don't. The only thing keepingme alive is Sophie, and she's too far for me to be happy about anything. I live like a ghost haunting this useless town and all the useless people in it.

I yawn, blow on my coffee, and take a first sip. "I don't need to know anything about that. I haven’t offered a woman to initiate with, so I'm not initiating this year."

"You might not be able to get away with that strategy anymore," he explains.

Not wanting to ask why, I drink some more while I wait for him to elaborate.

"The temple isn't ready to use, and the maze has damage from the fire too"—his eyes dart to Wren—"so they're moving it by a couple of months. Your dad still has plenty of time to find you someone and force you to initiate."

The temple is where the Shadows meet. Hiding within the Stoneview Country Club, it's a private area that no one knows about. And the maze hidden within the hundreds of acres that belong to the Circle is where they initiate. Since it was set on fire last year, killing many Shadows, they haven't been able to meet physically as regularly as they used to. Apparently, it's affecting initiations too.

I drum my fingers against my mug, unsure if I should throw it to the floor or jump out of the nearest window. Every summer, all I have to do is not fall for any of my father's traps to get me to initiate until the end of September. Once initiations have passed, there's nothing he can do until the next year.

They fucking moved the date.

But what my father doesn't understand is that I’ll die before I initiate into his little club.

"Someone like Nyx?" Wren suggests. "Do we know if he offered her anything yet?"

I shake my head. "Nyx won't be a problem. Even if she had bad intentions, I'm pretty sure she's been scared into not trying anything."

"Achilles," Wren warns me with a pointed glare. "What did you do?"

I ignore him. He doesn't need to know everything that goes on in my life.

"Thanks for letting me know," I say calmly. "I'll be careful."

I put my unfinished coffee in the sink and head to leave.

"You won't be able to run away forever, Achilles." Chris's knowing voice gets on my last fucking nerve.

I turn around, smiling in that way they all hate."Like you have a secret you won't tell us,"Ella always says.

"The Shadows are the ones who should be running away from me," I say in a tone so peaceful it clashes with my words. "I simply don't understand how they haven't realized it yet. If Nyx is a pawn for my father, she'll regret it. Again. But the girl looked clueless, if you ask me. Just in case, to cover my bases, I can keep scaring her away. Don't you worry."