Page 29 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

Chapter Seven

DAISY

M y phone buzzes and I open my eyes, forgetting at first where I am.

The club. The bedroom.

I lay there for a moment, trying to figure out this feeling that’s coiling around me, making me feel warm and rested. I feel at peace despite everything that’s going on out there, everything that happened yesterday with Bennet.

I’m safe. Whole. I haven’t even had a nightmare in ages, I realize.

Have I ever felt this way before? Maybe when I was a kid, before the fire, before we had to move.

I remember what Blake said last night, and a smile alights my face. He meant it, I think. It wasn’t in the middle of everything. It was afterward.

I lay in the bed for a few minutes, basking in the happiness that envelops me.

I shift and find my body is sore, but I like it. It reminds me of last night, the table, the straps, how much I loved the things they did to me.

I can’t wait to do it again.

But then my phone beeps again and I sigh.

The interlude is over. Duty calls.

I get up and pee, seeing no sign of the others, and peer into the Dark Lounge. Everything’s been tidied up. It’s like we were never in there last night. If not for the way my muscles protest when I walk, I might have thought I imagined it all.

I go into the bathroom and perform my morning routine the best I can, finding several new toothbrushes still in their plastic under the sink along with some tiny travel-sized toothpastes as well as various other toiletries.

When I’m finished, I crack the door, making sure there’s no one around to see me streaking back to the bedroom. I look around for my clothes and grimace. I left them in the lab. Not particularly wanting to go across the dark cellar naked, I start looking in the drawers of the ebony black bureau.

In the second drawer, I find a note on top of some clothes.

Daisy. These are for you.’ ~ S, M & B

I pull out a pair of jeans and a black tank, finding several bra and underwear sets, and socks, too. In the drawer underneath, there are some sweaters.

Smiling a little, I get dressed.

They make sure I have everything I need before I even know I need it. When I’m hungry, there’s food. When I’m craving water, a drink appears. There’s even a little basket in the bathroom with sanitary products in it, which I’m going to need imminently. Hopefully .

This has been happening for weeks. I haven’t once said thank you, I realize with a pang. I hadn’t even noticed on a conscious level that they’ve all been making sure to take care of me.

I take out my phone, which is fully charged because one of them plugged it in for me last night. If it were up to me to remember, the battery would have been dead days ago, and I’d have forgotten all about it. I need to do something back. Something for them, to show that I care, too.

But, first, I should probably make sure this Sauvage guy isn’t going to kill them because I didn’t get his batch of Envy done in time.

I go to the lab with my fingers crossed, hoping as I read the data print outs that everything is how it should be.

I’m relieved when I see that all the levels are within acceptable parameters, and that the resulting powder is bright green as requested.

I pour it and the inactive ingredients into the mixer, letting it run for a few minutes. When it stops, I pop the cylinders into the pill press and turn it over by hand. A little, round, bright green pill falls into the tray, and I do a little happy dance as I press the button.

The machine beeps and I echo it as it starts to do its thing, and I begin the next batch of Envy immediately.

Now that I’m getting used to the process, I don’t think I’m going to need to check on it quite so much, so I put some new times into my phone for it to alert me.

When I turn around, I find a steaming mug of tea on the table and I frown, sure that wasn’t there a minute ago. At the same time, I realize my lower abdomen is cramping, signaling the start of my period. I let myself feel the relief. I’m definitely not ready for a baby.

My phone vibrates in my hand with a message from Mav.

You were in the zone. Come upstairs when you’re done x

I quickly clean up after myself and bag up the pills, labeling them and putting them in the safe with Batch One. I take my tea and leave the lab, closing it up behind me.

In the bathroom, I grab some feminine products to last me the day from the basket under the sink and put one on.

Upstairs, the club is predictably deserted, but I see Mav behind the bar, stocking drinks.

He grins when he sees me, his eyes surveying me as I put my mug on the bar and clamber up onto one of the stools.

A croissant on a napkin is placed in front of me.

‘Thanks,’ I say, suddenly even more starkly aware that I’ve been just taking their generosity for weeks and giving nothing back like some kind of kindness pirate.

When was the last time I even asked how Mav’s day was? Internally, I cringe. I’m a terrible person.

‘Morning.’ Shade says from behind me.

He kisses me on the cheek and I only just stop myself from leaning into him.

‘You have class in thirty minutes. We better get going.’

I lean over the bar to kiss Mav, and he looks pleased.

‘Where’s Blake?’ I ask.

Shade and Mav’s eyes meet, and they don’t seem to know what to say.

‘He went out last night. Late.’

‘Did he…get a call?’ I ask carefully.

They give each other another look.

‘Yeah,’ Mav says finally. ‘But it’s not what you think, okay?’

‘No?’ I take a sip of my drink. ‘Because I think his dad is a piece of shit who screwed up his life and has let the same thing happen to his son.’

‘You know?’ Shade asks after a beat.

Mav looks relieved as I nod.

‘He told me what he has to do. Not the specifics, but I get it.’

Shade gives my shoulder a squeeze. ‘Come on. Let’s get to class.’

We all leave the club and take the truck. We’re running a little late so Shade parks in the lot by the Novelle Center instead of at the KIP House. Today is McKinsey’s class which means I’ll be seeing that asshole Bennet for the first time since he attacked me in the library.

I’m not naturally a vindictive person. At least, I don’t think I am, but something seems out of kilter in my world now.

There’s an imbalance. Well, there are tons of them, but this is an immediate one that I feel like I can do something about.

Bennet did something bad to me and he deserves a comeuppance.

The coat girls too. With everything else that’s been happening, I haven’t put any thought into what that should be, but I probably should since I’m going to see Bennet’s shit-eating smile in a few minutes.

A brainwave comes to me suddenly and I wonder if I can pull it off.

I pull out the rumpled flyer I found on the way in advertising the launch party at the club in a few days.

It doesn’t mention Envy, of course, but I know everyone’s talking about it.

Bennet told me he’s been before, so I’ll bet he goes.

A few things will have to fall into place, but…

I grin. I really hope I can make it happen.

I’m sure it’ll make me feel much better.

The guys accompany me into the building.

They want to come with me to my class, especially Mav, but I give them both a firm no.

I need to fight some of my own battles, and I don’t need them trailing after me all the time.

So, with unhappy faces, they take the elevator down to the lab while I make my way to the lecture hall.

I look through the window at one of the study rooms on the way. The layout is the same as the reading rooms in the library and it makes me think about the moment that Bennet pushed me over the table in the reading room.

So many thoughts flitted through my head in that moment, but one of the most pervading ones was, ‘don’t make a scene’ and it was the same on Halloween.

If I cut through the fear of the white coats and the smell of smoke, I didn’t want to make anyone else uncomfortable, including the person who was trying to hurt me.

Ridiculous. Did The Heath really program me not to fight for myself? Did they actually instill an idea that staying quiet and keeping my calm was more important than my own wellbeing?

When I get to the lecture hall and push open the door, I hear a sharp breath and I stop short as I see Bennet, my brows rising.

He looks like shit. His arm is in a sling and his hand is wrapped thickly in white bandaging, the one that was touching me, though I suppose that could just be a coincidence.

His eyes widen when he sees me, and he backs away a couple of steps.

He turns away from me and rushes over to his friend, Casey.

‘Tell McKinsey I'm sick. I'll send my work in later.’

She cocks her head at him. ‘But you said you wanted to talk to her about?—’

‘Doesn’t matter what I said,’ he hisses. ‘Just do it, okay?’

‘ Okay !’

He leaves, giving me a wide berth as he flees like I have the plague, banging the door into the wall as he shoves it open and runs from the room.

I stare after him.

What happened to him?

Blake, my brain supplies.

But that can’t be it. He promised?—

No. He didn’t.

He never said a word when I asked for them not to go after him. Shade and Mav said they wouldn’t get revenge, but he never did. I should be angry, but instead my lips twitch.

He must have gone out last night, tracked Bennet down, and done that to his arm and hand. The ones that touched me.

I look down, smiling a little at the thought. Has anyone ever stuck up for me like that? Fought my corner like that? No one but Shade when we were kids, that's for sure. Maybe my mind is fucked up from the Heath, but I find it oddly romantic.