Page 102 of River of Deceit

Declan’s cheeks flush red. “I wouldn’t roofie anyone. No one in Kappa Alpha would ever need to! The women who waltz into this place are all looking for a good time.”

Like Carly?

LikeRachel?

I get up and roll the chair back against the door. My hand is firm around my knife. “You think I don’t know about what you people do here? Chaos isn’t a nice, innocent little frat house. Your ties to the Bouchard Syndicate? All the women who disappear?” I grin wildly as I stalk closer to Declan. “I’m on to you fuckers, and I’m not going to stop until I take you down. Let’s start with you.”

“Kappa Alpha Omega Sigma,” he says, putting emphasis on the words, “isn’t involved in any of that shit. I’m not involved with any syndicate, and women aren’t disappearing.” He stands his ground, but his eyes flick to the door.

He’s probably waiting for Zayden to come through it and save him.

“You want to know how Asch cut me up?” I ask. I lift up my karambit. “It was my own knife. And that only worked because I let him. Asch is lucky like that. You? You aren’t going to be so lucky.”

He stares at the knife. “What the actual fuck?” he demands. “Put that away before you hurt yourself with it.”

I laugh loudly, and Declan’s eyes widen.

“Oh, Declan,” I say condescendingly. “The only person I intend to hurt isyou.”

Then I lunge forward, low enough that Declan misjudges where I’m going to end up. Uncle Slayer taught me to use every advantage I could get—one of which is to let guys like Declan underestimate me until it’s too late.

I drive my knife into the flesh of Declan’s thigh.

He screams, and the blood gushes out, soaking his slacks instantly. “Fuck!” he yelps, grabbing for my wrist. “You fucking psycho bitch!”

I pull the knife out and slash the underside of his arm. He cries out again and stumbles backward, clutching his leg, which is now bleeding all over the place.

“You made a mess,” I admonish. “You won’t get your deposit back.”

I laugh at my own joke, but Declan doesn’t seem to think I’m funny.

Too bad. I know I’m hilarious.

I hear footsteps thundering in our direction, and I walk to the door to push the chair aside and let everybody in.

Zayden is the first one there, ignoring me as he goes toward Declan. “Fuck, Declan! What?—”

“That cunt stabbed me!” he yells. He’s trying to put more distance between us, like he expects me to lunge for him again, but he runs into the side of the bed. “And look what she did to my arm!”

Zayden whirls around to look at me. I can tell he has no idea what to make of me, with the bloody knife in my hand and a large grin on my face.

“Hi, Zayden,” I say cheerfully. “Just thought you should know that I don’t tolerate guys who roofie women. So either get rid of Declan, or he’s going to lose more than a few pints of blood.” After a pause, I add, “I mean his balls, by the way. I am going to castrate him.”

“Get that psycho bitch out of here!” Declan screeches. He doesn’t seem like he knows whether to put pressure on his bleeding arm or leg, and he awkwardly goes back and forth between the two.

“What the hell?” a familiar voice asks from near the doorway, and I glance over to see Asch and Blaze standing there.

I smile at them and close the distance between us. Asch looks warily at me, but Blaze’s beautiful blue eyes are on Declan and the blood gushing from his thigh.

“I know you said it was taken care of, but clearly it wasn’t,” I say to them. I get up on my tiptoes and press a kiss to Blaze’s jaw. “I had to do your job for you.”

Fuck, he’s so handsome, and he smells so much better than Declan. I’ll have to find out what his cologne is.

Blaze stiffens, but he doesn’t pull away. “What job? What was taken care of?”

I press my head against his chest, looking over at Asch. “Asch said you took care of the guy who handed out roofies at that first party. But I found Declan’s stash, and he clearly wasn’t repentant! You think he regrets it now?”

“I don’t have a stash,” Declan lies. “She’s lying. She’s some crazy-ass bitch who doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”