Page 28 of Rule the Night (Blackwell Butchers #1)

MAEVE

I slammed my computer shut.

Remy’s blond hair flopped over his forehead, his hazel eyes bright with curiosity. I caught a whiff of his soap or shampoo, something clean and a little musky, and heat bloomed through my chest.

My nipples got hard. That was how off the rails things were.

“Are you always so nosy?” I asked, removing my earbuds. “And do you plan to just walk into my room whenever you feel like it?”

“I knocked.” He wasn’t remotely apologetic.

“And I obviously didn’t answer.”

“I know. Which is why I came in.”

“What if I’d been sleeping or showering or something?”

“I would have felt bad if you’d been sleeping.” He grinned. “The shower? Not so much.”

I rolled my eyes. “Does this stuff actually work on real-life women?”

His grin widened. “Sometimes.”

“Well, I’m not some girl you want to pick up in a bar. I’m here to cook. That’s it.”

Please let that be it.

I didn’t entirely buy my silent plea. I was obviously attracted to the three men who’d hunted me through the tunnels — two of them anyway.

Bram was a total dick. And a scary one.

“I know, but what if something had happened to you and I didn’t check?”

“What’s going to happen to me in my room?”

His expression darkened. “It’s a scary world. Anything can happen.”

Truer words had never been spoken, and I knew that better than anyone.

“Whatever. Just… don’t come in my room without permission.”

“Whatever you say.” He looked at my computer, closed on the desk. “So, who was that?”

“None of your business.” If I’d won the Hunt, he and the other Butchers would be planning Ethan Todd’s murder. As it was, Todd was still my problem.

One I still intended to solve.

Remy snapped his fingers and pointed at my closed computer. “Wait… isn’t that the podcast douchebag? The asshole who thinks women are property? Fucking incel.”

Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief. Not like I was going to be best friends with Remy, but at least he wasn’t a fan of Ethan Todd.

“He’s a manosphere hero, yeah.”

Remy scowled. “Some fucking hero. You shouldn’t listen to that shit.”

If only he knew how much I didn’t want to hear Ethan Todd’s bullshit ever again. “I don’t.”

It was a bald-faced lie. I’d watched every video he’d ever posted.

At first I’d been looking for old comments from Chris.

The police had seized Chris’s computer when they’d gotten a warrant to search the apartment he shared with June, and they’d let it slip to the media that he’d been a frequent viewer of Ethan Todd’s videos, probably trying to see if they could flush out someone who’d known what Chris had been planning.

I hadn’t found any trace of Chris, which wasn’t entirely a surprise. Ethan Todd had issued a statement I knew by heart.

“The Ethan Todd YouTube and podcast channels have a combined total of over thirty million viewers and listeners. It’s beyond absurd to imply that I should be responsible for the actions of those who choose to watch my videos or listen to my podcasts.

If the Blackwell Falls Police Department want to bring charges against me, they should man up and do so, not leak information about an ongoing investigation in an obvious and transparent attempt at placing blame on a content creator instead of the mentally unstable individual who perpetrated this crime. ”

Remy lifted an eyebrow. “Looks like you do.”

“I just stumbled on it.” Now he had me feeling defensive. “God! Anything else you’d like to know? My blood type? Or maybe you want a DNA sample?”

He licked his lips and heat rushed between my thighs. “The DNA sample sounds promising.”

I rolled my eyes again to distract him — and myself — from the fact that it sounded promising to me too.

I was not here to fuck around with these three assholes. I needed to keep it together, plan for the next Hunt. Now that I knew how it worked, I’d be better prepared to run, to hide.

Next time, I’d be ready to win.

“Why were you knocking?” I was eager for him to leave, both because he was all up in my business and because there was part of me that didn’t want him to leave, which was more than a little confusing.

“Knocking?”

“You said you knocked before you barged into my room uninvited?” I reminded him.

He snapped his fingers. “Right. I wanted to tell you to help yourself to the books in the library. And to use the gym if you want.”

“The books are yours?” I’d only gotten a glimpse of the library — dark walls, floor-to-ceiling wood shelves, velvet sofas over more intricate rugs — but it had been enough to make me itch with anticipation.

I almost hated that the loft was so nice. I had to force myself to remember that I was in enemy territory.

That I shouldn’t get too comfortable, let down my guard.

“Most of them,” he said. “You like to read?”

“I used to.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Used to?”

I shifted, feeling suddenly like I was at a disadvantage in my desk chair with Remy looming over me. Feeling like I was at a disadvantage in a lot of ways I didn’t want to admit.

How did you tell someone the way your life had been turned upside down when someone you loved was murdered abruptly and violently? How to explain the way vengeance could consume you? How it could demolish the person you’d once believed yourself to be?

“I haven’t had a lot of time lately.”

He nodded like he understood when there was no way he could. “Well, it’s there for you if you want to make use of it.”

“Thanks.” Silence settled between us. It took longer than it should have to feel awkward. “Anything else?”

He shook his head and headed for the door, then turned around like he’d just remembered something. “You have my macro count for tomorrow?”

“I’ve got it.” I tried not to sound annoyed but I could already tell Remy’s nutritional fixation was going to be a pain in the ass.

I’d created an entirely different set of menus for him than for Poe and Bram, menus that fulfilled the protein, carb, and fat requirements he’d given me in the kitchen that morning.

“And the nutritional—”

“I’m setting up a calendar with menus and nutritional info,” I said. “I’ll invite you once I have it set up.”

We’d all swapped phone numbers that morning, much to my chagrin. It was like we were really roommates, and even though I was happy not to be chained up in the basement, used and abused by three strange men — yet — I didn’t know what to make of it.

“Cool. Thanks.”

I stared after him as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

I turned back to my computer, debating whether to continue watching the new videos from Ethan Todd’s channel. But honestly? I just couldn’t. A lot had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I just wanted to grab a bottle of water from the kitchen and go to sleep.

I crossed the room to the door, stepped into the hall, and crashed right into a massive wall of damp, muscled flesh.

It was Poe.

And he was as naked as he’d been that morning on the balcony.