Page 67 of The Boy I Loved (Eternal Hell #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY

DOMINIC

I thought she’d be more understanding, that she’d understand where I was coming from.

It was obvious why she was upset. Stacy was her only friend in this place, and I’d taken that away from her.

But it wasn’t like the girl was some kind of upstanding citizen of the United States.

She was doomed to die either way. At least this way, I actually had a chance of passing Tristan on the score chart.

Before we snatched her up, Stacy was a whore, fucking anything and everything she deemed socially worth it. That wouldn’t have changed.

Basement duty was boring without Hazel down here to keep me company.

Nicholas and I left the girls alone as usual, while Cody got his rocks off taunting them from outside of the bars.

Cody rarely broke the rules and fucked them at night, not wanting to risk Clay finding out about it. So that was good at least.

The next morning, I found myself in the employee cafeteria, seated between Nicholas and Rodney. Ever since the bomb about him being Clay’s son came out, I’d kept my distance. What would I even say to him? Did he know he was Clay’s kid? He had to if everyone else did .

My teeth sunk into the inside of my cheek as I glared at the grilled cheese resting on the plate in front of me. Beside it was a bowl of tomato soup I normally would have dipped the sandwich in, but I couldn’t find it in me to eat at all.

“I saw the score board today,” Mason started, casting a glance over at me with tight lips. There was a flicker of something foreign in his gaze, but it was gone before I could decipher it.

“And?” Vincent asked, taking a bite of his sandwich, barely sparing him a glance.

Anticipation swam through me, hope blossoming in my chest. I knew better than to wish for anything, but it was hard not to when it was something I’d been working toward.

Let’s just hope Stacy didn’t die in vain.

Before that incident, I’d been quite a bit behind Vincent and Tristan.

I’d gotten points for snatching Stacy with the guys and for stopping Lauren before she could do anything rash.

I’d also gotten points for fucking Nia just to prove a point, even if it wasn’t initially my idea.

I didn’t attack girls often or rape them often, only when the urge presented itself, which was rare.

There was no telling how many points torturing, fucking and killing Stacy had granted me, but I’d find out soon enough.

Mason cleared his throat, his fingers tightening around his spoon. “Dom is in the lead by one-hundred and fifty points.”

Nicholas and Rodney glanced over at me in surprise, but no one bothered to say anything. They already knew what I’d done to get ahead on the leader board.

“Seriously?” Vincent asked when no one else commented.

The sound of a chair screeching on the hard floor had me whipping my head toward the source of the commotion. Tristan was pulling out a chair, spinning it around, and dropping into it backwards. His blue eyes found mine instantly, his jaw ticking with agitation.

How was this asshole in the know about everything ?

“You might have won this round, Dominic. But only because I underestimated you.” His arms folded over the lip of the chair, and he propped his chin on them. “I’ve already punished Hazel for choosing Mason over me. If you fuck her, I won’t hesitate to punish her again.”

My teeth scraped together in frustration.

I was getting sick and tired of his weird obsession with her.

I knew her first and she was mine first. He didn’t get to suddenly claim her as his and prevent the rest of us from touching her.

Not that I wanted anyone else touching her, but Tristan had no say in it.

“Punish her how?” Nicholas spoke up, surprising the rest of us. He rarely spoke and when he did, it was usually about something that interested him, or when he was spoken to.

Tristan shrugged, reaching over and snatching my untouched sandwich as if it had been meant for him. He sunk his annoyingly white teeth into the crisp bread, swiping his tongue over his lower lip to catch the excess cheese.

Did I mention how much I hated him?

I was surprised his teeth were so perfect with how much drugs he consumed. You’d think his teeth would be rotten by now, but no.

“I don’t kiss and tell.” He smirked, sliding his gaze my way.

As far as I knew, he didn’t kiss at all.

I rolled my eyes, refusing to fall for the bait. I was with Hazel yesterday and I’d seen her periodically after that. If he punished her, as he so eloquently put it, he hadn’t done much damage.

Nicholas rolled his eyes but knew better than to press for answers. Tristan enjoyed being in control. He wanted people to wonder about him; it was part of the game. If he had them curious, he was superior in his eyes.

It was stupid.

Nobody bothered saying anything else throughout the remainder of lunch. I scrolled on my phone, purposely avoiding any messages from Hazel’s mom, and lost myself to my thoughts .

Afterwards, I headed to the training room with Tristan, Vincent, and Azrael.

Tristan glared down at the clipboard as he surveyed the chart at the back, but didn’t say anything else about it. Personally, I was glad I’d managed to get under his skin; it didn’t happen often.

“Looks like you won the challenge,” Azrael commented as we settled down on the couch.

I grunted in response. “We still have two sessions left.”

I might have been in the lead, but that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t top me from now until the end of the day when the results were documented. I tried playing it cool in front of the others, but inside, my stomach was a tangle of knots.

My gaze drifted to Hazel’s table as it always did. Her long hair fell in front of her face as she propped her chin in the palm of her hand, her head turned so that I couldn’t make out her features. She was still pissed.

I blew out a frustrated breath of air.

Nia was killed too, and she didn’t react so badly. In fact, she fucked Tristan afterwards as if it had never happened. Then again, she never knew Nia.

She didn’t ‘fuck’ Tristan . I reminded myself. She never would have done that willingly. Still, it didn’t sit right with me. There was something more going on between the two of them, even if they both refused to admit it.

“In light of our most recent incidents,” Azrael began, shooting me a pointed look as if he had any power over me. He was an ant, insignificant. “We agreed to give you all a break.”

A few of the girls perked up at that, but everyone else remained unfazed. Maybe I’d taken things a tad bit too far. But Tristan shattered Emerson’s vagina and killed her, so maybe not.

I couldn’t keep worrying about what everyone else thought of me, especially the girls. They were here for one reason and one reason only. It sucked, but that was the way things were .

Training was boring. Tristan didn’t even try to beat me on the score board. Then again, the day wasn’t over. He could still succeed in other ways. Hazel resorted to hiding out in her room again and Mason kept making annoying comments about fucking her.

It wasn’t until later that day, that I was requested by Clay again.

This was starting to become a routine at this point.

My fingers tapped impatiently along the surface of his desk as I waited for him to get on with it.

As usual, his expression gave nothing away.

He casually sipped his whiskey while staring down at a stack of papers.

Annoyance flared within me, causing me to grit my teeth in frustration. The urge to snatch his glass from him and smash it over his head was tempting. Maybe then, he’d acknowledge me.

“I’m impressed,” he finally said, laying the papers down on the desk between us.

“I have speculation that the reason for your new score has to do with Hazel.” He arched an eyebrow, and the way he said it wasn’t meant as a question.

Therefore, I didn’t offer a response. He sighed, leaning back into his seat, which creaked beneath his weight.

“You won the challenge,” he continued. “The girl is yours this weekend.”

The relief I felt in that moment was unmatched. It felt like all of the tension in my body rolled from my shoulders, leaving me slumped in the chair. I had no doubt that Tristan could have surpassed me if he wanted to, but I knew better than to question it.

“What you did to the McIntyre girl…” he trailed off, running his thumb over the stubble gracing his jaw in a casual gesture. “It was creative. I want to see more of that.”

Of course he did. He was a sick bastard like that.

That might have been the first time I’d fucked a dead body, and hopefully, it would be the last. At least she had just died, and her body was still quite reactive, even if the rest of her wasn’t.

I grunted in response, not knowing what else to say. I wasn’t about to thank him for letting me spend time with Hazel. She wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for him .

“Is that all?” I finally asked, ready to put as much space between us as possible.

My uncle was like a leech, draining the life-force out of every room he occupied.

And to think … I used to look up to this sick bastard.

To this day, I didn’t know why my father disliked him so much, but it wasn’t hard to guess.

Clay was vile and cruel. He’d even sold his own wife.

I wasn’t sure why he lied about her miscarrying Rodney, unless they had another child afterwards, but it didn’t matter.

Clay stared at me for a long moment. “Very well,” he relented with reluctance. “You’re free to go. You may take Hazel to your room on Friday night after dinner. I don’t need to remind you of the rules, do I?”

“No,” I replied, gritting my teeth.