Page 74 of Wicked Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 1)

“Fucked if I know. I live this shit and I have no idea what’s going on around me most days. You need to find out if you’re actually part of this before you get carried away.”

“Calli,” I sigh, “I think it would be naïve of us to assume this is a coincidence.”

“But—”

“I get what you’re doing, but with my dad’s secrets, the money, the house, Knight’s Ridge… Seb’s reaction to me… The way Theo and Alex are. Toby and Nico, even.” I scrub a hand down my face as my thoughts fly around my head at an incomprehensible speed. “They know things,” I state, pushing to stand and beginning to pace back and forth. “They know things that I need to know. They—”

“Stella, you can’t start digging. Not into their business.”

I stop, looking at Calli standing at the end of her bed, her brow creased in concern. She’s so sweet. Too sweet, especially for the likes of me. For the first time, I really appreciate what being sheltered really looks like. I might have a billion and one questions, there might be endless secrets surrounding my life, but Dad has ensured I was anything but smothered as I grew up.

“Don’t you ever just want to rebel? Do all the things you’re told not to?” I ask her, genuinely curious as to how she puts up with being kept in the dark like this.

“Honestly? Like, every day,” she laughs, reaching for the bottle I’m still clutching like a lifeline. “But I’d never do it. I might not know a lot about this life, but I do know it’s dangerous, and the last thing I want is to get myself in the middle of that.”

“I get that, I do. But shit.” I drop onto the bed beside her and take the bottle back, lifting it to my lips once more, desperate for the buzz it can give me.

A bell rings through the house as we sit there in silence, lost in our own thoughts.

“Pizza’s here,” Calli says, jumping up excitedly. “I think you’re going to need it.” Her eyes find the bottle and I quickly discover that I’ve drank more than I thought I had.

“You could be right. Tonight should be fun.” I rub my hands together in excitement.

“Oh God. I made a mistake dragging you here, didn’t I?” The smile she gives me is full of delight and mischief, and I love it.

“Go get the food. We’ve got a whole night of debauchery ahead of us.”

She walks to the door but pauses with her fingers on the handle. “I think you’re going to be a bad influence, Stella Doukas, and,” she continues before I manage to get a word in, “I think it’s exactly what I need.”

Excitement bubbles in my belly as she slips from the room.

Oh yeah, Calli is my girl. I can feel it.

* * *

An hour later and we’ve eaten our body weight in pizza, finished the first bottle of vodka, and are dancing around Calli’s room in just our underwear as we attempt to get ready for this party.

It’s exactly what I needed.

We never agreed to it, but the second we finished eating, talk of our lives and reality ceased and we just focused on enjoying ourselves, getting to know each other without all that bullshit. We’ve talked cheer, gymnastics, sixth forms and hopes for the future, and of course, boys. And that has led us to exactly where we are right now.

“You fucked him in a graveyard? Girl, that is freaky,” Calli giggles, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.

“Oh yeah, it was freaky,” I laugh, wiggling my eyebrows.

“Is it weird that I’m hella jealous?”

“You want Seb?” I ask, ignoring my own tingle of jealousy that wants to erupt.

“What? No. Ew. I wouldn’t touch any of them idiots with someone else’s. I just mean the freedom, even just having the opportunity to do something like that.”

“Okay, we need to go out. We need to get away from this place, from your brother and babysitters, and show you what life is really like.”

“I’m not old enough,” she reminds me.

“Oh, Calli. You’re so sweet. Leave it to me.” I wink. “We’ll find you a bad boy to get freaky with.”

“Oh God,” she says nervously, lifting a new bottle to her lips.