In Silence She Screams (Midnight Mayhem 3)

“Thanks,” she answers blandly. The room is filled with turquoise pastels and white trimmings. There are motorbike posters on the wall and collages of photos.

“How old are you?” I ask, looking at one of the Polaroid shots that’s stapled into the wall.

She falls down onto her bed and the cover fluffs up around her. “Twenty. Though the way I get treated by all of The Brothers you would think I was twelve.”

I stop at a photo of Kyrin, Keaton, Killian, and King, all holding Cartier as she’s stretched across their arms. She’s wearing a white gown with no straps and heels. Cartier wearing heels—I’m guessing this was an event.

She comes up behind me. “Senior prom. They all had to escort me, even though my entire high school knew who I was and who my brother was. Most people knew about Kiznitch because of the shows, and they learned pretty quickly not to tease me.”

“Ah,” I say, placing the photo back onto the dresser. “Because your big, scary, psychopathic brother?”

“Pretty much.” She turns to face me as I lower myself onto the bed. The way the cover molds around me makes it feel like I’m sitting on a cloud. “There was an incident years ago. I was at a party, and a guy tried to rape me, with his girlfriend in the room. I made the mistake of not hiding my tears from my brother, and well…”

“Well?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. No way in hell Kyrin would allow someone who had intentionally hurt his little sister to roam the world free, robbing people of oxygen.

“He and the girl went missing.” She rolls her eyes. “Still an unsolved case. As they all are…” She slides up onto her desk, and I watch as she scans me up and down. “I think my favorite thing about you is that you don’t know how beautiful you are.”

“How do you know that I don’t know that? I could know that but just don’t care.”

“Well, you know what I mean. You don’t prance around like you’re the hottest bitch to live. You just sort of—don’t care.”

“I don’t.” I shake my head. “But listen, you can’t come with me to see Doc. This has to be done with just me, alone.”

Her eyes come to mine. Almost as blue as her hair. “Good luck trying to get away from Kyrin and Eli. Something tells me you’re more fucked than I am.”

“That’s where I’m going to need your help.”

Instant. “I’m in.”

They are having their meeting with Kauis, which means I have roughly two hours tops to do what I need to do. I clutch the keys in my hand while shoving Eli’s phone into my pocket, knowing I need access to Benny.

Cartier stops me as I reach her Ferrari. “I like you.”

I cock my head, opening the driver’s side door. “I don’t need you to like me.”

“I know!” she scolds, crossing her arms in front of herself. “But just in case you thought I didn’t from our first encounter, I do.”

“Cartier, I don’t care if you do or if you don’t. I will protect you and care for you because I’m pretty sure I—” I pause, swallowing past the rock that has formed in my throat.

She smiles at me, dropping her arms to her sides. “I get it. Now go, please don’t die. Honestly, I think my brother just might kill me if anything happens to you.”

I wink at her from over the car. “I’ll be fine.” I slide into the driver’s seat and fire up the car. It’s not until I’m pulling out of the driveway when the familiar smell of nicotine hits and I jump, spinning around in my seat. “Eli!”

“Give me my phone, please.” I pull out of the long driveway, reaching into my pocket and placing the phone onto the center console of the back seat.

“You’re an ass. You were supposed to stay home.”

“Lilith, baby, I’m way fucking smarter than you think, and if you even think for a second that I was going to let you walk back into the depths of hell without one of your hellhounds, then you don’t know me at all.” He starts squeezing through the middle, until he’s in the passenger seat, sliding open his phone.

“How’d you get past Cartier?”

The corner of his mouth curves into a sexy smirk. “I’m Eli Rebellis. She has a vagina. Most of them want to fuck me.”

I roll my eyes. “Try not to say that around Kyrin.”

Eli flicks his cigarette out the window, gesturing to the highway that I’m driving us onto. “We’ve got some people who will be joining us.” I turn on the stereo, needing a distraction from not knocking him the fuck out. “Collide” by Justine Skye and Tyga starts playing.

“Do I even ask?” I drop the car into third with a tap of my finger.