“But you didn’t,” Gael said.
“And you want to know why.” She laughed. “Wow, I’m suddenly Miss Popular because I didn’t allow your brains to blow all across the pavement.”
“Why do you have a knife?” River asked.
It was at that moment I saw him holding her blade. She noticed it as well. She dropped her fork and glanced past our shoulders.
“You know it’s dangerous to keep your backs to everyone. People here would love the opportunity to take one of you out.”
“Apart from you,” I said.
“Maybe I killed him for me. You ever thought about that?” She looked at each of us in turn.
I laughed. “No, you didn’t.”
“Stop being a pain in the ass,” she said. “He could have raped me and we all know what that means for me.” Her face had gone a nice shade of red. She hated it just as much as we did, but she’d just confirmed what I already knew. She was a virgin.
So sweet and so cute.
But also deadly.
A heady combination.
She wouldn’t be the kind of wife who would scream or cry in the bedroom. Emily was a fighter. In our world, raped meant damaged goods. Of course, her father would put up a nice show, but any prospects she had would disappear. Most of the men in our world only wanted a virgin.
“Eat,” Vadik said.
“I only have one boss in my life. I don’t need another.”
“Eat,” Gael said.
I smiled and it grew wider as River followed.
“Eat,” River said.
They waited for me. I looked at Emily.
“Eat,” I said.
All four of us. Our own silent communication. All four of us wanted Emily. She intrigued us and with Vadik being the first to commit, it meant this was a sure deal.
What Emily didn’t know was she was going to be ours, all four of ours. She was now under our protection. She would be safe and there would be no reason for her to look over her shoulder.
“I take orders at home. Not at school. Next time there’s a gun pointed at your head, I’ll make sure they paint the streets red with your blood.” She picked up her tray and marched away.
Again, silence rang out as she tipped her food into the trash bin.
She was going to be a challenge, but the excitement rushing through me told me I was so looking forward to it.
Chapter Five
Emily
I hated home more than I hated school.
I wasn’t safe in any one place, and because of this, I’d arranged my bedroom to offer me as much protection as possible, not that it would do me any good.
Sitting at my desk pointed toward the doorway, I saw my brother standing there. One hand in his pocket, the other holding a lighter.
I stopped doing my homework and watched him instead. Peter had never hurt me unless our father had ordered him to. No man should allow a female to walk all over them, that was what my father said. You needed to learn young that a woman’s place was to be silent and in bed.
“How was school?” he asked.
“Fine.”
“Rumor has it that the Monsters were attacked the other day.”
“Then you know if it’s a rumor, it’s true.”
“I was doing the math,” he said, entering my bedroom. He went to the edge of my bed, sitting down.
There was a time we were the best of friends. Even as he sat down, I remembered all the times he’d make me laugh. A little girl getting tickled by her brother, or playing hide and seek. I was damn good at hiding. I knew how to move around this house without anyone noticing. I was pretty sure I could blend into the walls and hear all of my dad’s secrets.
The caring brother I loved was gone. He’d grown up and was now more and more like our dad.
Only right now, he had this caring look on his face, which I hated. I wanted to trust it, but I’d learned long ago not to trust anyone. I was on my own. It was why the new blade in my drawer called to me.
There were so many nights I had thought about ending it. Just putting the tip into my flesh, opening up so the blood could leak out, taking my miserable existence along with it.
“I was doing the dates in my head, and it was the same day that you were late home,” he said.
“I wasn’t late, Peter. My driver was. I was right on time.”
“You were right. You know what I find interesting, along with all the cleanup, the security tape has also gone missing, and we all know how important the Monsters’ protection is. It’s not the first time they’ve been attacked, and their dads like to gather as many allies as they can.”
I put my pencil down.
Years of training had stopped me from showing how nervous I was. “What are you trying to say?” I asked.