Tacet a Mortuis (The Elite King's Club 3)

I paused my chewing and I put my waffle back on my plate. “I gathered.” Then I poured some juice. Maybe he just hated me all along and the smooth exterior he held was a fake. Funny that I used to think he was the nicest King and Brantley was the worst. How things can change in one night.

“I’ve come to shed some light on that.”

I waved for him to carry on. “Okay.”

“Hunter, like the others—” he shot a piercing glare and Nate, who, with a mouth full of waffle and syrup dripping down his chin, paused and looked around dumbfounded. “What?” Then he eyed Brantley.

Brantley shrugged. “I know.”

“I don’t!” Yet again, I’m left out of the loop.

“You’re not out of the loop, Madison. From now on, you will know everything we know.”

“Okay well, can you start with Hunter?”

“He, like the other kings, had feelings for you. Strong feelings for you. So when he found out—”

“—I was his sister he got grossed out.”

Jase’s face softened.

“Well, he should have come to me, because I too, have had thoughts about him.”

“Yeah?” Nate queried, an eyebrow perched.

“Yes… it was, well, all of you, in this dream.”

Nate grinned, leaning back. “Do go on, Kitty, I’m quite enjoying this.”

I flipped him off as Brantley chuckled beside me. Since last night, I had a newfound peace with being around Brantley. Like I had a deeper connection with him now that I knew our history. A history we still hadn’t spoken about.

“He won’t. He’s too ashamed and he has way too much pride.”

“Well, now I know where she gets it from,” Nate muttered from behind his glass. I kicked him under the table and his eyes cut to me. “Ow!” he continued to glare at me while taking a massive bite out of his waffle.

Ignoring Nate and his typical childish shenanigans, I looked back at Jase. “Will he talk with me?”

Jase shrugged. “We can tie him up in the basement and make him listen.”

I chuckled, picking up my waffle again. He shot me a small wink before continuing to eat his. We all fell into an easy breakfast chat, the talk ranging from Nate wanting to throw a party this weekend, to college next year. It’s then I realized we will all be going separate ways—maybe. It made me ask, because terror slowly seeped into my bones about not having these boys with me.

“Um, college? Where—”

“Madison?” That voice made my attention snap straight to the entryway.

“Mother,” I snarled, throwing my waffle back to my plate.

There goes my appetite.

ASAP Rocky was rapping about how he loved bad bitches, and with every pull-up, sweat spilled over my flesh. My fingers squeezed the slippery bar. Thirty-four, thirty-five. I started rapping the words, unlatching and dropping to the ground. The door to my gym swung open, but I ignored it. Part of me knew who it was, and the other part hoped it wasn’t. The song continued to drown out the silence as I moved to the bench, laying down and wrapping my fingers around the barbell. Madison was angry with me, for the fucking hundredth time since I’ve known her. The essence of her anger was probably her mom's shit, and then there's me not telling her about it all this time, but I’ve been with her long enough to know that she’d be more hurt than angry. Angry Madison I could deal with, hurt Madison was territory I was unsure of. The fact that I kept Khales alive would have only intensified her anger even more too, no doubt.

“B?”

My jaw clenched, anger bubbling inside, so I started pumping the heavy iron.

“I know you’re mad at me.”

I hooked the barbell back onto the latches and sat up. “That’s where you’re wrong, I’m not fucking angry. I’m confused as to why the fuck you let him find you.”

She sighed, taking a seat beside me on the bench. “I had heard you moved on, and then he—”

I turned to face her, my eyes hardening. “You outed yourself out of jealousy?”

“What? No, well, I don’t—”

“—you better be careful with your next words…”

She stood, running her fingers through her hair. “Well, shit, I don’t know, B! You’ve never had anyone else but me, what the hell was I supposed to do about finding out the one guy I loved, my first love, had moved on with some new girl. Why didn’t you tell me about her?”

My eye twitched.

I sucked in a breath, stood and walked toward her. She stepped back, but I countered it. “You did this out of jealousy?”

Her eyes darted around the room. You could almost hear her brain trying to reach out and snatch whatever excuse she could find from thin air. “Do you not care about me at all, B?”

Her back collided with the wall and my hands came up to either side of her head, caging her in. “Listen very carefully—” my phone vibrated in my pocket and I reached inside, seeing it was Nate before sliding it unlocked. “What?”