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

My dad’s eyes shot to Rob and then came back to mine. “A valuable source. In the meantime, we are hunting down this error so we can take care of it once and for all, but just so you boys know, this will be in your jurisdiction to take care of.”

“What? That’s not what we do…” I began to state, obviously a little annoyed that I’d need to add to my kill count. “I’m not a Lost Boy.”

Dad leaned forward, his eyes hardening. “You will do as I say, son.” Then he leaned back, his cool demeanor coming over his face—yet again. Pretty sure the old man was a psychopath. “Consider it a test.”

“Fine.” I stood from my chair. “Is that all?” He nodded, and then dismissed us all with a simple flick of his wrist. We were walking out to our respective cars when Nate, being Nate, was the first one to say something.

“Yo, I can’t be all up in this drama. My mom has this new fucking man, and apparently his daughter is moving in today. I can’t be coming home with blood on my shit. Might freak her out a little.”

“—She hot?” Eli interfered, getting into the back of Nate’s pick up. Nate flipped him off. “I don’t know—dick.” Rolling my eyes at their bullshit, I beeped my car unlocked and got in. My phone dinged and I opened a message from Adriana.

Miss me?

I shot her back a reply. My dick does. Then I floored it forward, shooting past all the boys as we raced our way to school.

The next day, classes went annoyingly slow, I swore every single year it went slower. We were sitting around in the atrium when Nate started. “Dude, I’m not playing, my new stepsister is fucking hot with a capital H. Think Madison Beer—only she doesn’t know how hot she is. But she plays with guns and shit, so I ain’t with it. I don’t think. But fuck me, that’s a fine piece of ass living under my roof. Her mom...” His words drifted off when I noticed a girl walking into the atrium, alone, holding a lunch tray. She was new here, obviously, because not only did I know every single person who attended Riverside Prep, and their social security numbers, but the way her features withdrew and her fingers clamped around the tray nervously was a dead giveaway, too. She had long dark brown hair, fair skin that held a tint of something exotic, long fuck—fucking long legs that I could latch around my waist easily and then, in slow motion, her wandering eyes looked right at me from across the room as though she could feel my gaze on her, like a lion being caught hunting its prey. I didn’t break eye contact, I relished in how her eyes stared back at me with a storm so chaotic it could put a category 5 cyclone to bed. I watched as her cheeks flushed, right before she quickly sat at a table with Tatum. Fucking Tatum. That annoying bitch needed to be put in line. I shook my head, seemingly irked that a fucking high school girl could steal my attention so effortlessly. Pulling out my phone, I sent another text to Adriana.

My house at nine.

“Oh! There she is!” Nate pointed to the table where hot girl had just walked to.

Nah, no way.

“That’s her, dawg, that’s the new stepsister. I wanna play with her for a bit.”

“Play with her, how?” Just the mention of playing and her in the same sentence had my dick swelling in my jeans.

Nate looked at me knowingly. “You know how.”

“Yeah, no offense, but the last time we all shared, we almost killed the girl, so unless you want to kill your new stepsister, I’d say no.”

Nate chuckled. “I don’t know, there’s something different about her.”

I rolled my eyes because gaining Nate’s attention wasn’t hard to do—keeping it was impossible, but gaining it was easy. I went back to my phone. Recognition slowly frosted over my bones, and my eyes leisurely drew back up as I watched her laugh at something Tatum had said.

That smile.

So familiar, so…

“Fuck.”

“What?” Brantley barked, his eyes still on the new girl, but his frown etched so deep into his face that you would think this girl for real insulted his existence.

“She’s the Silver Swan.”

Brantley didn’t jump in shock, but his eyes hauntingly remained on her. Nate sucked in a breath, Eli jumped from his seated position, Hunter, Chase, and Cash both let out a mixture of noises, and then it hit me.

I knew this girl.

My mom knew this girl.

My dad knew this girl.

Why the fuck did I know her?

A French fry hit my face, yanking me out of my memory lapse, which was a fucking good thing, considering what happened next. “Earth to Bishop.”