Black Knight (Royal Elite 4)

“Too bad that’s none of your business.” I grin.

“Both of you can leave now.” Aiden snaps at the stairs. “Your presence is no longer needed – not that it was in the first place.”

Ronan launches on another argument about how this isn’t Aiden’s place and he can’t kick us out, then he goes on to remind him that he still can be Elsa’s fiancé if he chooses to because of two fathers’ agreements and whatnot.

I’m vaguely listening to them at the beginning until I spot Kimberly’s form retreating down the hall. She didn’t see us, and if she heard us, she doesn’t show it, appearing focused on her task.

She can’t be going for Kir since she has to take these stairs to do that.

Aiden is threatening to break Ronan’s nose, and his dick if need be, and while I’d love to stay and watch that show, my feet lead me away from them.

I leave my friends behind without as much as a word. They don’t even pay me attention as I tiptoe down the hall to where Kimberly disappeared.

The only thing at the end of it is a guest bathroom. The sound of running water comes from inside, but there’s nothing being washed since there’s no interruption of the water flow.

Which means it’s only used to camouflage another sound.

I know, because Kimberly always fucking used to do that when she cried in the bathroom on her own after her mum ignored parents-teacher meetings.

The fact she didn’t use the bathroom in Elsa’s room also means she’s hiding something.

What on earth would she hide from her best friend?

I push on the bathroom’s door and it opens with a slight squeak. My feet are silent as I close it behind me and stalk to inside.

What I see makes me pause. The tap is running, but as I expected, Kimberly isn’t anywhere near it.

Her small frame is perched in front of the toilet as she empties her stomach into it.

But that’s not what gives me a what-the-fuck-are-you-shitting-me moment.

It’s when she pauses heaving, sticks her forefinger in her mouth, and then vomits again. She does it a few times more until she’s dry heaving.

A red-hot rage takes hold of me at the view of her in that position.

The pieces of the puzzle all fall into place now.

It’s because she ate those avocados. Now, I know why she always disappears after lunch, why I never see her eating with Kirian.

She said Ronan and Elsa see her, but she couldn’t be any more wrong.

She doesn’t even see herself.

Not like I do.

I see her when she’s a mess, when she’s fake, when she forces herself to laugh and just be there.

I see her even when she refuses to fucking see herself.

I’d hoped that the moment I was out of here and stopped fucking seeing her altogether, it would be all over, but this is a lot worse than I initially thought.

There’s no way in fuck I’m going to let her be invisible to her own self. Not even if that costs me in the long run.

She had to fucking push me off the edge, and now that I’m falling, I’ll drag her down with me.

I straighten and place my hand in my pocket. When I speak, my voice is low and deadly calm. The same calm before a lethal storm. “What the fuck are you doing, Kimberly?”

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