I made it to my room, slowly turning the key in the lock with the plan of not waking Mila so I could shower and slip back into bed for another half hour. I found the room empty and breathed a sigh of relief. She’d probably ended up in the boys’ accommodation too last night with Danny Harper. He was legit obsessed with her in the cutest way. Wherever she’d been at the party, he’d appeared, and that had made her light up like a Christmas tree.
I stripped off, pulling on a robe and grabbing a towel and my washbag before heading to the showers at the end of the hall. There were a few girls in there, but none of them paid me any attention as I stepped into a frosted glass shower unit and scrubbed Blake Bowman off of my body. There was an ache between my thighs which I didn’t think was gonna heal for days. The way he’d screwed me this morning had been brutal, the kind of rough that brought out the animal in me. And as soap slid over my body, I discovered his finger marks bruised into my hips. I released a sigh. It looked like he was gonna linger with me a while longer than I’d hoped. Dammit.
By the time I was back in my room, I had a headache the size of Utah setting in and I was dying for a bottle of full fat coke to take the edge off of my hangover.
Once my hair was dry and flowing down my back in soft waves and I’d hidden the bags under my eyes with concealer, I pulled on my uniform and checked the clock. I was late to breakfast, but there’d be enough time to eat. I’d make damn sure of that.
I opened up the app on my phone where I could order my meals and selected scrambled eggs on toast served with a large glass of coca cola. I wet my dry mouth as I salivated over that then headed out of the room.
I soon arrived outside the Redwood Dining Hall and felt myself slowing as I approached the double doors. This was it. I was gonna have to pull up my big girl panties and face down every whisper about me and Blake. He didn’t screw me anyway, I screwed him, so who cared?
The bigger deal was that I was gonna have to pretend like he meant nothing to me. That I was perfectly content to move on with my life and never speak to him again if I didn’t have to. The problem was, I could still feel his claws in me, sinking deeper. But hell if I was gonna let anyone in the world know that.
I lifted my chin, fixing on a casual expression and pushed through the door. A hushed silence fell over the dining hall as eyes turned my way. People actually elbowed their friends to point me out. It was a little extreme. Did everyone really care that much about Bowman’s sexcapades?
I located Mila across the room with her circle of friends and headed towards her, firmly keeping my gaze away from the Night Keepers’ table like it didn’t exist. I dropped into the empty seat beside her and a fishy smell wafted under my nose. I frowned as I looked at the weird red stew sitting in front of Mila then noticed everyone around the table had ordered the same thing.
Mila didn’t look up at me, instead stirring the stew with a tension in her posture that made concern inch into me.
“Are you alright? What’s with the stew? Is it fish Tuesdays or something?” It was about the last thing in the world I fancied eating even if I hadn’t been hanging. The smell was turning my stomach. It was gonna ruin my eggs and toast just by being present.
Mila turned to me while the rest of the table exchanged awkward glances and a sliver of ice slid down my spine. What the hell was going on?
“I’m so sorry, Tatum,” she breathed, barely loud enough for me to hear.
Before I could ask why, Saint Memphis’s voice boomed through the room. “Tatum Rivers, come up here,” he commanded.
I turned to look at him and the other two guys beside him. Blake’s expression was cold, distant and Kyan’s eyes were shadowed as he stared evenly back at me. Saint’s face was a picture of calm and that was somehow more frightening than the darkness seeping from the other two.
I didn’t move, my eyes skipping between them before I turned away from them and leaned back in my seat.
“I’m good,” I said offhandedly and I swear the whole room gasped. It was ridiculous. Had I broken some sacred Night Keeper vow by being late to breakfast or something?
“Come here, Tate,” Blake’s soft voice reached me and my heart leapt in my chest.
I turned to him again, his expression warmer now though I still sensed danger on the wind. Apparently everyone in this room had turned to stone and I didn’t think they were gonna move again unless I played along with their leaders’ bullshit.
I huffed, pushing out of my seat and heading up to their table, my jaw grinding as I looked to Blake. The closer I got, the harder his features became and something in his eyes made my blood run cold.
Saint leaned forward in his seat, a cruel smile pulling at his mouth. Whatever was going on, he was in his element because of it. So I was sure it had to be something bad.
“Have I offended the mighty kings?” I asked dryly, but my heart juddered as the three of them stood up in unison.
My knees butted against the empty chair opposite Saint as I stopped moving, trying to keep my give-no-shits mask in place but hell, inside I was quaking. Something was wrong. Awfully, terribly wrong. And it had everything to do with me.
Saint lifted an iPad from beside his bowl of fish stew, flipping the black case open and twisting it around to show me something on the screen. A picture of my dad stared back at me. It was the one used on his lanyard for work, I’d seen it a thousand times.
My eyes tore across the headline above it and my whole world started cracking and splintering.
Virologist on the run after setting the Hades Virus loose around the world in unveiled conspiracy.
“What?” I shook my head in refusal as a laugh broke free of my chest. Was this some kind of stupid joke I didn’t get?
I reached for the iPad but Saint pocketed it before I could get close.
Confusion rattled through me as I tried to understand what was happening. The words of that headline sank in as the Night Keepers glared at me like I was their number one enemy. This wasn’t a joke. It was true. That article was real.
But Dad couldn’t have released that virus. He wouldn’t have. If they knew him at all, they’d never believe those lies.
My heart beat thundered in my ears and time seemed to slow as I stood in the wake of that news, fear blossoming in my gut. I needed to speak with him, to hear him deny it, swear he didn’t-
The cold, sickening splash of fish stew hit me square in the face and I gasped, stumbling back a step as I swiped it from my eyes in disgust. Blake sneered at me, tossing his now empty bowl onto the table with a clatter and my heart juddered in time with it.
“This bitch and her piece of shit father are responsible for the Hades Virus!” he bellowed to the room and I shook my head in horror.
“No!” I insisted but Saint threw his bowl next, the thick goop slapping against my chest and seeping down inside my uniform.
I backed up into a table as my heart collided with my throat and I desperately tried to find a way out of this nightmare.
The boy sitting in the seat I’d hit pushed out of his chair, knocking me back a few steps as he and the rest of his friends stood up with the disgusting stew in their hands.
“Don’t!” I tried to dodge it, but so much of the vile substance flew through the air I couldn’t avoid it. The backs of my legs hit the Night Keepers table and I heard Saint growling, “Do it,” before another bowl was poured straight over my head.