I was sure a lot of assholes would run home to Mommy, but that wasn’t on my agenda. Even if Father decided he wanted me home, my answer would be no. I liked being here. Living in my Temple. Ruling this little corner of the world with my best friends at my side. I wouldn’t be vacating the throne for some fucking illness.
“The third government guideline pertains to the hoarding of food and other essential items such as toilet paper. Though as you have these things provided for you, there is no need for you to concern yourselves with that. I just wanted to reassure you that we have no shortages here and have heard nothing to suggest that our upcoming deliveries will be short either.”
Note to self: lay claim to food and toilet paper before these face-stuffing, ass-wiping fuckwits get it into their heads to do it first.
“Lastly, I just want to reassure you that although times are tough in the outside world, we here at Everlake Preparatory School still have your futures at heart and will ensure to provide you with the very best of educations through these dark times.”
The announcement came to an end and Miss Pontus embarrassed herself by clapping. I mean, honest to fuck, it was like that woman tried to fail at passing the social bar. She fell silent quick enough, but you could practically taste her shame on the air.
I switched my cellphone on to send that email and paused as a bunch of texts and missed calls flooded in. I didn’t like to leave the thing on at all times. I didn’t like to be too available to anyone. But when my dad tried to contact me like that, it was generally worth me taking note. I guessed as Governor of the State, he’d been offering me a heads up about that little announcement. Oh well. Hearing it with the common folk hadn’t made much difference to me.
I scanned the messages, taking in the information that Headmaster Brown had just relayed and then some. Turned out toilet paper was practically as rare as a dragon fart these days with panic buyers doubling down on their purchases of the stuff like they expected the world to end if they didn’t. That was a weird one. The Hades Virus didn’t give you the shits. Hell, as far as I could tell, with the damn thing making you feel nauseous enough to lose your appetite you’d probably need less of the stuff, not more. But I’d be getting my hands on a stockpile all the same. Rich men stayed rich because they saw the needs of the masses and made sure they were the ones providing them, after all.
He also advised me that the mortality rates for this thing were rising rapidly. The official numbers were higher than those released to the public and rising fast. Quarantining myself was the safest option right now. And to further that message, he informed me that he believed it was in my best interest to stay isolated at school rather than risk moving back to our house in the city. He was still having to attend official meetings and he didn’t want me put at risk by his contact with the outside world. My empty heart might have been touched if I hadn’t known that was about maintaining his legacy just as much as it was about keeping me alive personally. He really should have had more children to ensure that, but Mother had claimed that carrying a child was an unnecessary burden on her womb which didn’t need repeating, so no siblings for me.
I considered what that meant. Riding out the pandemic here. No doubt Kyan would stay too. He only visited his family when we absolutely had to and he sure as fuck wouldn’t want to end up quarantined with them. Which meant I just needed to ensure Blake stayed as well. The Night Keepers stuck together. Everyone knew that.
I cut one of my best friends a look and sighed at what I saw.
Blake was still twisting his watch between his fingers with that distracted look on his face.
The class had broken into conversation about the announcement and Miss Pontus raised her hand for attention like a fucking fifth grader. Strangely enough, no one paid her any notice. Fucking lemon.
My jaw tightened as Blake flipped the watch over again.
“Either wear it or don’t,” I growled and he fell still.
“Life’s a really fucked up thing, isn’t it?” he said without looking at me.
“How so?”
“Choices.”
“Either speak or don’t, I have no patience for riddles,” I said.
Blake released a breath which said he had no patience for my shit, but that was fine by me. “I just mean that any choice we make could be the last one. My mom booking that fucking cruise to Hawaii. My dad having to bail at the last minute because there was a problem with the team… She could have chosen to re-book when he could go too. Or he could have insisted she stay home with him.”
“There’s no point of thinking about it like that,” I said, frowning as he flipped the watch over again and I caught a look at the inscription on the back of it.
Time waits for no man, my love.
I was gonna guess his mom bought that. Blake sighed as he toyed with the watch again and I reached out suddenly, snatching it from him.
“Hey!” he snarled, leaping out of his seat with his hand curling into a fist.
But I beat him to it. I’d already dropped the Rolex onto the ground and my heel pressed down on it just enough to warn him off.
“Feel that, Blake?” I growled in a low voice. Most of the class were so caught up in their own discussions that they didn’t notice our altercation.
“What?” he snarled.
“You feel that anger? That need to hurt me because I’m threatening this piece of flashy metal?”
His muscles tensed through his school uniform until the buttons on his shirt looked like they were damn close to bursting off.
“This right here is nothing,” I went on, meeting his dark green eyes and making sure he didn’t dare look away from me. Blake was a weapon in need of a hand to guide it. He was nothing without it, but deadly if aimed with precision. “It’s a piece of crap with words scrawled on the bottom. That quote wasn’t even hers, it’s a fucking cliché etched on there by some asshole who couldn’t even afford to buy one of these things.”
“Give it back, Saint, I’m warning you,” Blake snarled, but I wasn’t done with him. He was looking too fucking close to exploding and that wasn’t going to work for me. That wasn’t how we did things. He needed reining in. Reminding of what was important and who was in charge.
“This watch is nothing,” I repeated. “And yet you feel grief at the idea of losing it. What do you feel about the girl whose father caused your mother’s death?”
He bared his teeth at me, but his gaze slid to the watch. He still wasn’t getting it.
“What do you want to do to Tatum Rivers in payment for your mother’s life?” I hissed, keeping my words for him alone as the assholes in the room pointedly looked elsewhere, though I was sure a few of them were straining so hard to listen in that they were giving themselves haemorrhoids.
“I want her crying and begging at my feet,” he hissed. “I want her beaten and broken beyond repair and to serve up her battered remains to her father on a silver platter.”
“And do you think you’ve achieved that yet?” I asked quietly, leaning forward to speak to him alone. “Do you think a bath in fish soup and bit of sex audio being leaked has broken her beyond repair? Or do you think that she’s already washed the fish off and is reminding herself about just how many times you made her come to make her scream like that for the tape?”