16. Gage
Chapter sixteen
I feel like I am in a daze. Maybe it is from one too many blows to the head. However, I blame the vixen who delivered the blows. The last hour feels like a giant blur. My thoughts drifted to when I first arrived in class. Brian, a wolf shifter, showed me a video of Lulu socially exiling a girl in the cafeteria. The girl calmly flipped off Lulu. She showed no fear in the video, and you can’t help but wonder if it’s all just a show she is putting on. Brian nudged me with his elbow and nodded to the girl stretching on the ground. It was her. Why did staring at her make my breath catch? She refused to look at anyone, seeming to ignore everyone around her. Every part of me wants her attention on me, even if it’s only for a second. It took everything not to walk over and ask her to help stretch her out. Maybe it was the blue balls talking? It has been a while. All that I could do was watch her stretch. She is so limber and mouth-watering.
How did one girl get on Lulu’s bad side and Professor Merrick’s bad side? When Professor Merrick paired us together, I didn’t look forward to kicking her ass. At least her eyes were on me. It at least gave me an excuse to touch her, even if it is the wrong kind of touch that I want to give her.
My whole body tingled when her eyes locked on mine, and my heartbeat picked up. It almost felt as if she had unlocked some part of me. She made my magic hum. It’s clearly one-sided as Salem stood there with her cocky attitude that I didn’t expect her to back up. She is beautiful, yet has this wildness about her. I feel she has a wicked mouth to back up the attitude.
How was I supposed to know she was prepared for a level of violence that I didn’t think she would be capable of? As much as I want to ask her out, I don’t know if I can take another blow to my manhood that quickly. It’s bad enough she kicked my ass in front of everyone. I can still feel her thighs around my neck, trying to choke me out. I would be lying if I didn’t say it turned me on.
I continue to go through the day in a daze, with my mind miles away. It stays with a girl who probably hasn’t given me another thought since kicking my ass. I must keep my studies up, but this year's odds weren’t in my favor. My parents will probably end up disowning me or treating me like they did to my brother. They like to send their problems away. That is what I am turning into for them: another problem. I still care and work so hard to get any scraps of affection that they barely seem to want to give me. The only time that happens is when I perform above their expectations or in the public eye.
As I think of my brother, it makes my heart ache. Leo isn’t just my brother. He is my twin. When we were born, it almost seemed like one soul had split in half to create us. We were inseparable. When they sent him away, they had to keep me drugged for days because I couldn’t stop crying. That was their answer to everything: medication to keep me compliant and sending the troubled child away. I know something is wrong with him in my heart, but they pretend he doesn’t exist. My parents told me that they sent him away at 13 to some boarding school for the troubled youth. We have had no holiday, mail, visits, or phone calls. Nothing. They ripped him away from me, and it didn’t matter if I cried, screamed, or begged them to let him come home.
That day is when I hated my parents and myself for what I had to become. At first, I thought maybe they would also send me to where he was. At least we would be together. That wouldn’t have been the case. They wanted us to be apart as punishment. Leo always joked that I was the golden child, that I am the perfect son for my parents. The truth was more ugly than that because I was too scared to step out of line, and I still am. I let them dictate my life. The only thing I have stood firm on was my friends. They had hoped that my friendship with Knox and Atticus would be severed after Leo left. Sure, Leo introduced us, and if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have ever probably become friends with them. However, if not for them, I would have lost my mind from all the pressure.
Yet, here I still am. Stuck between who I want to be and who my parents expect me to be. It’s my last year here at Black Rose. They want me to take up their many businesses and get in bed with politicians and people with heavy-lined pockets who can help us continue bringing in our fortune. I want to get into business with Knox and Atticus. Build something that doesn’t come from my parents and the money attached to them. As soon as my time at the Academy is over, I know I will have to sever my relationship with my parents or friends. Until then, I will live in denial.
I walk into the dining hall to grab food and meet Knox and Atticus. My eyes roll when I think about how much shit they are going to give me for getting my ass kicked by a girl. Maybe now, Knox will stop trying to get me to join him in making money fighting. My face can’t be in the underground fighting ring.
As I reach to grab a chicken sandwich, I notice I still have blood on my hand. I shake my head and try to wipe the dried blood off on my shorts. Panic tightens its grip on my chest as I hear my parents practically scolding me for not being put together. How dare I let the public see me looking like a disheveled, bloody mess? I can hear my heartbeat in my ears as my breathing quickens.
My hand shakes with the minor panic attack that threatens to come to the surface. With a deep breath, I steady myself and shake that feeling off. I put on my fake cocky smile, acting like I don’t have a care in the world. I need that attitude when I see Atticus snort slightly at the sight of me. A secret can hardly get by without him knowing about it. The man lives off secrets. That’s how his particular brand of incubus feeds. Collecting secrets from the veil and spinning them into his web of secrets, just like a spider feeds off of them. People might not know they are stuck on his web, yet somehow, they know someone knows their secret. That paranoia and panic fed him even more. Atticus’s long, wavy, dark brown hair rests on his shoulders. He cocks his eyebrow up at me as he points his finger to his nose. “Got a little blood lingering there,” Atticus smirks at me and I shake my head.
“Fuck you.” I roll my eyes and sit down. My hands are going to unwrap my sandwich but stop as Knox’s hand shoots out, grabbing my wrist. A growl sounds out from his throat. His almost burgundy-colored eyes seem to darken. “What the fuck, man?” I question him as he smells my bloody hand.
“Who did you touch?” He practically growls out. Knox still holds my hand in his grasp. I wonder what his Hell Hound is smelling in her blood.
My eyes roll as I try to play this off like Salem didn’t just kick my ass. “I am sure that big mouth over there has filled you in. But her name is Salem. Damn, I have never seen someone move like she did.”
Knox throws my hand back at me, almost as if the smell has offended him. His jaw clenched and unclenched. “What the fuck is she?”
“Why are you asking me?” My head gestures toward Atticus, whose dark green eyes narrow. “Ask the secret keeper over there.” I bite my sandwich, trying to act like the whole thing doesn’t bother me.
Atticus shakes his head and looks slightly frustrated. “I am finding out things… slowly. Lulu Tempest is her sister, who basically has put out a hit on her.”
“What?” I practically choke out as my sandwich bite feels like it turns sideways in my throat. My fist pounds into my chest as I try to dislodge the bite. Lulu is such a bitch. She is stunning, and I remember the first time I met her in our second year here. Lulu loves fucking high-powered men. It seems like a daddy-issue thing, for sure. Knox wasn’t about to let me become one of the rotating men she fucks. Somehow, guys get stuck in her web, and she leads them around by their dicks.
“Yeah, it’s been all anyone can talk about. Apparently, she pointed her out and told everyone that if they wanted to stay on her and her father’s good side, they would stay away from her. I followed Lulu around in the veil today.” I knew about the video, but I didn’t expect the relationship between them. His eyes roll, and he lets out a sigh. “How that girl has friends is beyond me. However, Salem ran away from home. Been claiming her father gave her to an anti-fae group that imprisoned her.” He lets out a small snort and shakes his head. “Can you imagine Marcus Tempest walking up to an anti-fae moment and handing over a teenage girl? Take my daughter. I prefer the other one.”
“Seriously?” I ask, but think about how she moved and fought. Wherever she has been, they have taught her some serious moves. “Maybe she is a ninja because, holy shit.”
The corner of Knox’s mouth curls up in a smile. “Maybe you have been fighting too many trust-fund kids.”
I give Knox an unimpressed look as he brushes his dark hair out of his face. Knox’s family operates quite an interesting combination of things. They own a massive casino called Hell’s Gate with a hotel attached. Legitimate gambling is above ground, and the more nefarious and less legitimate business is underneath. That place is called the Underworld. Illegal fights, illegal betting, and high-stakes card games were a few things we offered. Plus, if you need any type of shady deals done, you can usually find someone to take that on. Knox has made a name for himself, not only as the owner’s son. “She would give you a run for your money.”
“Maybe. What’s she look like?” Knox cracks his knuckles as he looks at me intently, waiting for me to answer.
“Tattooed, fit, some crazy eyes and dark hair.” I shrug, acting like she didn’t affect me on a deeper level. “Pretty.” Even though that word doesn’t accurately describe her, pretty is too tame for the woman.
“Weird that she is in her first year at 19, either way.” Atticus looks to be thinking deeply about that.
I say nothing as I eat my sandwich and ponder that same thing.