Chapter 20
KAIDEN
“What did you find?” I bark the second Vinny’s ass hits the bench next to me, his face an unreadable expression.
“Nothing.” He drops his phone on the wooden top of the picnic table, propping his elbows on the surface so he can hold his head up. “I’m fucking exhausted.”
Displeasure runs through me, and when he yawns, my anger cranks up another notch. “You didn’t find a single thing?!”
He sighs. “Nothing, Kai.”
I slam my hand down on the table, but he doesn’t even flinch. He’s used to my bullshit by now, and it pisses me off that I can’t make him jump.
“How is it that you found absolutely nothing?” I growl. “Nothing on Sage? And how did we not fucking know Andrew Blackmore had a daughter?”
I catch a brief glimpse of him rolling his eyes in my peripheral vision, which makes my fist clench. “Maybe if you had let me take a nap before you sent me on a fucking witch hunt, I would’ve been able to find something.”
I resist the urge to grab his hair and smash his face against the table. “Where’s Becks?”
“Probably passed out on the mountain of books I left him with at the library.”
Jolting to stand, I throw my hands in the air. “You went looking for information at the public fucking library?! What did you imagine you could possibly find there?”
He looks over his shoulder at me, laughing. “Contrary to the weird, make-believe world you’ve created inside your big head, I’m not a private investigator.”
His laughter makes my blood boil, so I stomp past him. “I’ll do it myself.”
I hear him stand from the table to follow me through the park, his feet dragging on the ground and making leaves rustle loudly with every step. Every hair on my body stands up as irritation bubbles through me.
The longer his feet kick up dirt and leaves, the more annoyed the noise makes me.
I spin around, stopping in place to look at him. “Are you kidding?”
He almost walks clear into me since his eyes have dropped closed but jumps to a halt at my voice. His gaze finds mine, humor lining the darkness of his eyes. “Are you typically this irritable after fucking all night? I feel bad for everyone you’ve ever—”
I punch him in the jaw without thinking before he can finish his sentence, his head flying back. When he turns to look at me again, he’s grinning from ear to ear, like he’s about to start laughing. I punch him again, to really drive my point home, and he grunts.
He rubs his face as he slowly turns to look at me, his eyes narrowing and his mouth popping open so he can flex the muscles in his jaw. “Kaiden, are you fucking done?”
I smirk, and when he catches the expression on my face, he starts laughing. I chuckle, licking my lips.
“Do you feel better?” he questions, rubbing his jaw.
I shrug, still grinning as I turn to keep walking. “Yeah, a little, thanks.”
He huffs another laugh, following me without a word. We make our way down Main Street until we reach the library, where Vinny has apparently left Becks to crack the fucking case.
Vinny pulls the heavy wooden door open, the hinges creaking loudly as he does. Leading the way to the back where there’re tables lined up, we find Beckham with his head on top of an open book, dead asleep.
I pick up one of the books off the stack he’s made and drop it down on the table to wake him. His head pops up quickly, and he looks around frantically.
Pulling out the chair opposite him, I sit down while Vinny sits next to him. “Good morning, Becks.”
“What time is it?” He looks around, rubbing a hand down his face as he tries to grasp his surroundings.
“It’s almost two in the afternoon,” Vinny answers, pulling the book Beckham was just asleep on top of to see what he was reading. “Find anything interesting?”
Beckham yawns loudly, making my nostrils flare with annoyance.
Stretching his arms over his head, he shakes out his hair.
“Not really. Lots of bullshit about the founders. The Blackmore family rotated in and out of government jobs, positions of power, until the sixties. Mayor, City Council, Sheriff. Shit like that.”
“What about after the sixties?” I ask, leaning back in my chair to look at him.
“Seemed to just blend in after that.” He shrugs. “Almost like they disappeared.”
“What about the current Blackmores?” I question.
“Current? As far as I can tell, there are no current Blackmores.”
“Okay”—my eyebrows pull down, and I lean an elbow on the top of the table—“but we know Andrew Blackmore was here around 20 years ago because he founded the Games. So they were clearly still here then.”
Beckham spreads his hands just above the table. “I don’t know what to tell you, Kai. I couldn’t find shit after the sixties. We’ll need to dig deeper if you’re dead set on this little scavenger hunt.”
I grunt, dropping my head in my hand.
“What’s the point in all of this, Kai?” Vinny asks cautiously.
“From where I stand, it looks like Sage is the last living member of the founding family,” I answer, looking between my two friends.
“And?” Becks questions. “Who cares? She didn’t even know that.”
“Until we accidentally shared it with her.” Vinny laughs. “Maybe she has power here, maybe if there are no other Blackmore’s left, she owns the town?”
I chew on my cheek, deep in thought about how we’ve spent our whole lives controlling this generation, and we like it. Sage could ruin it all.
“Not only that”—I hold a hand up—“but if she’s the heir to the Hallows Games, does that make her a Hallows Boy?”
“She’s a girl,” Beckham states, making me roll my eyes.
“Yes, Beckham, thank you,” I snap, making Vinny laugh. “But if her father created the Games, is it her legacy to be a part of them?”
Beckham presses his lips together as if in thought, and I don’t miss the twitch to his lips at whatever’s running through his devious mind. Vinny taps a finger on the table, like he’s come to some sort of conclusion, so I raise my eyebrows at him in question.
“There’s never been a Hallows Girl before. I don’t think she’s entitled to shit.”
“So what if she is?!” Beckham snaps.
“Beckham.” My voice is sharp, cutting through the tension of the small space we’re occupying.
I single him out with my gaze, trying to make him feel smaller.
“We’ve worked hard for years to get where we are.
We have this town in the palms of our hands.
We aren’t going to let it slip through our fingers. ”
He laughs, leveling me with a look that reeks of attitude and defiance. Leaning forward, he rests his forearms on the table to address me. “You’re this threatened by her?”
Vinny snorts, grabbing the back of Beckham’s T-shirt to pull him back in his chair. “Better watch yourself, B. He’s already punched me in the face twice today. Clearly, Daddy gets cranky when he hasn’t slept.” He pouts sarcastically, laughing with Beckham.
I grit my teeth, eyes narrowed at Vinny. “And clearly, you get brave.”
His laugh starts to fade at the tone in my voice, which satisfies me. I turn my gaze back to Beckham. “I’m not threatened by anyone, especially Sage. We control her, do you understand?”
They both look at me with curious eyes, so I continue. “Keep her close, but not too close, you hear me? From where I’m standing, she’s the enemy right now. Don’t confide in her, and do not trust her. We’ll make sure she knows her fucking place.”
After spending a few hours in the library, I sent the boys home to get some rest and started walking toward my father’s home for dinner.
It’s a cool day, and the sun is hanging high in the sky, lighting up the entire town.
The trees are long past the point of shedding their leaves, and every time the wind blows, they skate around on the ground.
I take my time, rolling up the sleeves of my hoodie so I can feel the air kiss my skin while I walk.
Going past the cemetery, my mouth twists into a smile as I go through last night’s events in my head once more.
I don’t think we’ve ever had such a good night, and it was solely because of Sage.
If I could, I’d play the Game with her again.
She was the perfect participant—compliant, needy, thankful, obedient. Exactly what I wanted.
Even the little moments when she was bratty were perfect. She managed to find the sweet spot between disobeying me and pushing back for fun.
My cock starts to swell in my pants as I think about her moans and pleas, how fucking needy and desperate she was for us.
I don’t know how we’ll move on from her, honestly.
I mean, I can compartmentalize and act like a soulless monster—mainly because, deep down, that’s who I’ve always been.
But Beckham and Vincent are going to have a hard time with this.
Although they’re both vicious and like to play games, they also have beating hearts in their chests, whereas mine is hollow.
They feel—and they feel hard. I’m thankful they have each other, because if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be a good fit for the Hallows Games.
They would each have significant others, making things impossible.
However, I know that they fill something within each other that would otherwise be empty and dark.
Although no one outside of the three of us knows what type of relationship they have, it’s enough for now.
But Sage may be the rare and unexpected thing that fucks all of this up.
When I finally reach my childhood home, I’m thankful to see the driveway empty, so I don’t have to answer any unwanted questions from my father yet.
He’s a mean bastard on a good day, but his intentions are pure.
He wants me to succeed, get far away from our little town and make something of myself.
We’re dirt poor, but I’m on track to building the future he’s dreamed of for me. After my mom died, he got really attentive, focusing all his free time on my future.
I don’t want you trapped in this town like me, Kaiden. There’s more for you out there—better.
I fear he’ll one day die of a broken heart, from the pain and grief that haunts him from my mom’s passing. The least I can do is make him proud before he does.
If he knew about the things I do in the dark, he’d expire completely.