Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
OREN
The couch was surprisingly comfortable on my aching joints, bruises still peppering my skin from the onslaught my father had subjected me to as a test—a test to see if I’d bite back, but there was nothing I’d offer him.
If he wanted me to play as a soldier, I’d be one while ripping apart the seams that held his establishment together.
I’d found myself talking to Matthew frequently over the past week, his presence more than comforting. Relaxing? No, that wasn’t quite the word either. It strangely felt like home, and it scared me to have someone to lean on for the first time in years.
“You look like shit,” Matthew crooned, sliding a plate of eggs and toast across the center table toward me.
“When don’t I?” I countered, collecting it in my hands. I didn’t start eating until he settled next to me with his own. Mother was very clear to wait for everyone to sit down, and I wasn’t about to break that custom in his own space.
“Honestly? Hardly ever.” He winked and went to take a bite of his food, but I shoved him, earning a laugh that I’d come to cherish. “Fuck, I’m joking. Calm down, diva.”
A chuckle left my lips. “If that was meant to hit my ego, I’m afraid it failed.
I totally am a diva.” It was nice to have conversations that didn’t involve some form of facade, and in recent days?
They were happening frequently; I hoped it’d stay that way.
“Don’t forget you’re technically classified as one too by association. ”
Waving me off, he leaned forward with a smile and a full mouth. His fingers curled around the glass of milk he’d poured for himself, and he downed a few swallows before finally responding—his elected “gay voice” enough to make me snort. “I am honored, Queen.”
“Goddamn, is that what I sound like to you?” I laughed, covering my mouth since I’d taken more than a hefty mouthful of food.
He chuckled. “No. Honestly, if it weren’t for the flowers on your ass and the sheen you paint your lips with, I would’ve had no idea.”
“That’s why I do it, because how else do I market myself as available? Ass ready for a hit and a quit,” I added with a wink.
“You’re definitely eye candy—”
The door creaked open, cutting Matthew off before he could finish.
A presence filled the space, one I associated with far more detriment than positivity.
Well, that’s what I liked to tell myself to keep from jumping hoops—a hoop that threatened to ensnare me.
Just as quickly as his arrival was announced, the mark of finality sealed it as he kicked the door shut behind him.
“What the fuck?” Thorne snarled.
My plate clattered as I stared at him, not aware he was coming back today. I stood, brushing fallen egg from my shirt. “I, uh—”
“Thorne, I didn’t know they were releasing you today, or I would have—”
The bandages that remained on Thorne’s arms didn’t seem to faze him as he wrapped his hand around Matthew’s shirt and hauled him over the couch with ease.
Before I could react, bone and cartilage cracked, Thorne’s fist greeting Matthew’s face with anything but a warm hello.
Blood splattered, coating the wall with its scarlet hue.
He tossed him to the ground, his back colliding with the cabinets. “Care to elaborate on what you’re doing with my recruit in our quarters, soldier?”
Now it was my turn to shout. “What the fuck are you doing? He made me breakfast, you sick fucker!” I rounded the corner of the couch, offering a hand to Matthew and hopefully working as a deterrent to Thorne’s rage.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Thorne snarled, an undercurrent of convoluted emotion buried beneath his words.
“And we weren’t talking to you,” I snapped.
“Fine!” he snapped, shoving past me to storm down the hall. “Enjoy your fucking breakfast or whatever the fuck. I apologize for the inconvenience of my fucking arrival. Glad to see the two of you are getting off splendidly.”
After helping Matthew up, I followed after. “Why are you angry? We weren’t the ones to swing at you. Hell, we were simply sitting and talking, or are you unfamiliar with that concept?”
His head snapped over his shoulder, brows narrowing. “Yep. You’re right. I’m the issue, always have, and always fucking will be.” He curled his fingers around the doorknob to his room, shoving it open to step inside. “Sorry for the inconvenience, Oren.”
I should’ve turned around, but I didn’t because what he was saying wasn’t true. I knew that now. “You’re not the fucking issue,” I said. “You’re the farthest thing from it.”
“Oh, don’t humor me. You’ve made it clear how you feel about me, Valens.” He stepped back, attempting to slam the door in my face. “Loud and fucking clear.”
I shoved my foot in the threshold to block it from closing as my hand slapped against the wood. “Yeah? And what if I was wrong? What if I came here to apologize for the shit I said?”
“Apologize?” he scoffed. “You said it yourself in the kitchen. I’m a sick fucker. There’s nothing to apologize for, so get the fuck away from me and go hang out with my second in command.”
“You’re a sick fucker because you hit your second in command!
Who wouldn’t react the way I did?” I shoved my way inside his room, crossing my arms over my chest. “God, I don’t even know why I try.
I wanted to apologize, to see if you were alright, but this?
This isn’t worth it if you’re not even going to fucking hear me out. ”
“Like you heard me out?” His throat bobbed, his fists curling. “You took everything I said to you, everything I confided in you about, and took it to your fucking father! And you want me to hear you out? Fuck you, Oren.”
“I didn’t know,” I muttered, averting my gaze. “I thought… I thought it was all a lie.”
“Yeah, I got it,” he snapped, stepping past me as he ripped one of the drawers to his desk open.
“I may be a piece of shit. I may be a heartless and soulless sick fuck. But I told you. I. Am. Not. A. Liar.” Fisting a bag, he tossed it at my chest. “Your father convinced you there was nothing left of your mother. The pendant you wore? Fabricated by him.”
Fabricated? He… Had he known about it this whole time?
As my internal spiral droned on, Thorne continued.
“He told me about it, along with everything he destroyed that once belonged to her, but not these. Not her ashes. So, consider this my parting gift, Oren. You’re excused from my fucking squadron.
I’ll deal with the reprecussions that result once your father finds out. ”
I gripped it tightly, unable to breathe or think as I pressed it against my chest. “You hid this?” I whispered, barely audible above the slamming of the drawer.
“I didn’t fucking hide it. I stole it from your father’s office. For you.” Running a hand down his face, he shook his head. “I’ve written your dismissal letter. You’re a free man, Oren Valens. Now run before Andrew finds out the length I went to craft it.”
“Why?” I breathed, tears brimming. He’d stolen it from my father. My father had hidden this from me for years, and he’d given it back—given her back to me. “Why did you steal it? And why do you want me gone so badly?”
“Why’d I steal it? Because I’m an idiot and don’t give a fuck about my life or the consequences of my actions.
” His eyes lifted, their vibrant gold drilling into me.
“Why do I want you gone so badly? Because it’s the only way I can protect you.
Your father is sending my squad out on a mission in the next couple of weeks, and you will not be coming with.
Hell, we both know you don’t want to be here. You’re dismissed.”
“Like hell I’m not going!” I set the bag on his bed as I took a step forward. “Don’t put shit in my mouth I didn’t say. If my friends are going, I’m going too. I can’t… I don’t want to think of them there without me. I don’t want—”
Cutting me off, his words practically took my breath away. “You. Are. Dismissed. Get the fuck out of my sight.”
“No.” I planted myself next to the bag. “Fuck no. I’m not doing this. I’m not accepting a dismissal letter when I’ve just found out what’s going on here.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you’ve found out. I don’t give a fuck what you will or won’t accept. The letter is written, and you are no longer a member of the Vipers. So either pack up your shit and get out on your own, or I’ll toss you outside the gates myself.”
“Then fucking toss me because as far as I’m concerned, my ass is glued to this bed until you listen to me!”
The gap between us closed in an instant, his fist closing around my shirt as he ripped me toward him. “You’ve done nothing but tell me how much you despise me, how much you loathe being here. This is your fucking out, Oren. Take it.”
“I don’t want it anymore,” I said, holding his gaze. “I made a goddamn mistake, and it hurt you. My father hurt you because of my fucking mouth. You think I wanted him to do this shit to you? That I enjoyed it?” I shoved his hand away.
“Yes!” he screamed. “Yes, I fucking do! Because the way you looked at me in that bathroom, the cries that fell from you, the damage I caused... Why—”
“Because what choice did you give me?” I interrupted.
“All that shit I said? Lies because I am terrified. I’m terrified to feel, damn it.
I’m scared of letting anyone in because they die!
” I took a breath and ran my hands down my face.
“Matthew told me everything, and you know what I did? I panicked. I panicked because my father was now alone in a room with you while I had to wait, knowing he was doing whatever the fuck he wanted. I didn’t know, okay?
I fucking didn’t know how much you do for everyone.
How much you’ve done for me,” I corrected.
“Fucking hell.” He stepped away from me, running his fingers through his hair as he spoke, but to himself. “He should’ve killed me. He should’ve broken my fucking neck when he had the chance.”