Chapter 41 Sable
SABLE
Once she’s gone, I go back to the guys and climb into the bed with the robe still on and the key hidden beneath the thick collar.
I watch them sleeping, and I feel weird in my own skin, knowing I’m about to hide this from them.
Last night, I needed to take control, and they let me have it.
They showed they want me whatever way I come, and it felt so fucking real. But Nina is right.
This key is the only thing I’ve ever had that is just mine, and I need to move smarter from now on.
Even though I know it’s the right move, the lie burns in the pit of my stomach.
When the sun is fully up, I move away from their embrace, and it’s not long until Parker opens his eyes and finds me deep in thought at the bench.
“Good morning.” He smiles.
“Good morning.”
I’m scared he’ll remember when I got up, but he doesn’t say anything and just rises from the bed, stretching. The others wind up waking in the process. We all move to put on our clothes, and suddenly, what to do with me for the day becomes the hot topic.
“You will do nothing with me.” I interrupt their discussion, suddenly feeling a little more justified about keeping some space to myself.
Did they learn anything last night? I’m not the Offering anymore.
Things are about to change between us. The shame of keeping the key a secret dims a little, and I tip my chin up.
“I will do what I want to do today, and you guys can let me know when you’re free from your classes. You know, like normal people.”
They all stop short with my words, as if I just told them Arabella is my best friend. They look at each other, searching for the right words, but before they find them, Orion speaks up.
“Just come with one of us.”
“No,” I answer him with a little boop on the nose. Anger swells on his handsome face and quickly dissipates because he’s whipped.
“What will we do if something happens to you?” Lex asks.
I open my mouth to answer, but Hadrian answers before I have a chance. “She killed her uncle with her bare hands and a stiletto heel. I have a feeling she’ll be okay for the morning.”
They all look at him like he’s insane, and he sighs. “But in any event, I have her phone.”
He hands it to me fully charged, and I can’t help but smile. Leave it to him to figure out what I need and give it to me without permission. “Thank you,” I say sweetly, but there is one issue. “How did you find it?”
“Pulled it off your uncle’s dead body. Don’t worry, I cleaned it.”
“Ah,” I say, a little bit less excited than I was a moment before.
“Hadrian is right.” Lex nods. “She needs autonomy.” His tone conflicts with his words.
“I still don’t like it,” Orion says.
“Then get out of class, and you follow her around for a change,” Lex suggests
“I can’t. I’m already behind.”
“Then it sounds like she’s free for a few hours,” Hadrian concludes, then turns to me. “But be careful, please.”
A sassy remark about how they’re awfully dramatic for the campus bad boys sits on the tip of my tongue, but fuck me, they’re right. Too many bad things have happened to me inside this castle.
“I’ll be careful,” I promise.
“Do you want us to bring you back to one of our rooms?” Parker asks.
“No, guys. I think I want to play around down here in the steam.” I hold my breath, wondering if they’ll buy it.
Fuck, I don’t want to hide anything, but I can’t be jumping from one bed to the next.
They need to leave me be for a second, at least so I can organize my thoughts without the dumb boy pretzel, as Nina nicely put it.
Hadrian nods first, and they all follow his lead, eventually filing out of the room to go about their work for the day. I sigh in relief, hand over my heart, and I only move when I’m sure they have left the athletic department long behind.
Leaving the scene of last night’s escapades behind, I make my way through the hall.
A few people are out now, but it’s not hard to find a secret passage back to the rooms. I slip inside before anyone notices me.
Lex always hated cutting through the crowds, and I learned enough to make sure to go undetected.
It’s easier to hide once I’m up on the top floors of our tower.
No one comes here but them—except Arabella, apparently—but they are all in class.
The key sits heavy between my breasts, heart beating fast. Nina got me spooked with all this secrecy.
The hall that leads to all of their doors is round.
The one with the scratched-off symbol sits between Hadrian and the twins.
While I’ve never used the hall entrances much, I’ve spent enough time in those bedrooms to know where each door sits.
The hall is entirely silent as I pass Hadrian’s room, and as I predicted, a door with a keyhole instead of a fancy palm reader is right where it should be.
I still don’t fully trust Nina, so I’m surprised when the key fits and turns over.
Part of me still thought all of this might be an elaborate trick.
The heavy knob turns easier than I expected, and the door creaks open.
Stale air and darkness greet me. My hand searches the wall for a switch, and I breathe another sigh of relief when the lights flip on.
They’re dim and need to be replaced badly, but I step inside and look around, trying to see what I’m working with.
White sheets cover the little furniture left behind, and there’s a pile of boxes I immediately recognize.
How the hell did she get into their rooms to get my stuff?
The space is exactly the same as the one the guys have just incredibly dated and abandoned.
I remove the furniture coverings, coughing when dust rises around me.
There’s not much, but a huge wooden table, an old-fashioned desk, and the regular kitchen cabinets.
In the other room, I find a massive bed and a small trunk, not unlike the one in the Offering room.
It’s not great, but it’s mine for now, and for the first time in a long time, I feel in charge of my own destiny.
In the bathroom, I find old towels, but no soap or anything.
I think about going to find some and taking a bath, but instead, I wind up just staring at myself in the mirror.
Uncovering the bandage, I face what my uncle did to me head-on for the first time.
The letters are red and angry, and I don’t know how they’ll look when they heal, but I fear it will always be a horrible sight.
Tears fall, and I’m incredibly grateful to Nina for allowing me to be alone.
A moment to myself to lick my wounds seems to be exactly what I needed.
I curl up in the bed after that and cry for a long time over so very many things.