“I’ll repeat,” Bridger growls, his palms balling into fists. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
I turn to Just and Pru, wanting to protect them, but I know they are fine by themselves. The thought is still there though.
"We're here to keep her safe," Just practically spits.
It takes me away from the moment, settling in my stomach as I get nervous. His voice dropped a lot, almost callous and cruel. It’s a tone I've never heard him use around me. And the way he enunciated safe? It's like Bridger was supposed to protect me and didn't, and that makes my chest ache on a whole other level.
"Yeah, what about six hours ago? When she was about to be slaughtered?" Bridger prods, and I turn back to him. His normally impassive tone, flat expression, and smooth exterior are nowhere to be found. He's towering, his frame hulkish. Chills skate all over my skin. I hate it, and I love it, and it's scary as fuck, but it's also his way of showing something.
"What about you? You live here, and you didn't keep her safe!" Just throws back at him, and I'm stuck wondering what the fuck is happening and why they're yelling at one another as if they know each other.
"Guys, we need to get her inside," Ross interrupts the yelling, sidestepping Bridger. His hands clasp my shoulders, and he peers at me with so much worry, but it's not him who has my attention. It's Ten five or so feet behind him. I can barely see him, but Ten’s face seems distraught.
He stayed behind while the EMTs checked me out. He watched from afar as the cops questioned me, and it wasn't until my moms left that he walked away.
Tears begin to prick again, reminding me how broken up I still am.
Ten moves past Bridger and the twins, pulling me inside the place I used to call home, but before I can fully enter the door, I stop him.
"Guys, come on." I'm directly speaking to the twins, not wanting them too far. They'll keep the guys from pulling their normal pranks on me.
They start to follow me, but then we're all stopped by Jordan and Lux.
Goddammit. Nothing comes easy nowadays.
Chapter Four
Jordan
Covered in crimson and appearing as deathly as her nickname, Colt is still hot as fuck. It's kind of annoying that she does this to me and has since before she knew I existed. She's trembling now, though, and knowing me or one of the guys aren't the cause has me rattled.
No one gets to make her feel this way but us.
She's not anyone's to toy with.
I hear the tail end of their conversation. Apparently, Colt brought stragglers. If I didn't see them myself, I would have thought my ears were fucking with me.
"Stay," I demand, watching as Colt tries bringing them inside. She doesn't need to see this. There's been enough carnage today, enough for a fucking lifetime in Colt's eyes, I'm sure.
She shakes her head, her dainty little frame trembling from head to toe, and fuck, I hate that fear. I hate how unsafe she's feeling.
"We'll be okay, princess," one of the twins say. Not sure which one since they're practically a carbon copy of each other.
Her lips and chin warble, and I can see Ten wanting to push forward and Ross too.
The last time I'd witnessed her even slightly this distraught was after Cassidy's funeral. That day changed us all forever.
But for Colt? It was the end of her. She died that day, had been buried with him.
Colt finally relents, trailing after Ross, who guides her toward the rooms. I'm sure he'll avoid her old one. He's not cruel.
"Start talking," Bridger bites, and I wish I had popcorn to eat and watch this unravel. The twins look different with age.
"You guys are fucking dumb," Justice lets out.
I chuckle darkly. Yep, that's definitely Justice. The twins—while not around anymore—aren't new faces. They've changed a lot in the last five years, but they're definitely not any different from the last time I saw them.
"You couldn't have waited to piss all over her when she was inside? She's traumatized," Prudence hisses. He's a lot softer than Justice. He's the mellow one out of the two of them. Justice is the aggressor and always will be.
"Why are you with her? I told you in Tennessee to back the fuck off," Bridger yells.
I quirk an eyebrow. Tennessee? He went? When?
"What the fuck?" Lennox barks, breaking through. "Why were you in Tennessee?"
Bridger doesn't show his cards. While he's given an inch with Colt, showing his jealousy, he isn't willing to show the rest of us anything.
"Can we discuss this somewhere that isn’t the foyer?" Ten offers, ever the mediator.
I smile, feeling like we're kids all over again.
"She's not your friend, Ross," Lux grumbles, punching Ross in the shoulder. "She doesn't even like you."
I'm standing with Jay—Justice Krane—and Ten. We're all watching as Lux and Ross battle over who gets to swim with Colt. Ross is Cassidy's closest friend, but in reality, he's Lux's best friend.
"Guys, stop fighting like a bunch of dicks," Ten hollers, trying to get one side to concede. "She's not worth fighting over."
But that's the lie, isn't it? Ten is the closest to Colt. He kisses her more, dotes on her more. We all know it'll be him to pop her cherry.
That was last year, when I'd first came back after Maxim's passing. Ten always tried to calm them down.
We all head to the main room. It's where meetings usually happen. Everyone sits at their normal seat, and the twins stand, showing their truths.
"Yang's gone," Justice remarks, scrunching his face as if it annoys him more than anything. These two don't care. The fact that they're soft for Colt is both telling and troubling. How can two psychopaths care about anyone?
"Yeah, fuckface, we're aware," Lennox mocks. Still covered in his own jizz that I spit on him, he's standing regal as fuck, acting as if he's not bothered by a goddamn thing. Even with the dried splooge, he's not allowing it to change what matters.
Protecting the corpse.
"We weren't aware she was at Arcadia," Prudence continues Justice's thought.
"She wasn't supposed to be," Lux informs, his posture astute as always.
I don't say anything. This is usually how these things go down. They argue, I listen.
"Well, what the hell were y'all doing? Your job is to keep tabs on Colt. Did you decide to take the night off?" This time, it's Just who stares at us all pointedly.
I wondered about this, too, though. Tonight was Lennox's night. We did the ruse, pretending we were going out of town. Shit, we even posted to the Arcadia bulletin board, saying we were heading out. We needed everyone aware of our absence.
Yang was a wild card.
"How long has she been here?" Justice questions us.
Fuck, I don't even know that. Past Emeralds are meant to check in before coming back to campus. It's our own safety net, a line we don’t cross.
"Why are you all silent?" I peer at the twins, smiling, realizing that no one has said anything because all of us know it's Lux's night, which means, he was either not on watch or he's hiding something. The twins don't rule us anymore.