Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
I was over to him in three strides, yanking the cord out of the monitor. It instantly went black, and his eyes flashed with delight.
“Oh, motherfucker…” he sang in a sarcastic tone. “What else are you hiding on that computer?”
Without knocking, Deja appeared out of nowhere, walking into my suite with disappointment written all over her face. I swear she was like a damn cat and had been since we were kids. She used to follow me around as if she were my shadow. I think it was just to learn my habits.
Now, she popped up wherever she felt like it, and I was none the wiser, case in point.
“You have fucking cameras in her bedroom?” she exclaimed loudly. “You’re fucking disgusting! How are we even related?”
“How many times do I have to tell you to knock—”
“How else am I supposed to know what’s going on if I don’t—”
“That’s the whole fucking point, Deja. You’re not supposed to know.”
“Why?” She shrugged, folding her arms over her chest. “Because I’m a girl? That’s sexist,” she sassed, pissing me off. “I can do anything you can do, and probably a better job at it since all you’re run by is your ego and your dick.” She glanced at Caspian, who was leaning up against the wall, enjoying the show.
“Speaking of dicks, what are you doing here, dickhead?”
Deja hated everyone in the Brotherhood, especially since she was promised to one of them. She hadn’t met him yet. She wouldn’t until she was twenty-one. She had about a year and a half left, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she ran away before then.
I hadn’t met him. The only one who knew who he was was our father, and whoever he sold her to was, more than likely, the highest bidder in the room. This was how families maintained generational wealth among those chosen into the society. It was just how things had always been.
Our mother tried to change it. She wanted better for Deja. Instead, she was silenced.
If she did haul ass, the families would murder her, and part of me thought that was the appeal for Deja. To not have to live in this world, one that she didn’t have much say in. I mean, being a Devereaux offered her more advantages than most women married off into the Brotherhood, but not much, and she knew it.
“Should I go look in my room and make sure my betrothed hasn’t hidden cameras everywhere?” she asked, making me lose my patience.
“Is this what you’re doing now?” She made her way over to me. “I should tell Hennessy you’re stalking her.”
“Then you’d have to answer to me.”
“I’m not scared of you.”
“Maybe, but you are scared of Dad.”
She inhaled deeply, hating that I was spitting facts.
“It’s not right what you’re doing to her. You can’t play with people’s lives whenever you feel like it, Onyx.”
“This was set long in place before you and I were ever born, Deja.”
“Jesus, why can’t our family just go to therapy and be done with it? This curse—”
“Deja…” With one stern expression, I rendered her speechless.
“This is so messed up. You know that, right? You’re a fucking psychopath.”
“Sociopath,” I corrected. “If you’re going to diagnose me, at least get it right.”
“That’s worse! You have no remorse for what you do.”
I shrugged, mirroring her stance. “If you truly understood that, you wouldn’t be in my room provoking me right now.”
“Ugh!” She spun so fast, leaving in a second.
“She’s right, you know?” Caspian tore my attention back to him.
“What we do is fucked up.”
I smiled, not hesitating to admit…
* * *
“Yeah, but it’s so much fucking fun.”
Chapter
Fourteen
Hennessy: Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.
A month flew by, and nothing had changed about my environment. I’d seen my uncle a few times in passing, but other than that, I was mostly alone with all my uncontrolled thoughts and emotions.
At first, I believed I made some friends with the girls at school, but other than running into each other in the halls, I didn’t hang out with any of them, including Onyx’s sister. I had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with her brother or just being a Devereaux in general.
Is there a difference?
Today was five weeks I’d been at the Graves, and for the first time, I was going out to venture on my own to see all the historical buildings in town. I was on my way out of the garage with a bike I’d found in there when Alfred halted my descent.
“Miss.” He greeted me in an easy tone. “Please let me drive you.”
Reluctantly, I gave in, mostly because I didn’t want to get lost on a bike at night. I only had maybe an hour or two of sunlight left.
Once I was sitting in his SUV, I opened the window, and Alfred got right down to business, stating, “You sure know how to hold a grudge.”