“She isn’t here, Cas.” The serious note in my tone has his facial expression morphing into a mask of agitation.
“You think she’s taken off to find her brother?”
“If she has, I’ll have to change my plans and take her out first.” If that little murdering fucking rat has run off to try and find her brother, I’ll slice her lips off before I even start having fun removing her limbs. Cas leaps off his bed and begins pulling some clothes on. I stalk out of his room and grab my keys, knowing he won’t be far behind me. Toren is proving to be difficult to read and that shit isn’t sitting right with me. She should be acting like nothing happened and trying to play the innocent act.
Her confrontation with her dead best friend's mom put her in a downward spiral. I would be a liar if I said that shit didn’t make me happy to see. Seeing her slowly deteriorate inside has my cock twitching in my pants. Knowing she is dying inside slowly forces me to bite back a groan that wants to escape.
Once Cas is seated beside me in the car, I head straight for campus. “We heading to practice after we find your pet?” he questions.
I shoot the fucker a glare. “She isn’t my anything,” I bite out.
He scoffs. “She better be your something soon or your dad is gonna take away our fun.” The reminder of the clock ticking pisses me off. I don’t bother with a reply, choosing to plant my foot on the gas. We made it to the campus in record time. We both exit the car and head toward the border of the school that will lead us to Somerset’s side, but something has me pausing and turning toward our building. “What’s up?”
“I gotta check something out.” I don’t wait for a reply as I take off toward Stormsend’s main building. I push the doors open and head down the hall. I don’t check any of the classes, instead I head straight for the library. Call it intuition or whatever the fuck you want but I justknowshe is in there. Cas reaches me just as I push the door open and step inside the room. My eyes instantly land on her standing behind the counter with Maddison behind her.
“Uh, I thought Mads hated her?” Cas sounds just as perplexed as I feel. I ignore him as I stalk toward them. Both of them are too lost in their conversation and looking over some papers Maddison is showing Toren to notice me approaching until I’m standing right in front of them. Maddison lifts her head and frowns at the sight of me. Toren follows her line of sight and jerks in surprise at the sight of me and Cas.
It pisses me off when she keeps her gaze focused over my shoulder and speaks to Caspian like I’m not even fucking here. “What are you guys doing here? I thought you had practice?” Before Cas can answer I do.
“Where the fuck have you been?” My tone holds an edge but I give zero fucks. She purses her lips and scowls at me.
“Working?” she answers.
“That a question or a statement, Tink?” I fire back.
“What the hell is your problem, Xaden?” she hisses, then quickly darts her gaze around the room to make sure no one is paying us any attention. That shit pisses me off.
“I won’t make a fucking scene, Tink. You’ll get a Broadway musical if I wanted their fucking attention.” Her eyes widen to the size of saucers.
Before I can continue on Maddison cuts in. “She’s on a trial, X.” I cut my gaze to Maddison and unlike everyone else she doesn’t cower under the pressure of it. She knows I would never raise a hand against her because of who her brother is to me. “Let the girl work. I want to fire her for a legit reason not because you and your puppy came in here and made a damn scene. Now, get out.” I shoot her a look that conveys she is treading on thin fucking ice. Maddison knows better than to push me. I may never hurt her but I can make her life a living hell if I wanted to.
“Xaden?” I pull my gaze back to Toren and the sight of unshed tears in her fucking eyes stumps me for a moment.
“What?” I snap.
“I need this job,” she breathes out. “I’m sorry for whatever I did to piss you off this morning, but can we please talk about it after I finish?”
I grind my teeth to the point they begin to ache. “Get your ass to the rink once you finish,” is all I say before I storm out of there. She thinks she can just go around and do what she fucking likes, then she is fucking mistaken. That girl is about to learn I call all the fucking shots and if she tries to fight me on that, she’ll learn why my last name has the right letters to spellDevil.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
TOREN
I’m a ball of nerves.
Ever since Xaden and Cas stormed into the library, I have been a mess. Maddison snapped at me more times than I want to admit. I was prepared to weep at her feet if it meant I got the job but she kicked me out of there and told me to have my ass in there straight after class on Monday, so I took that as a good thing. She wasn’t happy when I told her at the start of my trial that I didn’t have a bank account so I would need to be paid in cash, but she did agree to help me set one up so I took that as a win.
I was having a relatively good day until now. Standing in front of the rink has memories of times I spent in there with Kenna rushing back to me like a movie. Tears prick the backs of my eyes as I recall the moments we would sit in the stands and mock Cas, Masen and Kellan. I run a hand through my hair and tug on the strands, trying to distract myself with the pain so I stop thinking about her, but it’s impossible. She’s ingrained in my blood.
I may not have known Emery for as long as I have Kenna, but I feel the same way about her. I wish she was here to talk to meand help me through this. Emery always knew the right things to say so I would see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Old habits die hard, huh?” I whirl around and stare at Meekan with wide eyes. He never came here unless it was game night and he was in town. Seeing him here now he just looks so out of place. Meekan is hot. There is no denying that but he was always off limits because of his age, and the fact he is my best friend's older brother.
“What are you doing here, Meek?” I ask barely above a whisper, terrified he will go off on me like his mom did.
He strolls toward me without a care in the world, stopping a couple of feet away. I take in the sight of him and note all the changes. He doesn’t look like a happy teenager anymore. He appears hardened by the world, a darkness circling his pale brown eyes. His brown hair is just long enough to tuck behind his ears. Much like Cas, Meekan is extremely tall and well built. He made the perfect hockey player. He was Somerset's golden boy, but he is definitely not a boy anymore.
“I could ask you the same thing, Tor.” I drop my gaze and nibble on my bottom lip, feeling unsure how to answer him. “Toren?”
