and hauling her around to face Monroe as he scowled at me.
"Can you quit with the fucking comments?" he hissed, like he hated me constantly making innuendos about the two of them all the time, but I gave no shits.
"Sure. You just need to get over here and put something in our girl real quick because Saint has a precise ten minutes in the shower and we've probably used up five of them already." I walked Tatum towards him as she squirmed in my hold and I couldn't help but laugh as she tried to punch me in the balls.
"Kyan, stop. We can't take stupid risks, like-"
I tugged her shirt up to reveal her bare pussy and pushed my hand between her thighs.
Nash growled, Tatum whimpered and Saint shut off the fucking shower.
"Damn," I said with a dramatic sigh, taking my hand back and rearranging my shirt around her thighs. "Next time, you guys need to get into position faster."
"Asshole," Tatum chastised, shoving me away from her and Monroe shook his head and stalked away to take his spot at the table.
Blake appeared, scrubbing sleep from his eyes and we helped Tatum plate up before bringing all of the food over to the table, just as Saint reappeared right on time to eat.
All in all, I had to say that things were looking pretty good in Night Keeper world today.
E verything about this day was perfect until my last class of the day when I was hit with the force of a freight train. There was a parcel waiting for me in reception and Mr Jacobs excused me to collect it. I knew in my gut what was waiting for me there and I was terrified to face it.
I didn’t hear anything the Night Keepers spoke to me as I drifted out of my seat and headed for the door. I didn’t take in any of the walk as my feet guided me there. And now I couldn't hear the receptionist, Miss Schmidt, as she passed over the cardboard box and I felt the solid weight of it in my hands. Though it wasn't as heavy as I’d expected.
She said something else, but I was already walking away, heading outside into the wind and drizzle which whirled around me. I clutched the box to my chest to keep it dry and found myself walking down the eastern path beside the lake. My chest was being brutally sliced into with a butcher's knife. Every breath I drew in hurt. Every step I took juddered through my body and made my soul rattle.
I made it to the Willow Boathouse as the clouds started to part in the sky, so the drizzle ebbed away until just a cool wind remained. I headed inside, taking the twisting stairway up to the room above. I needed to just hide away and find a way to deal with this. It hurt so bad. Every time I thought I was starting to get used to his loss, something like this just split me open all over again. This day had been so bright, so good. And just like that, it had all gone to hell.
My hands trembled around the box as I moved to the far corner by the window and slid down with my back to the wall, my knees to my chest as I stared out at the balcony and the choppy water of the lake beyond. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I held my dad’s ashes, wishing I could hold him for real. Wishing I could smell his familiar scent and watch him nudge his glasses up his nose as they slid down it. I wanted to see his crooked smile and hear his deep laugh. He had been my only constant my entire life, my best friend. And now he was reduced to ash in this box and it seemed everything he was and everything he could have been was compressed within it. His lasting dreams, regrets, his daily routines, his ambitions and hopes. All of it lived inside this small space, waiting to be discarded. And I was tasked with doing it.
I didn't know how long I sat there, or how long I cried, but it was dark outside by the time I looked up again. I knew I had to deal with the messages and calls that were coming in repeatedly on my phone. I couldn’t put it off any longer. So I took it out, tapping on the latest