it a go, you can come join me in the shower, baby,” he said as he knocked the bathroom door open and headed inside. “Fair warning though – I bite.”
His dark laughter was followed by the sound of the shower starting up and I grunted with frustration as I took the other door from his room back out into the corridor, snapping my fingers at Tatum to make her follow me.
“Get dressed and make yourself presentable,” I commanded as she trailed behind me into my room.
“Okay,” she muttered before moving through my bedroom into the bathroom to get changed.
When she appeared again, she’d pulled on a pair of leggings and a tight T-shirt with a knot tied in it to reveal her naval and I frowned at her as I realised she didn’t have a uniform here.
Saint emerged from the gym in the crypt just as I was about to call him and his eyes fell on Tatum in disapproval.
“Go back to your dorm and get your uniform on,” he snapped at her. “Then paint your face and tame that fucking hair. My property doesn’t turn out looking anything less than perfect and I warn you not to test me on that. Then pack up all of your clothes and other shit and leave your suitcase outside your dorm. I’ll get one of the Unspeakables to drop it off here later. If you’re not waiting for us outside the Redwood Dining Hall when we get there in fifteen minutes, I’ll personally see to your punishment.” He crossed the room and opened a drawer in the wooden unit beside the door, pulling out her room key and shoving it into her hand.
Tatum didn’t even reply, just turned and walked away without a word. The moment the door closed behind her, Saint’s gaze fixed on me.
“Problem?” I asked.
“Not yet. But she needs to be watched carefully. She hasn’t got a hope in hell of getting out of the school grounds again, but she can’t be trusted. She had a fucking gun after all.”
We hadn’t said much on that subject yet and I guessed we didn’t need to say much about it really. She didn’t have it anymore, so that was the end of it.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have let her leave on her own,” I said, glancing back at the door and wondering if all of that weird behaviour this morning had just been a cover to get us to think we’d won so that she could just try to run again.
“Don’t worry about it,” Saint replied dismissively. “I’ve got the whole student body watching her. I sent out a group text to tell them her route and they’ll let me know if she deviates from it.”
I snorted a laugh at that. “Of course you did.”
“Get dressed and tell Kyan not to be late today. I have plans for breakfast.” Saint turned away from me to head up to his bedroom on the balcony and I wondered if his plans included Tatum hand feeding him again or if he’d spent the night coming up with new ways to torture her.
Within ten minutes, the three of us were leaving The Temple and walking up the hill to the Redwood Dining Hall, passing through the crowd of the other students as they scurried out of our way. Sometimes I kinda didn’t notice it, but other days I couldn’t help but appreciate how awesome it was being us. I mean, fuck being one of the bottom feeders. The view from up here was just fantastic.
I smirked as I noticed Tatum standing on the path ahead of us, her eyes on her feet as she waited like a good little girl.
“I preferred it when she had more fight about her,” Kyan muttered.
“You prefer everything with more fight about it,” I quipped and Kyan cracked his knuckles as he chuckled in agreement.
“I’m not going to count on this being a permanent state just yet,” Saint put in. “She’s too ballsy to just bow down this soon. We’ve brought her low, made her feel helpless, stupid even. But broken her entirely? I don’t think so.”
My lip curled back as I considered that. I hadn’t gotten much satisfaction from the way she’d been acting this morning, but it was better than nothing.
And it was the least Donovan Rivers’ little girl deserved in payment for what my mom got. She couldn’t even have a burial. There was no one there to hold her hand when she died. She was alone. I