Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,121

never even gave her a proper goodbye the last time I’d seen her. I was on the phone to Saint and I’d just kinda waved when she held her arms wide to hug me. That was it. The last hug I ever could have had with my mom and I’d brushed it off for nothing. Because I took her for granted. I assumed she’d always be there for me. I mean sure, everyone kinda knows that you’ll probably outlive your parents eventually, but not while I was so young. I thought we’d had all the time in the world left together.

But I guessed that was life. One moment you’re skipping along thinking everything’s just great, and the next thing you know you get sucker punched out of nowhere and everything you thought you could rely on is just gone. And what do you have left? Rage and outrage. Injustice and hopelessness. Nothing and everything. It’s all gone but there’s still so much here too. It’s just that none of it looks the same anymore.

My jaw tightened and my gaze locked on the girl whose father was to blame for all of my suffering. Was seeing her brought so low enough for me? Like fuck it was. I’d barely scraped the surface.

“Plague,” I barked without thinking it through and her head snapped up as she looked at me with those big blue eyes which tried to pry right into my soul. But I’d sold my soul to the devil a long time ago and I guessed he’d just waited until now to come and collect. “Pick someone out of the crowd.”

“What?” she asked me in confusion.

“Pick someone at random. Now.”

She flinched the tiniest amount at my tone then pointed at Pearl Devickers.

Perfect.

“Punch her,” I said.

“Fuck yes,” Kyan growled as Pearl’s mouth dropped open.

“What?” Tatum asked as Pearl backed up.

“What did I do?” Pearl asked, giving me the pleading doe eyes.

“Nothing, sweetheart. Not to me, anyway. But I guess you pissed off Plague here because she just picked you out.”

Tatum opened her mouth to protest and I grabbed her arm, gripping hard enough to bruise as I pulled her against me and growled into her ear for only her to hear. “Either you punch Pearl Devickers in her smug fucking face or I’ll personally beat the shit out of every guy in your little Unspeakable gang, starting with the asshole who tried to escape with you last night. Bait, wasn’t it?”

I shoved Tatum away from me and she looked how I imagined she would if I’d just pissed on her.

“Five,” I growled. “Four, three, two-”

“Sorry,” Tatum gasped before she swung her fist straight into Pearl’s face like a pro and knocked her flying into the mud.

Kyan whooped with laughter and Saint’s eyes flashed with excitement. Pearl scrambled upright with fury etched into her features as blood poured from her nose, a scream tearing from her lips as she launched herself at Tatum.

Before she could get close to our girl, Kyan stepped between them, practically snarling as he looked down at Pearl.

“Did you hear any of us say you could lay a hand on our property?” he demanded.

Pearl stumbled to a halt as she tried to rein herself in and Tatum looked like she didn’t even know what the fuck was happening. My heart was pounding with the thrill of it. Of wielding this power over her and the rest of the school too. It was intoxicating, addictive, exhilarating.

“She punched me!” Pearl screeched.

“Yeah. And she looked hot as fuck doing it, too. Doesn’t mean you can lay a hand on her though,” Kyan said casually, using his bulk to completely block Pearl’s view of Tatum.

“And that goes for the rest of you assholes,” I added in a loud voice. “She’s our girl. Which means anyone who has any ideas about trying to hurt her better forget them. Anyone considering trying to fuck her had better maintain a nice, healthy relationship with their own right hand. Because none of you have permission to even talk to her, let alone touch her, unless you want to answer to us.”

“She’s our property,” Saint added darkly. “And I will personally collect my pound of flesh from anyone here who disrespects that.”

A heavy silence fell among the crowd and Tatum looked like she was wishing the ground would just swallow her whole. But there wasn’t much chance of that. Every single eye in the surrounding students was trained on her with either hate, rage or envy.

I just hoped