Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,124

to the seat in front of him.

My brows arched and he had to say it again before I moved and sat in the seat he’d pointed out. I did not wanna be stuck looking at the kings of shitbagsville while I ate.

“I’ve ordered your food for you,” Saint said and my jaw started to grind.

Kyan gave me that hopeful look again and I dropped my hands into my lap, digging my nails into my palms. The pain gave me something to focus on while I kept my tongue in check and nodded vaguely, making Kyan sigh in irritation.

Our table was served first and they all had predictable meals placed in front of them. Blake with his syrup-swamped pancakes and cherries, Saint with his eggs and avocado on toast, and Kyan with his fried everything.

My plate was put in front of me last and I looked down at the single leaf of lettuce staring up at me. My lips pursed and hell, this shit was getting harder and harder already. How was I gonna manage not blowing up like a volcano for weeks?

And what if they didn’t get bored? What if they kept this up so long that I snapped and showed them just how unbroken I was after all.

Gah, I wanna stuff this lettuce leaf down Saint Memphis’s throat!

Kyan snorted a laugh and Blake grinned darkly, placing his knife and fork down as he waited to see how I was gonna react.

Saint smiled, viciously slicing his toast into two perfect halves and slicing through his eggs and avocado in the process. “Eat up, Plague. We wouldn’t want you going hungry, now would we?”

I snatched up my lettuce leaf, tearing a piece off it with my teeth and Kyan licked his lips at my savagery. I simply couldn’t help it in that moment. Deprive me of anything, anything but food. Hanger was real. And I was it.

“Use your knife and fork, Plague. You’re not an animal,” Saint demanded and god help me, I wanted to punch him as hard as I’d punched Pearl. No, harder. Definitely fucking harder.

Keep your cool, Tatum, dammit!

I picked up my knife and fork with a false smile and started cutting into the remains of the lettuce leaf.

I didn’t know how long I was going to manage keeping myself in check, I already felt like a kernel left on the fire. I wasn’t built to comply. But even if I pulled this off and they got sick of me, the best I could probably hope for was joining the Unspeakables and living on the outskirts of the community for the rest of the year. And that was the absolute best case scenario. But it still had to be better than this.

***

I sat out by the lake after dinner, throwing pebbles at the water and watching the ripples stir the still surface. I’d stashed a change of workout clothes in my bag after I’d gone back to my dorm this morning so I didn’t have to go to The Temple any time soon. My black leggings and black and white crop top had been perfect for the run I’d taken to expend the searing energy in my limbs.

The fact that they’d gone through my bag last night was something I didn’t wanna dwell on too much. But I was hoping they’d just swiped out the top layer of clothes for me and left the bag alone. Because if they’d found my dad’s gun, surely they would have said something? And then there were my letters to Jessica…but I didn’t see why they’d be interested in those. I had ones in there from her too and I cared about them even more. They were little pieces of her I could carry everywhere with me. And I didn’t want the Night Keepers’ greasy hands on them.

After a day of being ignored, ridiculed and humiliated, I was starting to wonder if I really could handle biting my tongue much longer. It had only been a day and I was fit to bursting with rage. Part of me was happy about that. It meant the Night Keepers hadn’t left any permanent damage on me. And that had to be cause for celebration. Or it just meant there was a lot more of me to break, depending on which way you looked at it.

The most excruciating thing of all, was the lack of food. For every meal today, I’d been served with a single lettuce leaf and a glass of water. And each