Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,149

towards the door before Saint called after us, “Where are you going?”

“For a walk,” Blake snapped.

“You bring her back soon,” Saint growled.

“She’s ours. Not yours,” Blake shot at him then caught my arm and dragged me out the door.

My heart jack-hammered against my ribcage as he led me down the path alongside the lake, the dappled sunlight falling over us through the trees.

“How long will Saint let us stay out for?” I asked, putting a little fear into my voice for added effect.

Blake glanced down at me with a grunt of irritation. “That’s up to me, not him.”

“Oh, right. But he’s the boss, isn’t he?” I fluttered my lashes innocently and he pressed his shoulders back, his features twisting in irritation.

“No, he’s not the fucking boss. We’re a team.”

“I see,” I said like I didn’t see and I sensed his posture growing even tenser. “So where are we going?”

“For a walk,” he snarled and I suddenly realised why he’d brought me out here. It definitely wasn’t out of a desire to spend time with me. He was proving a point that I was his as much I was Saint’s.

Quiet fell between us and I gazed out across the stillness of the lake, watching swans and ducks circling on the calm surface. The scene was picturesque, the late afternoon light glittering on the surface and making it look like liquid gold.

“Let’s go this way.” Blake caught my arm, yanking me down a side trail that led into the woods. My pulse sky rocketed faster than Apollo 11 to the moon as we left the main path, way out of sight of other people. Blake felt like a bomb about to go off and the tension spilling from him made my palms start to sweat.

My instincts were to try and defuse it so I cleared my throat and lifted my chin to look at him. “Hey…Blake?”

He glanced at me with a dark glare and I felt like I was in the headlights of an oncoming car.

My mouth opened and closed for a second before I forced out the words, refusing to be a chicken shit. “Things have really changed between us, huh?”

He grunted, continuing to walk and upping his pace. I upped mine too so I could keep at his side. My dad often descended into moods when he was mad about something, and I knew how to coax him out of them with gentle words. I wasn’t sure if the same would apply to Blake, but I was damn well gonna give it a try. I’d felt a genuine connection between us before and apart from anything else, I wanted an explanation for why he hated me so personally now. Even if my dad was responsible for the virus, which I was still absolutely refuting, that didn’t make me culpable.

The hardest thing about this was that I was going to have to be honest and face the consequences if Blake threw that truth back in my face. But him and his friends had done far worse to me than that. So it was worth the risk.

“I thought there was something real between us before…stupid as that might sound,” I said tentatively and he blew out a hollow laugh.

“I played you from the very start. You looked like a good fuck. Shame you were below average.”

I pursed my lips, refusing to let that crap fly. I could take the bullshit insults, I could even take the punishments, but that was just a bare faced lie. “Horse shit. Guys can’t fake it in bed, I know how much you enjoyed it. Especially when you dominated me.”

He shot me a look, fury flaming in his eyes. I swear if I touched him right then I would have gotten third degree burns. My heart pounded madly from the intensity of his expression and something about me was suddenly drawn to that fire in him. I wanted to reach out to see if I really would get burned. I wanted to feel the full raging force of his passion. And for half a second, it looked like he wanted that too. But then he turned away again and kept marching up the track, his shoulders stiff and his muscles bunching.

“At least admit you liked me before you found out who I was,” I demanded. “Come on, Blake, we got along. We had fun. I liked you.”

He came at me fast and I threw up a hand to shield myself, my palm slamming against his chest. But