Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,175

one bit.

“I guess I like having her around,” I admitted.

“Good. Then you’re on babysitting duty tonight. Don’t expect us back until late, this errand will take most of the evening. I need to drive the point home. With all of this virus bullshit, people are starting to think of their lives as more fragile than they used to be. They’re wondering whether they wanna stay under our heel for the duration of this shit or if they’re going to fight against our command. And I’m not going to allow any descent amongst the masses.”

“Of course you’re not.” I snorted a laugh and looked back at the screen. Saint was always so concerned about controlling everyone and everything around him. He had to be certain that every single person in this place knew exactly who ruled over them at all times. But I saw the whole top dogs thing as simpler than that. When it came down to it, I could and would beat the shit out of any fucker who tried to stand against me. I didn’t see the need for all the posturing and threats. If anyone stepped too far out of line, I’d just kick them back down again. Simple. But Saint would be Saint and it was on him if he wanted to play his fucked up little games.

“I’ll see you tonight,” he promised as if he thought I might be going anywhere else. But the school was on lockdown so where the fuck was I supposed to go?

I got back to my game, slashing, killing, stabbing and shooting my way through hoard after hoard of zombies before finding a group of survivors who were holed up in a barn. They gave me the option to join them and I took the choice to butcher them and steal their supplies instead. Obviously.

Saint and Blake soon left on their little mission and my skin prickled as I realised I had Tatum Rivers all to myself for the evening.

Now what will I do with her?

I continued my game for a while, but my character kept dying as my attention wavered. Before I could make any decisions on my little night in with my trophy, she came to me.

The cushions bounced as Tatum moved to sit on them, folding her legs beside me and letting her knee brush against my thigh. That shit was intentional, but I had no problem with the seduction game she was trying to play with me. I just wondered how far she was really willing to push it. Because if she was hoping to crawl into my bed, she might be surprised when she found herself chained to it too.

I tossed the control aside, abandoning my game as I turned to look at her. She was wearing a pair of high waisted grey slacks and a white blouse that had enough buttons undone to give me a glimpse of her cleavage and the black bra she wore beneath it. Saint had her dressed up like a sexy secretary who was destined to get fucked over the CEO’s desk. All she needed was a pair of thick rimmed glasses to complete the look. It was hot. But it wasn’t my usual bag.

“So…” she began as I let the silence drag between us.

“So?”

“Umm, what are we doing tonight then?” She bit her lip nervously and I chased the movement with my eyes, a hungry growl escaping me as I imagined biting it harder.

“Same thing we do every night at the moment,” I deadpanned, the mind numbing boredom of this fucking quarantine situation already making me ache with a need for violence and freedom, and we’d only been locked in this fucking school for a short time.

“So Saint said we have to stay in?” she asked with a sigh.

“Saint’s not the boss of me,” I growled.

“Mmmhmm.”

I knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to drive a wedge between me and the other Night Keepers, trying to goad the beast in me. But what she didn’t realise about Saint being in charge was that I liked it that way. I had no interest in controlling the masses and I didn’t give a shit about making decisions and hard choices. All I cared about was the rush of the fight. So if people saw me as Saint’s guard dog, held tight on his chain to be unleashed at his whim, that was just fine by me. I didn’t give a shit. Because it wasn’t true. I did