Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,197

she wasn’t. Tatum Rivers was something much more important than that, but none of us were going to even attempt to put a name on exactly what that was.

“What rules then?” Kyan snapped.

There was too much animal in him for this kind of discussion. He was a beast governed by instinct; he did what he wanted when he wanted and didn’t like following rules. But I was the fucking king of rules so if that was what we needed, then I could certainly manage that much.

“Like where she sleeps,” I said darkly. Because out of all the fucking photos he’d sent me of the two of them last night, that had bothered me the most. Not the fact that he’d put her in danger on his motorbike or even the fact that he’d allowed her to brawl like an alley cat in that godforsaken illegal fighting pit he loved so much, not the way he’d dressed her like a fucking porno biker chick or how he’d coated her in his scent by wrapping her in his jacket and then putting her to bed in his shirt with a fucking hicky. No. All of those things had incited me, but the fact that he’d put her in his bed at the end of it was what had blinded me.

“She’s not going back in that bathroom,” Kyan said instantly. “I’m all for fucking with her, but that shit is just spiteful. If something belongs to me, I look after it. Which means she needs a bed.”

“Well there’s only three bedrooms here, asshole, and I’m not bunking in with you to give her one,” Blake snorted.

“There’s an easier solution than that,” I interrupted. “She rotates.”

“You mean she takes turns sleeping in with each of us?” Blake asked and I was surprised to see he didn’t look as repulsed by that as I’d expected.

“Yes.”

“In that case, on the days she’s in with me, she doesn’t have to go and kneel outside the fucking crypt at six am,” Kyan said instantly and my lip curled back at that. “If she’s warming my bed for me, I want her there when I wake up.”

“That makes sense,” Blake added infuriatingly and I ground my jaw.

“She still has to be up to make breakfast,” I said, refusing to budge on that.

“Obviously,” Blake added and some of the tension left my shoulders.

“If I wanna take her for a night out, I can do it without having to answer to anyone,” Kyan added coolly.

I didn’t like that one fucking bit, but what was I supposed to say?

“We’re on lockdown here because of that bastard virus,” I said. “Going out last night was really fucking stupid for more reasons than the chance of her escaping.”

“The police shut the place down anyway,” Kyan said with a shrug. “So I won’t be going back there any time soon and I can agree to stay on campus until lockdown is over.”

“Fine. We can take her out individually,” I conceded.

“But we have to let each other know,” Blake added.

“Are we good then?” I asked. “No more shit anyone needs to air?”

I looked between my two best friends, the space dividing us feeling like a chasm filled with things we still hadn’t said.

Kyan met my gaze and he sighed, clenching and unclenching his fist as the last of the tension slipped from his muscles and the fight went out of him.

“I took Tatum out into the woods the other night with the intention of putting a bullet through her skull,” Blake growled.

I stopped glaring at Kyan and we both turned to stare at him instead. It took a lot to shock me. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time that emotion had entered my body. But holy fuck, a murder had nearly gone unnoticed in our circle. Right under my nose. I knew Blake was close to breaking point, I’d even had vague concerns that he might be tempted to snap her pretty neck. But evidently I hadn’t taken that threat seriously enough.

“Clearly I changed my mind,” he added, but the shadows in his gaze said it had been a close won thing.

Kyan blew out a breath and pushed his long hair out of his face. His knuckles were lined with blood, but most of it was his where his skin had split again during our brawl.

“This whole situation is getting really fucked up,” Kyan muttered.

“Did you get it out of your system then?” I demanded, my gaze fixed on Blake. “Because if you can’t