It had gotten to the point where neither of us bothered to lock them now and we just averted our eyes.
I headed into my room and grabbed a gym bag from behind the door. My space was a lot less interesting than Blake’s. It was pretty bare aside from the heap of school work which sat on my desk. I had no plans to complete any of it really. I got good enough grades and I liked to think of homework as optional.
There was a limited edition guitar leaning against my wall too which might have been interesting if it was mine. But it wasn’t. I’d taken it from some asshole busker who’d pissed me off with his pop bullshit. Dude was crying when I took it. That shit was still funny.
The walls were white and the bed unmade. I didn’t see any particular need for the room to be anything more than practical so I hadn’t done anything to decorate it. It was as empty as my heart.
I headed to my closet and pulled out two pairs of sweatpants and two hoodies, stuffing them inside the bag before moving back out to find Saint in the living room.
“I’m gonna go and get our girl,” I announced as I walked into the room.
Saint was nowhere to be seen so I took the curving staircase up to his bedroom on the balcony.
I could hear the shower running in his en-suite so I headed through to it, tapping the control panel on the wall to quiet Mozart for a minute.
“I said, I’m going out to get our girl,” I called over the sound of running water as I stood by the open door.
“You worried about her?” Saint called back with a dismissive snort.
“I think a little thing like her won’t last the night out in that storm and I wanna play with my new toy tomorrow, not discover she died from exposure before I even got a chance to try her out,” I replied in a voice that didn’t broker options.
“Fine. Go get her, make sure she’s not dead and tell her I expect her to be waiting outside The Temple at six am,” he replied.
“You don’t even finish your workout until half seven,” I replied, wondering how drunk he was.
“I said I want her waiting at six, I didn’t say I’d be ready for her then,” he replied darkly.
“Fine. Catch you later.” I whacked Mozart back up to full blast so he could have his power shower or jerk off over the brass section, or whatever the fuck got him so hyped about this shit, and left him to it.
I hooked the bag over my shoulder, not bothering with a coat, instead just heading back out into the storm with my chest bare so that I could get a taste of the pain we’d given Tatum for the last four hours.
A shiver danced along my skin and I was drenched through within ten minutes of leaving The Temple. We really were assholes.
I smirked to myself as I upped my pace, taking the paths through the forest as I headed for Sycamore Beach where the sacred stone stood.
My heart was thrashing with excitement as the thunder tumbled overhead and I closed in on the pale rock which stood out even in the dark.
I slowed as I approached it, frowning as I failed to spot Tatum anywhere.
Anger licked along my spine as I frowned at the space around the rock, wondering if she’d even stayed out here at all or if she was really so deluded that she thought she could get away with disobeying us.
What part of us owning her was failing to compute?
I whirled around, meaning to march all the way to her fucking dorm and show her exactly what happened if she was disobedient when my gaze snagged on her where she was taking shelter beneath a tree at the edge of the beach.
I released a breath to calm the monster which was pacing beneath my skin and stalked towards her.
She was sitting on the ground, her knees drawn up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. Her long hair was plastered to her, covering her face as she bowed her head into the small shelter her body could offer.
I stalked towards her, the sand shifting beneath my feet before I came to a halt standing over her.
“Get up, baby,” I growled.
Shivers wracked her body as she lifted her head with aching slowness to look up at me.