Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,177

somewhere unpredictable.”

“I mean, I’m not totally against him finding me,” I said with a low laugh and Saint tossed me a dark smirk.

“Unfortunately for Blake, I just entered the game. And I will be the one to hide you, keep you, and punish you until he arrives.” He dragged me along and my heart beat wildly, but I wasn’t going to have my game hijacked.

I twisted my arm free and leapt away from Saint. “If you want me, you’ll have to catch me too.” I sprinted away, hearing his heavy footfalls following as I darted down another corridor, turning left and right as quickly as I could.

“The Devil’s coming for you, Tatum!” he called somewhere behind me. “Beware his wrath when he catches you.”

A grin pulled at my lips as I made it to an external door, pushing it open and slipping outside, gently closing it behind me. The air was warmer than it had been the last few days and the sun washed down on me as I raced into a group of trees and darted along a stone path.

At the end of it was a large tool shed and I cracked the door open, peering inside. There was a long work bench to one side of the space and tools hanging neatly across the back wall. Beyond it was a little mancave with a couch, a flatscreen TV and a minifridge beneath it. I guessed it might be for the house staff as it didn’t seem like the kind of place Liam O’Brien would hang out.

“Hell yes,” I hissed, slipping in and shutting the door behind me before padding over to sit on the couch. This was freaking genius. I mean, okay, maybe I wanted to be found, spanked and ravished. But I also loved winning. And if I got one up on the reigning champion Blake Bowman and Lord OCD, I was not gonna pass it up.

I grabbed a soda out of the minifridge, set myself up on the couch and put on You on Netflix. Nothing like a hot stalker who’d do anything and everything to make you theirs. Of course, I probably wasn’t supposed to find Joe Goldberg hot, I wasn’t supposed to get all flushed over him being a psycho. Were the rest of the female population watching this show thinking the same thing as me? Well, the unhinged ones were. And they were my kinda girls.

I sighed, leaning my head back, missing Mila. She would have loved Joe. She’d have said she wished Danny would murder a few of her exes to keep things interesting. I adored being with my Night Keepers, but I needed my own thing too. And I missed having her around. I really hoped I’d be able to meet up with her again soon. We just needed to dig ourselves out of this pit we were in and find a way to return to normality first.

A whole episode of You later and I was feeling seriously cocky. I got up, about to head back to the house to gloat when the door swung open and two dark shadows stood there, framed by the daylight. My heart rate went from zero to ten thousand and I froze like a rabbit in the headlights.

Oh shit. I’ve got a couple of stalkers of my own. And they’re the hot psycho kind too.

Blake stepped inside first, closely followed by the demonic silhouette of Saint in his wake.

“I win,” I sang.

“The game was meant to be played in the house,” Blake said in a growl.

“Er, I think you’ll find I never said that,” I replied, except I definitely had.

“Once Blake caught up to me, he assured me you would be in the house,” Saint said, casually rolling up his sleeves like he was about to do some dirty work. And I got the feeling that work was me.

“The game’s been up for a long time,” Blake said. “You should have come out of hiding so we didn’t worry.”

I laughed. They did not, still approaching me like wraiths in the night.

“So, what are we gonna do to her, Blake?” Saint asked Blake like I wasn’t there and I suddenly remembered what it was like to be at their utter mercy, the memories sending a tremor through me that I didn’t entirely hate. Not because I thought back on those times with any kind of fondness, but because the danger these men could spark in me nowadays was kind of exhilarating. And it wasn’t the sort