Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,239

here to stay.”

“Well, that’s a cute answer.” I smirked.

“Come on.” He caught my hand and towed me through the beautiful office which had a world map on the wall and little markers of all the places we planned on visiting.

We’d already ticked off Mexico after our vacation last summer and plenty of places around the States. I was excited to see more of the world. Especially after living through a time where travelling had seemed impossible for a while. But like the seasons, winter always turned to spring and spring to summer. It was inevitable. Even if it didn’t seem that way at the time. The flowers would bloom, the leaves would grow green and lush and life would continue, even if a few scars of winters past remained.

There were still trials going on over the huge scandal caused by us exposing Royaume D’élite and witnesses had slowly crept forward among those who’d escaped. I’d watched every news report since it had happened, cursing the faces of those convicted and toasting with my boys every time another asshole was locked behind bars. The whole thing had caused such an uproar that new laws were being petitioned in Sequoia to have government officials to be more closely assessed during their time in power.

Dr De La Cost had turned out to be the best investment Saint had ever made and the vaccine had been distributed by Rivers Pharmaceuticals all throughout the world within a year.

Slowly, little by little, life had returned to normal. And nowadays, it all seemed like a dark nightmare we’d been stuck in for a while. Now we were awake and grasping life by the balls every day. There was a sense of freedom and hope in everyone I met, like they were out cherishing each day as deeply as I was. So maybe the dark days had been good for that one thing. Life tasted sweeter than before because we all understood the brevity of it now. And we knew what it was like to have our privileges stripped away, our doors shut and locked, our days lived in fear.

But as amazing as this new life was, there was always going to be a part of me that hated the fact that Troy had gotten away scot free. Saint still spent time hunting for him and I knew it had taken a toll on his heart to know his father was still out there. On Nash’s too. I wanted Troy’s death for them even more than I wanted it for myself. But all trails were cold. And if Saint couldn’t find him, no one could.

Kyan towed me down the long landing with thick cream carpet through to the huge room that overlooked the woodland at the back of the house. The floor length windows of the balcony doors let light stream in and gild the room in deepest amber, highlighting his workspace. He had an artist’s desk beside his easel, all kinds of paints and charcoals, pencils and chalks in a granite holder I’d bought for him alongside the little potted plants I’d got him too. I’d planned to keep them alive for him, but he’d watered them every day like a total cutey and had even drawn a couple of them once.

On the walls were his favourite pieces, a lot of them of me, and my personal favourite which was at the far end of the room, taking up a huge portion of the wall. It was a charcoal sketch of me standing between my boys as we looked out over a calm sea, all of us leaning close together and each guy’s stance so distinguishable that I knew all of them by that much alone.

Kyan led me to his workspace and showed me his latest piece of a detailed octopus with its tentacles wrapped around a squid in an embrace.

A laugh escaped me as I picked it up. “I love it!”

He grabbed a white frame from his desk and grinned mischievously at me. “I think Saint would like it sitting on his piano, don’t you?”

“I can’t think of anywhere better,” I chuckled and he fitted it into the frame before we ran out of the room, jogging downstairs into Saint’s music room which was a perfectly organised space with a black grand piano at the heart of it. Kyan placed the picture on top of his piano, spending a moment positioning it just so before stepping back to admire his work.

“Perfect,” I announced and he grabbed