Kings of Anarchy (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #3) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,150

a carefully blank mask which told me he was fucking fuming too. "One week where we put up with this shit and get through this trip to Royaume D’élite. After that we call a meeting and make our decisions over this marriage one way or another."

"I don't like it," I growled, unable to help myself.

"None of us like it, but that isn't going to change it. And we have enough shit on our plates with the fucking Justice Ninja and Royaume D’élite, let alone Kyan's family breathing down our necks. It isn't worth fighting amongst ourselves too. One week for him to play the controlling husband and fuck the life out of her and then we remind him of the oaths we all swore and end this nonsense."

"Perfect," I deadpanned, shoving out of my chair and heading for the door. "Well, if there's no further need for me to be here, I'll head home for a shower."

"See you tomorrow," Blake called, and I couldn't help but notice that his anger had slipped already and in its place was a heavy kind of sadness which I recognised all too well from my own grief.

Saint said goodnight and headed upstairs while I hesitated by the door with my eyes on Blake.

He shifted forward and slowly switched the Xbox on, but the sigh that escaped him as he leaned back in his seat made my mind up for me. I headed for the fridge and pulled out Saint's bottle of disgustingly expensive vodka before unscrewing the cap and taking a long swig of it then moving over to join Blake. There was only about a quarter of the bottle left but that would be enough to get a nice buzz going at least.

"Go easy on me, I haven't played this before," I said to him as I dropped down beside him and offered up the vodka.

He looked at me in surprise before barking a laugh as he accepted Saint's drink and swigged from the neck of it too while I grabbed myself a controller.

"I can't promise to go easy on you, sunshine, but I do swear to take Saint's wrath alongside you when he realises we drank his precious vodka," he teased.

"How about we finish the bottle then refill it with water?" I suggested.

"Fuck yes." He laughed as he swallowed more of it and I grinned at my new ally in the war against Saint.

It didn't take me too long to figure out the basics of the game. It was basically a survival based bloodbath with plenty of zombie skulls to cave in. Blake did me the favour of selecting simple missions while I got used to it and we were soon laughing while we stabbed and slashed our way through the apocalypse and slowly worked our way through Saint's vodka.

"My mom died too," I said as we managed to get our characters back to their camp after stealing a load of shit from some other survivors. "Not that you have to talk about it with me or whatever, but I was alone after that. I know how much it fucking sucks to have no one around when you're dealing with that. And even though you're not in that situation, and you have people here who care about you, I just thought you should know that I get it."

Blake was silent for a long time, finishing the last inch of vodka in the bottle with a grimace before making his character on the game wander aimlessly through a field.

When I'd basically accepted the fact that he wasn't going to reply, he finally did.

"How did she die?" he asked and I cursed myself because I should have expected that, but then again, it wasn't like I had to give him any details. I had a fake name now and I was sure Saint wouldn't remember me among the countless list of people his father had fucked over in his lifetime even if I still went by my old one.

"She was murdered," I replied, my gaze fixed on the game too.

Blake took a moment to digest that before nodding. "Did you get the fucker who did it?"

My hesitation went on longer this time, but I'd already opened up this line of conversation, so it seemed pointless to lie. Besides, despite my better judgement, it was hard to dislike Blake. There was just something about him that drew people in and whether it was charm or bullshit I'd clearly already begun to fall prey to it.

"Not