Kings of Anarchy (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #3) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,237

Toby’s entire being in explanation and the guy just cowered, clearly having no fucking idea what was happening.

“He’s saying you need to get your ass up,” I supplied. “We’re all going to go back to your dorm and have a nice little chat. Saint will lose his shit if he has to look at you in that state for long though, so you’re gonna need a shower and some clean clothes before he will lower himself to talk to you.”

Saint’s lips twitched with amusement as I looked at him and goddammit, I grinned back. Fuck, now we were joking around together. What was next? Was I going to start actually trusting him to do all of that shit to his dad like he’d promised? Why didn’t that even seem as crazy as it had when he’d first said it to me? I’d been so relieved that he wasn’t going to throw me at the mercy of the law over my relationship with Tatum that I think I’d been in too much shock to fully grasp the rest of what he’d been offering at the time. But it had been a week now and he’d been nothing but…well, not nice because this was Saint Memphis, but he’d encouraged Tatum to sit next to me on the couch the other night and when she’d kissed me in front of all of them, he’d smirked like he was pleased about it. He’d also looked half inclined to murder me over his jealousy, but still.

Toby scrambled upright, blinking against the light of the cell phone and Kyan was nice enough to lower it so it wasn’t shining right in his face.

“After you,” Kyan said, indicating the way out with his bat and Toby nodded as he scurried ahead of us and we fell into line as we followed like a pack of wolves stalking a deer.

We walked behind him all the way back to Hazel House, Saint on one side of me and Kyan on the other, our shoulders brushing companionably and me actually feeling comfortable between them, like I fucking belonged there.

Kyan kept whistling his psycho tune and Toby looked like he was one good scare away from adding shit smears to the flour and oil combo that was already coating him. It seemed a bit cruel of us to be letting him believe we were going to do something else to him when we’d actually come to apologise and set him free, but without a full explanation he wouldn’t accept us being nice anyway.

We followed him to his dorm then waited while he scurried away for a shower and Saint sneered at the cleanliness of his room which apparently didn’t meet his standards even though it seemed fine to me.

When Toby reappeared, he was washed, dressed and looking utterly fucking terrified. Points to him for walking his ass back here if he was that convinced that we’d been planning something horrible, but then again I guessed he knew it was always worse for those who tried to run.

“Take a seat,” Saint commanded, gesturing to the bed and I moved to lean against his dresser while Kyan threw himself down on the other bed in the room which clearly belonged to another student, but they weren’t here to complain so I guessed he didn’t care.

“Look, I’ve been doing everything you say,” Toby began and the fear in his eyes as they darted between the three of us made me feel kinda shitty. I wasn’t about to feel bad for trying to protect my girl from a predator, but he’d never been the one who should have borne the brunt of our anger and for that I really was sorry.

“Forget all of that,” Saint commanded. “We are here to inform you that we have evidence that proves you are not in fact, Tatum’s stalker.”

Toby’s eyes widened with hope and he twisted his hands in his lap. “You do?” he breathed.

“We do,” Saint agreed. “So. This is a formal apology on behalf of myself and all of the Night Keepers. We were wrong and you have been punished unjustly. You are no longer an Unspeakable and your name is once again Toby Rosner.”

“That’s it?” Toby asked, looking so fucking happy that I couldn’t help but smile for him too. “It’s all over?”

“No,” Saint said and Toby looked terrified for a moment before he continued. “You have suffered terribly at our hands. Of course it would not be enough for us to merely make an apology