Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,192

be as far away from that church as I could get.

Tears continued to fall and my heart continued to break. He’d taken the most precious items in the world to me. And it felt like losing my sister all over again.

I made it all the way down to Sycamore Beach by the lake before I stopped running. Dawn was painting the sky in pale pink tones and I hated the beauty of it. I hated the peace of the world when it felt like it should have been falling to ruin around me.

Hate spilled out of me from every pore in my body as I glared at the sacred rock and the arrow markings of the Night Keepers at the top of it. I tipped my head to the sky and screamed my rage. At Saint, Blake, Kyan. I hated them all for owning me, taking everything I’d ever had and casting it aside like it was nothing. Making me bare my soul just so they could slice it up and laugh while they did it.

Despite my scream feeling like it could start an earthquake, nothing happened. The world continued to be quiet and still. The lake rippled darkly and the sky brightened with another coming day.

A hand suddenly grabbed me from behind and I lurched around in fear, my fists raising as I prepared to fight and kick and bite. But it wasn’t them. It was Monroe. His dark blue eyes widened as he took in my expression. He pulled his headphones off to hang around his neck and I suddenly came apart all over again.

I lurched forward, wrapping my arms around him, needing the comfort of his embrace more than anything in the world.

His arms slowly closed around me and I fell to pieces, my tears spilling onto his white T-shirt and soaking through. I let myself fall apart in his arms as he held me and I breathed in his fresh pine scent, his presence somehow making my heart slow and my world start to feel less shaky again.

He held me until I could draw breath, until I was strong enough to stand on my own two feet again. Then I pulled away and wiped at my eyes, spinning away from him as I wrapped my arms around myself. I didn’t want to need him. I wanted to need no one and nothing. I wanted to be strong enough to face the world alone. Like Dad had taught me. Like Jess had always said I could. But I was just a weak little girl again, except now my dreams were fragmented and my innocence gone.

“What did they do?” he asked and I shook my head, unable to say it. My voice felt trapped down in a deep, dark well inside me. He moved closer behind me and I felt the warmth radiating from his body like it was the heat of the sun.

“Fuck them,” he snarled as more tears spilled over my cheeks.

I nodded, but said nothing.

“Fuck them, Tatum.” He grabbed my arms, twisting me around to face him and there was so much passion in his eyes, I could feel it butting up against my ruptured heart and demanding I be strong. “They’re trying to break you. Are you gonna let them?”

I bit into my lower lip as another fat tear rolled down my cheek. He reached out to wipe it away and the action helped my voice resurface. “They went too far this time.”

His brows pulled together and he stepped closer, dropping his hand to cup my jaw. “If you’re done, that’s it. They win. Is that what you want?”

His tone was harsh, but I clung onto the strength in it, needing it to fuel my own. I shook my head, dropping his gaze but he forced my chin up again, refusing to let me crumble.

“Say it then,” he demanded. “Because it looks like you’re done to me.”

I opened my lips, taking in a long breath as I tried to draw on his mettle. “You don’t understand. What they did…what they took from me-” I choked on the last words and my heart crushed in my chest.

“What did they take?” he growled.

“Everything,” I groaned.

I tried to turn away, but he wouldn’t let me, forcing me to remain in his hardened stare.

When Jessica had died, I’d fallen apart. It had cut a gaping hole in my chest which had never healed. One second she’d been sick with a cough, the next she’d been in intensive care