RIOT HOUSE (Crooked Sinners #1) - Callie Hart Page 0,114

girl. At least one of them is beginning to see things from my perspective, though. Dash...Dash, not so much. “Personally, I think she’d be a great addition to the house, but I know how little my opinion counts for these days. You’re lucky you have a sister y’know, Jacobi. Some of us had to grow up all alone, in a big, drafty house—”

“Oh, cry me a river. I’ve seen that sprawling mansion you call a house and it’s fucking beautiful. You were raised in the lap of luxury with a silver spoon sticking out of your mouth. Having a sister’s like having an annoying case of hemorrhoids that won’t fucking go away.”

“Little young for hemorrhoids, aren’t you?”

I roll my eyes.

“I agree with him,” Pax mutters. “I fucking hate both of my sisters. And my brother. They’re the cunting little bitches. The dynamic of the house would be fucked if a girl moved in here. Mercy’s blossomed quite spectacularly since she left last year, she’s the hottest little fuckhole at the academy, but she’s also fucking insane. I don’t have time to be installing eight new locks on my bedroom door, and she could whoa—WHOA! What the fuck are you doing? Take your hand off me, Jacobi, or I’ll fucking snap it off.”

I have him by the collar of his t-shirt. I’m ready to lay the fucker out. We’ve gone four months without any of us hitting each other, though, so I shake him hard enough to make his teeth rattle instead. “She is fucking insane. She’s the bane of my fucking existence. But she’s still my fucking sister. Say something like that again and I’ll take a pair of pliers to your front teeth. Get it?”

Pax slaps me away, eyes furious, his cheeks turning red. Fuck, he wants to land a right hook on my jaw so fucking bad. He won’t, though. He’s still thinking about Corsica and The Contessa. “All right. All right. Point made,” he seethes. “Jesus. You take everything so fucking personally.”

“I’ll drive over to DC and finger bang your mom then, shall I? See how personally you take that?”

“Enough. Enough. God, it’s a miracle you guys haven’t given me a nervous breakdown by now. Let’s all cool our jets and gather our composure, shall we? Pax won’t say anything weird about your sister anymore. Mercy isn’t moving into the house. And you will be master of the hunt,” he reaffirms. “Come hell or high water, you, Wren Jacobi, will have something truly devious and perfect planned for us the night of the party, I just know you will.” He pauses, his expression hard and judging as he gives me a meaningful look. “You haven’t let us down yet.”

26

ELODIE

Monday mornings were so much easier at Mary Magdalene’s. The weekends were my own in Tel Aviv. My father’s schedule meant he was always away from the house on Saturdays and Sundays, and I was free to do my own thing. Go shopping with Ayala and Levi. Go to the movies. Do my homework and putter around the house in peace. He was around more during the beginning of the week, so going to school was an actual blessing. It saved me from his ire, walking the halls of the international school. I stretch out every single class I had, making the time away from Colonel Stillwater count. I signed up for as many after-school activities as I could. Anything to avoid going home, when I knew he’d be there, waiting for me, his never-ending anger rolling off him in waves, just waiting for me to do something or say something that warranted an explosion of epic proportions.

At Wolf Hall, there’s no escape from my studies. I’m only ever three floors away from a classroom, and that fact in itself makes the beginning of the academic week more depressing than it should be. I don’t really get to leave, so it never feels as though I’ve had a break.

It’s gloomy again, rain slashing at the windows as I make my way down the stairs, dreading this morning’s English class. When I reach the hallway, there are students everywhere, chattering loudly and joking with one another as they make their way to their first lesson of the day. I should feel lighter than I do. I get to see Wren soon, but this isn’t some sweet high school romance that I can let myself feel giddy over. It’s a secret. Wren didn’t tell me to keep what happened with him