“Not just him,” Nathan grits.
Felix takes off the safety, but I still grasp the barrel and shove it away.
“It was my choice, Felix,” I reply.
“You can’t be serious,” he says. “They’re the fucking enemy.”
“Yours,” I retort. “Not mine.”
His jaw tightens, but Penelope drags his arm farther down. “Felix, stop, please. She asked you to for a reason.”
“I told you not to associate with them, and you’re going behind my back?”
“It’s complicated,” I answer, swallowing away the lump in my throat. “But they understand me, unlike Jason.” I throw him another wicked glance, and he looks away in shame.
“Jason scared the living shit out of her,” Kai says. “I would’ve put a knife in his brain if it wasn’t for the fact that Lana wants him to live.”
“I tried to make it right!” Jason exclaims.
“By making her feel threatened?” Kai retorts.
Jason points at Kai, Nathan, and Milo. “You’re the one who sent those pictures!”
“So it’s true?” Felix’s grip on his gun tightens so harshly I can hear the metal crack. “They took lewd pictures of you and tried to shake you for money?”
“They did, but it was for a good reason,” I say.
“What good reason can anyone have? Tell me now, or I swear to God, I will put a bullet in all three.”
“They needed the money to save his sister from being taken by traffickers,” I explain.
Nathan grips my arm. “Hey.”
“I’m sorry, but I need to tell him the truth if you want him to leave without killing you all,” I say, and Nathan grinds his teeth, then nods and backs off again.
“All that is over now,” Kai says.
“Shut your damn mouth,” Felix quips.
“Hey, can’t we all relax?” Dylan muses. “Take a chill pill.”
“Don’t you even fucking start,” Kai retorts.
“Don’t start fighting again now,” I warn. “Or I’ll punch all of you back into your fucking rooms.”
Penelope sniggers behind her hand.
“So what is this, then? Some kind of relationship?” Alistair asks. “Like ours?”
My eyes narrow, and I look away as I softly mouth, “Um … I guess.”
“You guess?” Felix’s eye twitches.
Kai places a hand on my shoulder. “She’s ours.”
“Take your hands off my sis—”
“Felix.” Penelope interrupts him and places her hand on his shoulder too. “Don’t you see? They’re in love.”
The whole room goes quiet, and I feel like all the blood just drained from my body.
“What?” he says under his breath.
“Don’t you remember what it was like for us in the beginning?” Penelope muses. “The tension, the heat, the rage.”
“True, she’s like a fiery goddess,” Milo says with a big grin. “And I’m smitten.”
“Oh God,” I mutter, burying my face in my hands.
“Fuck me,” Felix grits. “You’re having sex with all of these dudes? Is that why they made those pictures?”
“Not all of them. Just Kai, Nathan, and Milo,” I reply, trying not to make it sound awkward.
“I actually intended to send the pictures to you,” Nathan quips with a smirk on his face.
Felix looks like he wants to bite his head off. “Swear to God, if you show those to anyone, you’re dead.”
“He hasn’t,” I say, lowering his hand. “And he wasn’t planning to,” I say, glaring at Nathan. “Right?”
“I won’t. Because all those delicious pictures are meant only for us,” he replies with a wink.
Felix snarls, “You motherf—”
“Ah. Stop.” I interrupt. “Enough. You’ve done enough. I’m not in trouble. I’m safe here.”
“Safe? This is your definition of safe?” he retorts.
“They care about me,” I say, swallowing away my apprehension to tell him the truth. “And I care about them.”
“Do you even know what they did?” he says through gritted teeth. “They bullied Penelope’s sister and then tried to attack her too.”
“Hey, I didn’t have a fucking choice, and you know that,” Nathan spits out. He glances at Dylan.
“Thanks to your father, who tried to extort my fucking parents by sending information to the police.”
“Let me know when you’re all done,” Alistair murmurs as he sinks down against a pillar and casually lights a cigarette.
“Hey, I’ve got nothing to do with this,” Dylan says, raising his hands. “Leave me out of it.”
“Oh, is that why you took my fucking eye?” Kai growls at him.
“You attempted to go after Penelope,” Dylan retorts, getting up in his face.
“It’s because of her Nathan lost his finger and got his legs broken. Of course I did. He’s a Phantom, and Phantoms protect each other,” Kai says as their foreheads collide.
“Stop it, all of you,” Penelope says. “I hate those boys as much as you do, but all this fighting is getting us nowhere.”
“She’s right,” I say. “Besides, did you forget Dad told us we’d get in trouble if he caught us again?”
“Right,” Dylan says in a long-drawn-out manner. “I forgot about that.”
“Why are we even fighting?” Alistair asks all of a sudden, taking another drag of his smoke. “If this is what she chose, isn’t it up to her to decide?”
Everyone looks at him, even Felix, even though he’s not amused by the concept of letting me decide for myself what I do.
So I cup his face and make him focus on me. “I know you want to protect me. But I can protect myself.”
“How, when you choose them?”
“You don’t know us the way she does,” Kai retorts.
“And I don’t fucking want to,” Felix replies, but then he sighs out loud when he looks at Lana. “But if you want to fucking be with them, that’s on you.”
I take a breath. “Thank you.”
“Soooo … no one’s going to shoot me, right?” Milo mutters.
I snort. “No, Milo, no one’s going to kill you today.”
“Not me,” Alistair murmurs from the pillar he’s seated against.
“Cool, cool, because I’ve taken enough bullets for a whole damn year.”
“Unless you want me to,” Nathan muses, winking at him.
“Wow, what’s this all?” Dylan laughs, pointing at both of them. “Are you guys like … fruity?”
“It’s complicated,” Milo says.
“Eh, I dig it,” Dylan says with a wink. “The more, the merrier, right?”
And he bumps elbows with Felix, who still does not seem at all amused.
“So … You three are fucking my sister.” Felix makes it sound like a statement instead of a question.
“You could put it like that,” Kai replies.
“Rather blunt if you ask me, but sure,” Milo muses.
Felix makes a tsk sound.
“Hey, I don’t like it either. They fucking hurt me and my sister,” Penelope says, “but if this is what Lana wants …”
“It’s not right,” Felix says.
“We weren’t either,” Penelope says, looking at Felix, Dylan, and Alistair. “Remember how we all started.”
“So you’re copying us now, huh?” Dylan muses. “Aight, I dig it.”
“We’re not copying anyone, bitch,” Kai growls at him. “We do it better.”
“Don’t insult us,” Alistair responds, chucking his cig on the floor like he doesn’t give a shit.
“Okay, everyone shut up,” I say. “I don’t want y’all to fight over me. I’m fine. I can make my own decisions.”
“Yeah, she’s a big girl,” Milo muses, winking at me.
I roll my eyes. “My point is, thank you, Felix, for being concerned. But I am fine.”
“What about the extortion, then?” Jason rebukes.
“That’s none of your concern,” Nathan retorts.
“They already apologized,” I say. “It’s not up to you to decide whether that’s good. I don’t want to be involved with you any longer.”
Jason’s jaw drops, but I don’t care if he’s embarrassed. He deserves it after what he tried to do.
“Jason, you fucked up big time,” Penelope says.
Jason’s face turns red. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?”
“Save it,” Kai says. “She’s not interested.” He steps forward and blocks Jason from trying to get closer. “Get out of my house.”
“Your house?”
“Yes.” Kai has so much of an aggressive aura surrounding him that I’m not even sure I’d fight against him if push came to shove. “Mine. Just like her. And if you don’t get out of my face within five minutes, your bones will be mine too.”
Fuck. I didn’t think I could get flushed in front of Felix, but here we are.
“Believe him, he’ll hang them to dry right above our logo,” Milo says with a grin.
Kai narrows his eyes. “Now leave.”
“Jason …” Alistair gets up from the floor. “Listen to him.”
Jason slowly steps away. “Fine. Because she asked. Not because of you.”
“You didn’t even fucking support me when I told you what happened!” I shout at him. “You don’t even have a right to be here.”
Felix suddenly turns on him and points his gun at Jason’s face. “You’d better get out of here now. In fact, get off this goddamn campus.”
“What?” Jason’s eyes widen. “But I’m a Skull & Serpent member.”
Alistair marches up to him and tears the emblem straight off his shirt, leaving him with an exposed nipple. “No, you’re not.”
Jason shakes his head. “Please …”
“I believe my sister … and if she says you didn’t help her, you’re dead to me,” Felix growls. “Now get out of here.”
Jason starts walking backward and then turns around and runs off like a coward with his tail between his legs. Which is probably a good thing, or I would’ve stolen Felix’s gun and shot him in the knees.
“Glad we got rid of that one,” Dylan mutters.
Penelope frowns at him.
“What?” Dylan shrugs. “I don’t like him, and I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking.”
I sigh out loud. “Whatever. Can we stop this? I’m really tired of fighting. Today’s been a lot.”
Penelope looks around the house. “We left a lot of holes …”
“Yeah,” Kai says. “You gonna fork up the funds to fix it?”
Dylan makes a wide-eyed weird-looking face. “Well, I think it’s about time I leave.”
When he tries to run off, Alistair grabs him by the collar and stops him. “Nope. You’re staying.”
“But this shit is uncomfortable as fuck!” Dylan complains.
“Yeah, so that’s why this is the moment when you pay them off,” Alistair hints, throwing glances.
“We don’t owe them shit. They’re lucky they get to keep their fucking fingers after touching my sister,” Felix growls.
“Felix,” I mutter. “Please. Can you just … go back to the Skull & Serpent Society? Pretend Jason never told you anything?”
“No,” he answers, but he still comes closer and cups my face. “Come home with me.”
I smile and lean into his hand. “I can’t.”
“Because they won’t let you?”
“Because I want to stay here,” I add, tears welling up in my eyes, but I push them away.
He looks up at Kai. “You’d better fucking keep her safe. If she’s harmed in any way, I’ll fucking gut you in your sleep. You understand?”
“Thank you for coming. But I’m okay. Please, guys … go home,” I say. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
Dylan and Alistair nod, but it takes Felix physical convincing as they have to drag him away from me.
“We’ll send the bill for the house,” Nathan yells from behind me.
“I’ll shred it along with your finger,” Felix growls back.
Nathan sticks up his middle finger. “Fuck you, I’m fucking your sister!”
Felix wrings free from Dylan’s and Alistair’s grip, but Penelope’s strong gaze keeps him grounded. “C’mon. Let’s go home. We’ll figure this out later.”
Felix gestures at Nathan, Kai, and Milo, pointing his fingers at his eyes first before he points at them. And then they all leave the building, like a rescinding flood leaving chaos in its wake.
“Jesus fucking Christ, that was intense,” Milo mutters.
“Tell me about it,” I say, breathing out another sigh.
Kai rubs his face, his knife still firmly lodged in his hands. “I just renovated this fucking place. Fuck. It’s gonna take forever to fix this place back up.”
As the adrenaline finally starts leaving my body, I feel so dizzy my knees begin to quake, and before I know it, my vision grows blurry, and I sink to the floor.
