Page 11 of Deadmen's Queen

“Eat,” he said shortly. “I need to go…do something. I’ll be back in a minute, ok?”

I nodded.

He turned and walked out of the room, and my stomach knotted. Had I upset him somehow? I’d said the wrong thing, I could tell.

A loud crash came from the hallway, and I jerked my head round towards the noise.

“Bast?”

“Knocked something over,” he called back. “Eat, Paige.”

I picked up the spoon and began to eat.

Chapter Five

TRISTAN

Isat in the driveway for a few minutes after turning off the engine, trying to get a grip on my emotions. After speaking to Bast I’d made a few calls and headed to Paige’s dorm to get things moving. The state of her room had me shaking in anger, even now, and I just wanted to hit something. The guys had met me there, and I’d got them sorted with what we needed, before making another call to get the information Bast had wanted. Now I was home, determined to see her, just to reassure myself that she was ok, but I didn’t want to scare her if my emotions got the better of me.

Slowly I got out of the car and headed towards the front door. Bast had pulled up in front of the door which was unusual. I guessed he was in a rush to get her inside. If I knew Bast, he would not be handling this well. An unknown player with goals and motivations he had no clue about? No, Bast wouldn’t like that. And if I knew him the way I thought I did, he’d be itching to get out and start finding out about it.

I pushed open the door and hesitated. Bast was standing in the hallway, staring at the wall.

“Bast?”

I walked over to him, then noticed the fist sized hole in the plaster. I raised an eyebrow.

“Disagreement with the wall?”

“Imagining Pauline Tremaine’s face,” he muttered.

I tensed. “Why?”

“Doesn’t matter, I'll fill you in later.”

“Where’s Paige?”

“In the kitchen, having breakfast. I gave her one of your hoodies to wear. She threw up in the car. Shock, I think.”

“Oh no, not the Range Rover,” I grinned, mocking him, but he clenched his jaw.

“This is so fucked up, Tristan. You should have seen her. Shaking with fear because she messed up my car. She nearly… it was like when Nate loses it…” His fists clenched at his sides. “She can’t go home, Tris. I’m not letting her walk back into that life.”

“She’s our Persephone, Bast. Just for this year. She isn’t… ours. We can’t control what she does or what choices she makes.”

“You want to bet?” he growled.

I fought hard not to smile. I hated to think of what Paige had clearly gone through at home, but seeing Bast like this, protective and caring… it was a new side of him. Plus, if that gorgeous girl in there got him to fall for her, I’d have a much better chance getting him to help me break the Club rules and keep her after the year ran out.

“Ok, so I met the guys at her dorm and got them to have a look through, they’ll let me know when they’re done and email over anything they find, then I’ve got a crew ready to do clean up. What the fuck is going on, Bast? She has a fucking stalker? And she didn’t say anything?”

“She thought it was us. The notes started arriving around the same time as the roses, and her being followed, except now I’m thinking we weren’t the only ones following her, Tris. I haven’t read the notes, but I glanced at a couple, and he knew where she was all the fucking time.”

“That’s sick. Why would anyone want to hurt her, Bast? This is the second time someone’s set out to harm her, and I just can’t imagine why. Hang on, do you think he’s the one who set her up with us?”

Bast shook his head.

“No. The note he left made it clear he is furious with her for being with us. I think he believes he’s in love with her and our involvement has made him jealous. We need to watch her carefully. Shifts round the clock, like before, except she goes nowhere without one of us by her side.”

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