Page 12 of Deadmen's Queen

I nodded. “I can make up a rota for us, and Nate too. Where is he?”

“Waiting for me. Did you get that information I asked you for?”

“Already sent it to your phone. I assume you’re heading out now then?”

Bast nodded. “Nate’s already informed his father we can’t attend today. Are you ok to stay with her till… later?”

“Not a problem, I’ll just tell my tutor I’ve had a relapse with that sick bug.”

Bast frowned. “Did you ever figure out what caused that food poisoning?”

I shook my head. “Nope. What’s weird is, I didn't eat much that day, and nothing in the evening.”

His frown deepened, then he shook his head as if dismissing something. “Right, ok. Don’t leave her side, doors locked, security on. She needs to be distracted. Oh, and Tristan, feed her as often as you can. There’s some fucked up shit with that family, and we need to start fixing it. She was scared to even go into the kitchen just now, and when I asked her to take what she wanted to eat…”

“You think Neil was knocking her around?” I asked quietly.

Bast’s jaw tightened, and he nodded. “The mother too. Possibly the worst.”

“Shit.”

I followed him back down the hall into the kitchen, smiling at the sight of Paige sitting at the island, her slender legs bare under my hoodie, and her curls braided and pulled back from her face. My cock twitched at the sight of her like this, and for a moment, I imagined bending her over that counter and making her scream my name.

She turned as we came in. “I finished it all…oh, hey, Tris.” Her voice was soft, and her smile was warm as she saw me, causing that strange lurch in my chest at the sight of it.

“Hey,” I replied, going over to join her at the table. “How are you doing?”

She shrugged. “Better than earlier.”

“That's good,” I nodded. “You up for chilling out with me this afternoon? I thought we could just hang out here, maybe watch a movie.”

She hesitated a moment before slowly nodding. “Yeah, okay. That sounds nice.”

“I’m going out for a while,” Bast said, glancing at me. “I’ve got some business to take care of, but Tris will look after you or you can call me if you need anything, ok? Anything, Paige.”

She nodded. “I will. But what about your car? How will you get there?”

I laughed. “There are another three cars in the garage, sunshine. Don’t worry about it.”

She blushed. “I guess I can’t comprehend having this much money,” she admitted.

I took her hand and pressed my lips to her knuckles. “Then allow us to educate you as we spoil you rotten. Starting with the size of our tv.”

I winked at her, capturing a soft giggle that had my heart fluttering, before I turned to look at Bast. He was watching us, his eyes narrowed, before he gave a curt nod and left the room.

Paige deflated a bit, her eyes wandering to the door he'd just walked through. I could tell she was worried about him, the softness in her gaze clear evidence of her growing affection for him.

“Is he always like this?” she asked, turning to look at me.

“Hardly,” I answered with a chuckle. “He's usually worse.”

She frowned, still worrying about something. “I was sick in his car,” she said quietly.

“Don't worry about it, sunshine, and don’t worry about Bast. He's just concerned about you. We all are. Which is why it’s my job to distract you this afternoon. So come on, cinema room.”

I took her hand and tugged her down off the stool. Paige followed me obediently down the hall and down the stairs into the cellar.

“Wow, Tristan, this is amazing!” she said, as I ushered her into the cinema room. It was pretty great. A huge sofa that was practically a bed, and a massive widescreen tv with surround sound and every streaming platform available.

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