Page 63 of Deadmen's Captive

I couldn't fucking wait.

Chapter Twenty Seven

UNKNOWN

Ifailed you. I'm sorry, Paige. It didn't work and I failed you, but I won't fail you again. It took me ages to get close enough to his drink to slip something in it when he wasn't looking, and I didn't add enough, clearly, cause he's still fucking breathing.

I thought I'd researched it properly. Did you know antifreeze is highly toxic to humans, Paige? And that it tastes sweet? If you add it to something like whiskey and coke, you can't even taste it. I should have added more. These rich boys, flooding their system with drugs and alcohol - his body is probably so fucked up, it gave him some resistance to it.

I'll use more next time.

Chapter Twenty Eight

BAST

Idropped Nate back at ours and headed straight over to Paige’s dorm room. I knew it was stupid, and part of me felt guilty at not going to see Tristan first, but I’d spoken to him on the phone on the way up, and he’d sounded brighter. Nate had given me a strange look when I’d said I was planning to come here first, and I knew he could see right through me. He always had, and Tristan too.

We’d been friends since prep school, our families running in the same circles, and sometimes even working together, though we’d been too young back then to know about what. Then when we turned seventeen, something had happened to the three of us that had brought us much closer, something we never spoke about but I knew none of us would ever forget. It still haunted my nightmares, and it had only made Nate’s panic attacks worse for a time, until he’d discovered MMA, then they’d settled down. He’d always worked out, and he’d never been the sort of guy you wanted to pick a fight with, but he’d thrown himself into it with a vengeance, eventually progressing to professional level fights until his father had demanded he’d end it. Now he got his thrills with illegal cage fighting. It wasn’t my thing, but I tried never to miss a fight if I could help it. We were practically brothers now, and Nate and Tristan were the only people in the world I’d trust with my life. Which was why Paige Matthews was already starting to concern me.

I stood outside her door, hesitating before I knocked. What was it about this girl? Tris was completely hooked and he never got obsessed with one girl, and Nate, even he seemed like he was starting to care for her. She’d plagued my thoughts for weeks. At first, when I’d read her application I’d swore I’d never choose her because of what her mother did to my father, but when when Tris suggested using Paige to take revenge on the woman who’d nearly ruined my father, I’d certainly enjoyed the idea though, thinking of all the ways I could debase their daughter. Since that first night though, when I’d tasted her sweet pussy, and then after, looking down at those wide blue eyes, all innocence as I taught her to suck my cock, I hadn’t been able to get Paige out of my mind. And now, it was nothing to do with revenge, and that scared me more than I was willing to admit.

I raised my hand and knocked at the door. At the sound of her voice from inside, I opened the door.

"Paige?"

She was curled on her bed reading some massive hardback book about twentieth century artists, and she looked up as I came in and shut the door.

“Bast? What are you doing here?” She set the book to one side, and went to get up but I perched on the bed next to her. “I thought you were still in London till tomorrow.”

“We were supposed to be, but we got finished quicker than we thought, plus, Tris hasn’t been well, so I wanted to get back.”

She frowned. “So you came here? Is he ok?”

I smiled. “He’s on the mend. I wanted to check and make sure you hadn’t come down with whatever bug he had.”

Her hair had been pulled into two braids and they swung as she shook her head. “No, I'm fine. I’ve messaged him a few times, but he wasn’t chatty. Said he felt terrible, but wouldn’t let me come round to help in case I caught it.”

I studied her closely. There were faint dark circles under her eyes and she looked a little pale.

“Are you sure you haven’t been sick? You look tired.”

“Way to compliment a girl, Bast,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting you, or I’d have made more of an effort.”

I leaned back and slowly looked her up and down. She wore a soft pair of ripped jeans and a spaghetti strap top that most certainly did not have a bra under it. Paige seemed to realise this too, because as I looked at her, I saw her nipples harden under the top, begging for my touch. I swallowed, dragging my eyes back to her face.

“You look pretty good to me,” I said. “but you look tired. And thinner.”

“You’ve only been away a week,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“And you look thinner. Why haven’t you been eating properly, Paige?”

“Not everyone has the funds for a well-stocked kitchen, Bast.”

I frowned. Did she not have enough money for food? I knew her parents had fallen from society, despite her mother’s consistent attempts to worm her way back in, but I thought they were doing ok money wise.

"Do your parents help out? Financially, I mean."

"Yes, Mum sends over a food delivery every week. Why?"