Page 31 of Beautiful Dark Temptation

I couldn’t feel my body as my eyes draggedback to the new desk. I walked to it, my steps heavy, and pulledthe drawers open. Three of them. Empty. I couldn’t even feel painanymore. Just a cold dread.

“Kieran,” I said. The first time I said hisname. Something flashed in his eyes for just a moment. Somethinghuman before being replaced by the devil inside. “Please. I justneed something that was in my desk.”

He narrowed the gap between us. He wasshorter than me, but height meant shit. The guy meant business andI was a threat.

“I’ll leave. You win. I’ll leave this house,this school. Just give me back the box.” I hated the tightness inmy voice. The clog of tears. I shouldn’t have kept the rings. Ishould’ve buried them the night Maddox gave them to me. I should’vehad a proper ceremony for them. I hadn’t because …Fuck!…because I don’t know why!

“Sorry, Tomás,” he said without so much as ahint of emotion in his dark tone. “But that is no longer an option.You should’ve taken the truce when I offered it. Now there isnothing you will ever own that I do not give you.”

I clenched my fists so tight, my nails duginto my skin. “I am going to kill you,” I hissed out.

He smirked. And for the first time since westarted this conversation, his eyes brightened. The fucker wasinsane. “I’ll look forward to the day. In the meantime, you shouldheal. Let us know if you need anything. We are practicallyfamily.”

He walked out leaving me with a firepit inmy gut and thoughts of the many ways I could kill him in myhead.

Chapter Fifteen

Kieran

Watching Tomás drown had stirred somethinginside of me. We had played the game to a tee. We’d frozen a spoonand placed it on his back. The mindfuck made him feel his skinburn, but it left his flesh unmarred. He had pissed himself and Ihad felt like a monster. We’d shaved him as punishment forCharity’s vanity. The noose around his neck for him to contemplatedeath. The water to be cleansed into life. He wasn’t supposed todrown.

We’d waited seconds, minutes, for him tobreak the surface of the water. To swim. Dasher sobbing behind us,the gag making his words mumbled. Did he not know how to swim? Didhe have a death wish?

“Two minutes,” River had said behind me.

I cursed, grabbed River’s flashlight, anddived into the cold water. The look of Tomás against the light ofthe murky water forever etched in my brain. Eyes closed, unmoving,his lips sealed tight. I saw when his lips parted, and he sucked inwater. I saw his eyes burst open, bloodshot. I saw when the fearcrossed his expression knowing he was going to die. And for somereason, I knew out of all of us in this place, Tomás deserved thatfate less.

I yanked him up, called for the guys, andthey hauled him up onto the dock. It took a few more seconds of CPRfor him to finally cough and vomit the water from his lungs andpass out.

Everyone had dispersed as if they’d left adead body behind. Dasher had crawled to him, held him, while Foxand I had made the decision that would probably haunt us for therest of our lives. We had left both of them there.

Dasher had managed to contact the paramedicsand they came for them. I don’t know what story Dasher gave them,but it hadn’t been the truth. We hadn’t been hauled to Casera’soffice and expelled or punished for attempted murder.

While Tomás had been in the hospital, wepulled his emergency contact record which pointed us to MaddoxBrennan. A fact I’d been stewing with for the past couple ofweeks.

“He’s a Brennan,” River said. “Maybe he’dwant to join in our crusade.”

River always saw the best in people. Thereason he kept getting disappointed. “This isn’t a crusade, it’svengeance, and he has no blood ties to me, hence he’s not aBrennan.”

“You should’ve just let him leave.” Wrensaid, tossing a ball. Wren always had to be doing something withhis hands. “It would’ve been the easy out, but no…”

Fox gave me a look agreeing with Wren butkeeping his mouth shut. I wanted to hurt Tomás in the worst waypossible just for breathing, but being protected by Maddox Brennan,not Eagle Corp, complicated things. It meant Maddox was directlyinvolved with Tomás in some way. Not knowing how put us atrisk.

“We can use him,” Henry finally said. “He’snot like us. Maddox’s decision in bringing Tomás here as if he’sone of us doesn’t make sense.”

I had to do a double take to land whereHenry’s mind was churning. “You think Tomás is a mole?”

“We searched through his things. There’snothing there. He contacted Maddox once and that had been about hismother. Unless that was code for some shit. Which it seemed likelyby how short the text had been.” River shook his head. “But itdoesn’t feel right. I don’t think he’s a mole.”

“I agree with River. He doesn’t fit,” Henryadded.

“And the box? What’s in it?” Riverasked.

“It’s empty,” Wren said.

That made me concerned.

“Maybe he’s confused.”

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