Page 293 of Vile Boys

“I was worried he’d kill you,” Caleb mutters.

“I’m sorry I made you worry,” I respond.

He leans away and stares at me for a moment. “I don’t think you’ve ever said that word to me.”

“Haven’t I?” I swipe aside some of his hair. “I’ll say it a million times more if it means you’ll all stop being mad at me.”

He lets out a giant sigh. “You make it really damn hard to stay mad, goddammit.”

I chuckle, but immediately regret it because of the pain. “Then I guess you’ll just have to forgive me.”

“Fine,” he grumbles, but I know he means it.

“How did you guys even manage to get inside the casino with all those guards? I’m impressed.”

“We had help,” Blaine answers. “I know you don’t approve, but I asked them anyway.”

My eyes narrow. “You asked those Phantom bastards?”

“And the Skull & Serpent Society,” he adds, raising a brow. “Never come unprepared is what I always say. And they sure wereready for a good fight.”

“Sohewas there too?”

“If you mean Kai, yes,” Blaine answers.

I suck in a breath through my nose, annoyed they’d bring him.

“You never told him your father tortured you, did you?” Blaine asks.

I avert my gaze because I don’t want them to see the only weakness I have left guarded.

“You thought you couldn’t trust him,” Blaine adds.

Always prying into my mind like it comes easy to him.

“My father chose him as a successor when I failed to kill the target because Kai had no qualms about killing whoever came in his way. He and I have never seen eye to eye.”

“When I tried to stop your father from killing you, Kai snatched the whip and started lashing him with it instead,” Caleb says.

My jaw drops because I can’t believe what he just said. “Kai did what?”

“He seemed incensed, kept lashing him with zero restraint,” Blaine says. “I quite enjoyed the spectacle, to be fair.”

Crystal rubs her lips together. “There wasn’t much left of your father’s body … or face.”

Fuck.

I always thought Kai would be on my father’s side regardless, but I never imagined he’d actually go against him and … fight for me.

“Am I interrupting something?”

Kai’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I’m shocked to see him standing in the doorway.

“Doctor said you were out of surgery, so I came to check on you,” he says.

“We’ll be outside,” Crystal murmurs, and she drags Caleb away from me and swiftly carts Blaine out the door, leaving me with my brother.

Fucking awkward.

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