Page 58 of Priest and his Anarchist

“Right.” My fingernail grazes the base of my palm. “I guess what I should say, is that I did.”

Priest’s sadistic glare remains on me, and every passing second is a spiteful promise of destruction. It's as if he’s counting my breaths because he knows when my last one will be, but I refuse to break first. I know he prefers it when I do.

“Oh! What happened?” Halen asks from somewhere to the side.

My eyes burn as the sting from my nails does nothing to distract the stir of chaos that threatens. Dammit. “He’s dead.”

Stella clears her throat with a chuckle. “Sorry, didn’t mean to laugh, but yo…” Her discolored eyes find Priest. “Did you kill him?”

“Nah,” Priest smirks but keeps his eyes fixed on me. “Luna did.” He pauses, lifting the cigarette he’s holding to his mouth and angling his head. “Right, Madness?”

“Fuck you.” I can’t be bothered engaging with him tonight. I go back to the cars. Burnt tire marks pave the way through the park entrance, bypassing rides that are frozen in time. Stella bumps my hip with hers and winks at me over her shoulder as her heels clap against the concrete. Shit. What have I got myself into?

Chapter Fifteen

priest

pretty comes in all shapes and sizes. And they all fit inside a coffin.

“Sounds like I don’t give a fuck. There were a lot of girls here last night.” I perfected the art of ignoring Evie a long time ago.

“Priest!” The snapping of her fingers to get my attention grows louder before the mattress dips and she grabs me by the chin.

I yank myself out of her grip. “What?”

Her green eyes stay on mine from above.

“Are you fucking straddling me, Ev?”

When her mouth flatlines, the corner of mine twitches.

She crawls backward. “I said there was a girl at your house last night. Cute. Little. Blonde hair, big ass, and a charming smile—” Everything in this room reminds me of Luna. No matter how hard I try to erase it.

Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I tap on Instagram and scroll through my home page. “—at your parents.” My thumb stops. Evie and my sister have been close since they first saw each other. She’s probably the only other person alive who wasn’t born into the EKC but who can chill, and the only person alive who would ever do some dumb shit like touch me the way she just did.

“At the castle?” Halen wants to protect her, but she doesn’t know Evie’s father’s involvement, even if it is minuscule. Dad and I kept it that way until the time was right. As time passed, Evie would ask questions since her father also kept her out of it.

Evie lays down beside me, blowing her hair out of her face. “Why’d you choose that?” She points to the patterns carved between the panels.

“What?” I ask, tapping through my Snapchat stories.

Vaden’s face fills the screen, his pierced tongue out and his eyes wide. He takes a line, clears his nostril, and snatches the phone off whoever is holding it on the other side. He brings it closer, his lips to the camera.

“Did you fuck that poor girl and have finally landed your parents in some shitty lawsuit that not even daddy could get you out of?”

I shut off my phone, cutting off Vaden’s dimpled smirk and move toward the armoire.

“What?” Unable to find my mask, I close the last draw and rest against it. Evie fixes on me. “Did I fuck who?”

She crosses one leg over the other, her head tilting to the side when she leans up on her elbow. Her invisible claws plunge deeper into my brain. She does this to see if she can pull anything out. Nothing but death and darkness. She should already know that.

“The girl at Madship’s!”

I ignore her cheesy name for my parents.

“Luna.” I push up and grab my phone, heading into my closet. I need to get the fuck away from Evie before her relentless bullshit sets in and it’s too late to backpedal myself out of it. “Her name’s Luna.”

“Oh fuck!” She must have stood up because her voice was close again. “I thought she looked familiar. Shit. Wait—” I turn, tearing off my shirt and tossing it to the corner of the room. Starting on my belt, I give up and leave it unbuckled when I notice she isn’t dropping the topic. “What ever happened to her?” I’ll never answer a question I don’t want to. She’s never been fazed by that. She wants me to know that she saw her.

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