Page 76 of Priest and his Anarchist

The side that once wanted her.

I know she’s not following when the door closes behind me. For one, she knows the rules and how it goes. Evie is still on a need-to-know basis, but she’s not stupid. She knows when to push and when to keep her distance. It’s partially why she’s managed to stay around for so long, and why she’s being pulled in deeper.

Keeping the Watch Tower close was one of the first things I knew I wanted, so we connected it with the pathway that separates the black sunflowers all the way to the entrance. The elevator closes, and I hit the only button inside that takes you to the top. The doors open onto everyone, where Halen is already at the table, her finger tapping against the marble. River and Stella are to her left, with Vaden and War opposite.

There haven’t been many times that we’ve all sat at this table, but it will be the first time we have with me now holding the gavel, and with it now on my property.

“Finally, Priesty!”

Stella’s nickname for me is going to land her ass at the bottom of the ocean one day. I bare my teeth at her in passing,making sure to swipe the bottle of Don Julio on my way. My mind is a mass of identical scribbles and words like the ones she’d left in my room.

“Should you be drinking that much?” Halen asks, her head jerking toward the bottle in my hand. “Or has the gavel got to you that much?”

I clear my throat from the poison of tequila while lowering myself down. “You and I both know that alcohol doesn’t affect me the way it does you. I could drink this entire bottle and still put a bullet clean between your eyes.”

Halen’s smirk vanishes as Vaden remains quiet to my right.

I place the bottle on the table, tossing my phone beside it. I don’t want to fucking be here right now, seated between any of them. This is the one day a week I told them to leave me the fuck alone.

Simple instructions.

“Updates. Go.”

War traces his upper lip, as if considering whether he should launch at me right now. “Close. We’ve shut the doors during the day, managed to change the hours to five to nine, and I’ve hired a new faculty of staff.”

“Close never got you far,” I answer his small warning with a shadow of a smirk, and he replies with one that matches my own. I know the same love that he has for my sister will be the same that he uses for his loyalty to the Kings. Anyway, he’s Nate fucking Malum’s son. I refuse to believe anything less than terrifying would leave the nut sack of that demon. “So you’re on track.”

War being a Riverside Malum, means he is taking over his dad’s role in the schooling system.

I point to Vaden. “You?”

Vaden slides his ringing phone across the table, flashing an unknown number. I tap the speaker button.

“I hear your pet has returned.”

Vaden glares at me as he lowers himself back to the table, confused. He probably expected me to answer it privately, but there’s no point hiding this now.

“Mmhmm. Sure has.” Ash dusts my fingertip when I butt out my cigarette. “You not had enough?”

Silence. That’s never a good sign when it’s a Thorn on the other end.

“Interesting.” Not the words I expect from him.

“There a reason for this call, Thorn?” My skin prickles with unease.

“Hmm. I’ll call you back.”

The line goes dead. Vaden kicks me from beneath the table and I look up to catch everyone watching.

I don’t know how many minutes pass when an unknown number flashes across the screen of my phone. I stand this time, bringing the phone to my ear with annoyance itching down my spine. In the background, Halen’s questions about the Hunt and what it is we do on those nights are aimed directly at Vaden. He’s big enough to handle her.

“What’s with the theatrics?”

“No theatrics. We can talk when I see you.”

Leaning against the back of the sofa, I cross my legs at the ankle. “What do you want?”

“Simple,” Archer says smoothly. “I want her back.”

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