Page 79 of Priest and his Anarchist

“I wondered why my Amex had a charge to Maserati.”

The innocence in her eyes widens up at me as she pops the door open, but the corner of her mouth curls a little. “Hmmm. And I worried you maybe didn’t see it, you know, past all that red hair.” Her subtle reference to the girl from the house party earlier that week isn’t so subtle.

“Jealous?”

Her stare holds me in place. “Not sure.”

My smirk slips. Luna has always been if anything, honest, which is why she hasn’t been so forthcoming about where she’s been for four years is unsettling.

War and Vaden sit opposite when I slip into the back of the city car, closing the door and ready for the questions.

“Why’d you keep this from me?” War wastes no time.

“Simple.” I follow the line of trees as we drive. Without the lights beaming up the castle, it’s a stranger instead of the wallsthat raised me. All things that are empty inside are simply that, unlivable. “It wasn’t something you needed to know at the time.”

“And now?” The balance in his voice is why he is who he is, because he’s unproblematic. “What about now? Why are you telling me now?”

“Beside that for whatever reason, that same man who took her that night has decided he still wants her, it’s simply time. You forget, I was following orders back then, and now I give them. You won’t be kept in the dark again.”

War rests his head back against the chair, waiting for the puzzle to slip into place.

Vaden bends his neck until it cracks. “You think what she said was the truth?”

“Why would he want Luna?” War keeps his eyes on the ceiling. “Why would he agree to take her back then? She was barely an anyone.” I ignore the way his words trigger the twitch in my left eye.

Vaden sighs. He’s bored. “Because she was already his wife, War. Click on.”

War looks back at me. “And are we forgetting why this is a bad idea? Are we forgetting about the very reason why this is a bad idea? And yes, I know I said that twice, but I need to, because, Priest…”

I block him out, and his words fade into the existence of nothingness.

Of complete…nothingness.

Chapter Nineteen

luna

Isit in the farthest corner of the room. If my mind wasn’t racing a mile a minute, I’d be able to figure out what happened last night. Why does he keep punishing me as if I was the one who started this in the first place? I didn’t ask to be taken to his house of horrors or be locked away from society for four years, nor did I ask for him to chase me out of his life as fast as I ran into it.

Alcohol warms my lips as a shadow stops beside me. I don’t have to look to know who it is. The music continues to play in a loop, with the clock in front of me forever at twelve. It melts off the wall in a way that questions its design, but it fits. Everything in this place…fits.

“Are you busy?”

I don’t look up but gesture to the empty spot beside me.

He devours the atmosphere swiftly, leaving a whisper of his cologne to cling to the back of my throat.

“I guess the correct question should be, are you alone?”

“Am I ever?” I ask, turning to the fresh set of eyes beside me. He doesn’t look away, not even beneath my scrutinizing stare.

I return to the performance on stage. She is pretty. Too pretty to be here. But her beauty won’t last long, because soon, if any of the people here have anything to say about it, she’ll be lying in a pool of her own blood in this very bar.

“Why’d you call Priest?”

When he doesn’t answer, a sip of whiskey calms my racing thoughts. I don’t like feeling this way.

“Because I wasn’t lying when I said I want you.”

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