Page 74 of The Devils of Saint City

It’s a miracle I’m still standing at all.

29

Blair stops asking questions once she figures out all I’m going to do is deflect.“It’s not you, it’s me,”I told her, yet it went over just about as well as it does in the middle of a breakup. In this case, it’s true. She seems perfectly sweet, capable, smart, and like she’s hiding some secrets of her own. Truthfully, we might’ve been best friends in another life, any other life. And while it’s possible we’ll get there eventually in this one... I’m not going to hold my breath.

I have to protect myself.

And that starts by figuring out what I have to work with and what my options are. I never considered getting a place this close to St. Andrew’s because I always assumed any dorms or apartments over here were for student use only, but now I’m not so sure. I’ve spent the better part of the last hour people-watching out the window, taking note of the types of people who walk past. They’re definitely not all students. But how much of my money did they actually return?

Bracing myself, I unlock my phone and log into my bank app. For a moment, I’m not sure what I’m seeing. My $7,353.64 is there, every penny — but there’s now a 5 in front of it that absolutely wasn’t there before.

They gave me fifty-thousand dollars.

The room spins, and the bedframe I grab ahold of does nothing to keep me steady. “What the fuck?” I yell too loudly. “What the fuck?”

Blair comes running into the room with a fucking sword in her hand, making the situation that much more ludicrous. “What? What happened?”

Selfishness warns me not to tell her anything, to close my phone and tell her the bastards robbed me again or something.But I need to know why. None of this makes sense, and she’s the only one who spoke to them. “They mentioned my bank account to you, right? They told you to have me check it? Did they tell you why?”

Lowering the weapon, she releases the breath she was holding. “Not specifically. I figured they probably gave you enough so you wouldn’t have to worry for a while, but I know they make damn good money so I was hoping they set you up nicely. They did, right? Because this sword was made to chop off balls.”

“Nicely might be an understatement,” I say softly, sitting back down on the bed as I stare at my balance. “I could go anywhere, anywhere in the world with this.”

Relaxing further, Blair sets the blade aside and smiles at me. “Guess they’re not fully devils after all. Least they could do is take care of you.”

What a funny phrase, take care of me. What does that even mean? Clearly not my body, or my heart. Not my mind. I’m still riddled with bruises and bite marks, still holding strong to the scar that won’t ever fade. And I feel... like the sun’s been sucked out of the sky. It’s so stupid, but it’s true.

I guess they broke me after all.

“Where would you want to go?” she presses softly. “Italy, maybe Scotland?”

Huffing, I shake my head. “Honestly, right now I just want to go somewhere that serves steak.”

“That sounds awe— wait, do you mean alone? I was totally about to invite myself along,” she says with a chuckle, her laugh telling me she wouldn’t take offense at all if I wanted to go alone.

Surprisingly, I don’t. “I think the least I can do is buy you some food since I was dumped on your doorstep. We’ll go for lunch, yeah? I want — no, I absolutely need a shower. I can’tbelieve you’re standing in the same room with me right now with how I smell.”

“You smell like cologne and great sex. Nothing new here, girl.” With a grin, she grabs her weapon again and heads back out the door. “All your toiletries are in the guest bathroom, by the way. Asher made sure of it.”

She waves her fingers at me in a farewell, like that wasn’t yet another dagger to the chest. So what, he lost the argument to keep me and then doubled down to take care of me better than Manson?

Fucking men.

Scowling, I lock my phone after taking one last look at the balance and head off to the shower. If I’m going to start over — again — that starts with getting rid of every shred of evidence that they’ve ever touched me.

This might take a while.

––––––––

Five hours later, I’m squeaky clean, less tired thanks to a nap, and sitting in a restaurant way too fancy for me. “Good thing those bastards gave me a big fat severance package, huh?” I laugh quietly. “I don’t think I’d have been able to afford this before without kicking myself.”

“At least they were good for something more than those bite marks,” she replies teasingly. “They need to hurry with the damn bread.”

A little self-consciously, I tug the sleeves of my sweater down like that’ll make a difference. “Have you... heard from them?”

Blair nods. “You want to see the messages?”

My stomach squirms, but I nod anyway. I need to know.

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