Page 41 of Reign of Psychos

“You need to be careful, Eden. If you do decide to meet this guy, do it on campus, where there are security guards. He could turn out to be a serial killer.”

She rolled her eyes but murmured in agreement. “Yes, you’re probably right.” Then she shook her head dismissively. “He’ll probably ghost me in a couple of days anyway. That’s what guys do these days.”

I knew nothing about online dating. I’d gone from zero to five guys with no dating whatsoever. Unless I counted two trips to Landon’s estate, drinks in the student bar with Cassian, the cafe with Dario, and one movie date. That was the sum total of my dating experience.

Pathetic. I was officially a sad loser.

The girls came in and the conversation turned to school. Declan’s man, Connor, was driving the girls to their school in the morning. Ronan and four other men were accompanying them on the drive, which put my mind at rest. Declan had assured me the school had the best security money could buy and several of the staff were ex-military.

Verity would be safe there. Plus, she’d get an amazing education. Our father had paid for a tutor over the years, mostly because he knew that no man would be interested in a girl who couldn’t read or write, but her education - like mine - had more holes in it than a Swiss cheese.

The school had assigned her additional tuition so she could catch up on the subjects she was unfamiliar with, and she had Aoife and Saoirse to help her settle in.

“We have actual trunks, like Harry Potter!” My sister bounced on her toes with excitement.

“Good job we bought you a load of new clothes, then,” Eden smirked. She’d taken the girls shopping and spent a fuck-ton of Declan’s money on fashionable new outfits for all three of them. It was honestly obscene how much she’d splurged.

“Speaking of, you need to tell me how much I owe Declan,” I whispered. My meager savings were soon going to run out if I wasn’t careful. Once Verity had left for school, I needed to find paid employment.

Perhaps Declan had some jobs I could do in the short-term.

“It’s my treat,” Eden said.

“You mean Declan’s treat,” I corrected.

“Exactly. He won’t care about the bill. He loves to spoil his sisters, and Verity is now one of us.”

Hmm. I wasn’t sure I believed her, but OK, whatever.

“Is there anything you want to do this evening? It’s the last time I’ll see you for a while.” Verity looked sad for a moment.

“I’ll miss you, sis.” Not once had she said she missed our father. She’d asked after him briefly, and I’d told her he was in prison. “Good,”she’d replied. I knew she missed Mrs. Gia, too, but so far, Milo hadn’t found any trace of her.

“Can we watch Harry Potter again?”

There was a collective groan. Probably because everyone apart from Verity and I had seen the movies a thousand times.

“How about I introduce you to Damon Salvatore?” Eden suggested with a wink in my direction?”

“Eden! It’s too old for her.”

“Ooh, does it have sexy time in it?” Saoirse asked.

“If you want sexy time, you need to binge watchTrue Blood,” Aoife sniggered.

“I’ll send you a link later,” Eden promised when I threw her a baffled look. I assumed from the way she fanned her face that the show was another one of her spicy picks. Maybe I could watch it while the guys were busy sparring in the gym or doing other guy things. Whereas I would have joined them pre-baby, now I needed to be careful. Exercise was fine, but sparring was definitely not.

“Let’s watch Stranger Things again,” Aoife said when it became clear Vampire Diaries wasn’t an option.

“Yes! I love that show!” Saoirse agreed.

“Great. I’ll bring snacks. Meet us here at 6 PM and we can watch the first three episodes before bed.” Perfect. That would give me enough time to sneak out and buy my sister a going-to-school gift.

“Promise you’ll call if you have any problems? Anything at all. If there are any mean girls, I’ll come and sort them out for you.”

Verity rolled her eyes. “I can fight my own battles, Thea.” No, she couldn’t. My sister didn’t have a bad bone in her body, despite sharing genetic material with our father. Whereas I was a product of our father’s brutal conditioning training, he’d left Verity alone, deeming her nothing but a spare.

Thank God.

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