Page 171 of Deviant

Today’s game has come to its completion.

However, break our rules again,

and we will not be as lenient.

Rowen’s fearful gaze meets mine, knowing exactly what this means.

If one of us so much as goes against our Hosts’ instructions again or throws a wrench into the works of their macabre games, they’ll satiate their hunger for blood and destruction in more vicious ways.

And if today’s games are any indication, their depraved imagination for chaos and suffering knows no bounds.

Chapter 31

Elias

I’m standing by the window, watching Henry wheel Chris’s dead body in a cart toward the gate’s entrance, when I hear a knock on my door.

My forehead creases at who it could be since everyone hates my guts for killing Chris.

After Henry instructed us to leave that godforsaken white room, I saw how they looked at me. I could feel their hate… their distrust seeped into my skin as I passed them by and headed back to my room. Usually, shit like that wouldn’t bother me, but to see that wary look on the face of people I actually cared about fucked with my head more than I would have liked it to.

But I get it.

Of everyone in the group, Chris would have been one of the last people I imagined killing. His best friend, Big Mike, on the other hand, I wouldn’t think twice about snapping his neck in two.

But Chris… yeah… He deserved better.

But he went after Roe…and no one goes after what’s mine.

“I’m coming. Hold your fucking horses,” I grumble when whoever is at the door starts knocking again. However, when I open it and see Rowen standing on the other side, my heart does this weird thing in my chest… it starts beating.

“Thought I told Five not to show anyone where my room was.”

“I guess she likes me better than she likes you.” She shrugs.

“Guess so.” I scowl.

“May I come in?” she asks but struts into my room before I have time to answer.

“Please, make yourself at home,” I grumble, closing the door behind her.

I cross my arms over my chest, watching her scour the room attentively. I’m not sure why she’s so interested in where I’ve been laying my head at night since she’s the one who kicked me out of her room. When she said that shit, I had half a mind to bend her over my knee and remind her of who between us can shell out orders. However, she had just told me how Nora died, and I thought maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to put some space between us. I needed time to process, and I couldn’t do that with her around, not when her mere presence twisted me up inside.

Rowen makes me feel… things.

Things that I still can’t quite wrap my mind around.

Hating her was so much easier than whatever I’ve got bubbling in my chest right now.

Ah… simpler times. If only we could revert to a time when shit actually made sense.

“What do you want?” I ask point-blank since she doesn’t look to be in a hurry to tell me why she showed up at my door.

“To talk,” she replies, sitting on the edge of my bed.

I take a good, long look at her as she places her hands on the bed behind her, her long chestnut hair cascading inwaves down her back. In her snug mini-skirt and form-fitting top, accentuated by six-inch killer black boots, Rowen certainly doesn’t resemble the sweet little angel she pretended to be back in Blackwater Falls anymore. No, that girl had been frightened by her own reflection in the mirror. This is a woman—confident and determined—ready to take control of her life, even if that means facing me.

“To talk?” I arch a brow while keeping my distance from her.

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