Page 28 of Escape From Me

Spectors?

The conversation about the Vipers.

“Wait. You had said there were three main gangs. Vipers, Ravens, and …”

Zeid nodded. “Yeah. The Spectors. And I dare say that you sure have a way of picking men in power. We—Cas, X, and I—are the leaders of the Spectors.”

I’d lived my entire life doing as I was told out of fear of my father. I’d lived my entire life doing as my mother did because that’s what young ladies did. I’d gone on dates with whatever scum my father decided was worthy of his attention, not mine.I literally had been the perfect little daughter on the outside until they’d pushed me with this whole marriage. That was when I realized it had never mattered what I did or didn’t do. My outcome was always going to be marriage and a repeat of the same societal expectations. I wasn’t even allowed to go to college in person. Honestly, I was lucky that my father was paying for my classes at all.

“You’re telling me that I didn’t just fall for some guy who rescued me from a very boring night, but I gave myself to not just a member of a gang, but theleader. Or, well, one of them?”

If someone had told me this was what it would take to crack me, I wouldn’t have believed them. Hell, I thought the pressure of my father’s relentless expectations with no chance of ever getting his approval was what would push me over. The irony. I was hiccup-laughing at this point. My stomach was starting to hurt. I’d cracked.

“Is she okay?” I heard Rylee ask and waited to figure out if I was or wasn’t.

“Daisy?”

I dabbed at the tears welling up in my eyes from the insanity I’d just unleashed from somewhere inside of me.

“Yes, Zeiden? Or what do they call you? Lord? Undertaker? Certainly not prince asshole.”

That just started up my hysterics again.

“Oh god. I called someone who wears knives and a gun as jewelry prince asshole.”

Yup. I’d lost it.

“Oh my god. How naive am I? You show up at a party where I know you had to have millions to throw away on stupid shit just to be in the presence of those people, but you. You come in smelling like, hell, I don’t even know. Dirty sex? You didn’t talk like them. You wanted to hide in a corner unlike all the peacocks in there. Of course you’d be a gang leader.”

There was a lot to unpack, and apparently I was going to unpack it all on the way to say goodbye to my uncle.

“Oh my god. My uncle became a detective to clean up the city after his brother’s thing. My dad? Well he became a senator. You are the embodiment of everything my family hates.”

I stopped laughing.

“Oh. You’re the embodiment of everything they hate.”

I sucked in air, all humor gone.

“Are you, are you using me? Did you know?”

Zeid grabbed my hands in one of his. He was so much bigger than me. And now? Well I should have seen him as terrifying. The scar on his face? What was that from? The comments about bullets hurting? He might actually know.

“I had no idea who you were when I met you. In fact, you should have been a liability, but for some reason, something inside me that I’d tried to control my entire life screamed that you were what I needed.”

Needed? He needed me?

“You needed me? You who has a penthouse and money enough to buy into stupid secret little events, need me? Need me like you want money to return me, or need me like I’m a hole to stick your dick in?”

There was a sharp intake of breath across the car.

“Daisy,” Rylee’s voice broke my rant. “Zeid doesn’t, uh, well we weren’t kidding. You are the first girl he’s brought around us. Ever. I mean, ask Cas.”

“Only girl who happens to be the daughter of someone that is lobbying to get rid of your entire life?” I wasn’t yelling. I was actually rational. Numb rational maybe?

“Daisy. Stop. If you remember, when I brought you back to the hotel, I was the one to push you away. I offered you food and nothing else. Safety, yes. Me? I wasn’t on the table until I couldn’t deny whatever this is.”

I shifted myself and moved away from him and closer to the door.

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