Page 56 of Caelum

Studying him for a second, I was entranced by the length of his lashes and the way they brushed the upper curve of his cheekbones. If a man could be pretty, Nestor was close to that. I thought the only thing that saved him was the bump in his nose, which had obviously been broken several times.

Even as I wondered if that injury came from his parents’ fists or the boys here, I stated, “When do you leave?”

“Two weeks’ time.”

Ibit my lip, trying not to be hurt that I hadn’t been invited along. Everything had changed since Dre had woken up, and I felt horrible even thinking that but it was the truth.

With his attention on the fight between Stefan and a guy called Tarick, who was built like a bull, I stepped away from the ring and headed out of the gym. I’d already worked out, so my suffering was done for the day. At least, I figured as much. I was sure someone else would tell me to slave away on the treadmill for another thirty minutes, but I preferred to walk around the grounds rather than be stuck inside watching grown men trying to make each other bleed.

The fighting was one of the reasons I subconsciously called them boys. Where it mattered, they weren’t grown up.

My mother had always said that at fourteen, I had more sense than my nineteen-year-old brother, and now that I was a little older with more sense than back then, I realized the same fit with the boys around me.

Slipping outside wasn’t difficult. We weren’t locked inside, after all, but I always felt like I was being duplicitous. Back at the compound, we were allowed only within allotted zones, and where the forest was concerned, we weren’t allowed anywhere near it even if, some days, I thought I’d sell my soul to be able to walk through those woods without anyone watching me—to be free, to be able to reveal my expression to the universe and not have to hide every last detail that made meme.

The thought had tears pricking my eyes as memories assailed me. I thought of the compound often, but never my family, and my biggest source of upset was that I didn’t miss them.

At all.

It was a joy to be here. So much so that it was hard to remember I was different. That this couldn’t be my home.

The thought had me curling my hands into fists so I could feel the prick of my nails against my palms.

“You going to punch that tree?”

I shot around and scowled at the boy who had obviously followed me from the gym. “What is it with you guys? You’re always trying to make me jump or something.”

Frazer shrugged. “It’s hard to talk to you when you’re not with the others.”

The others.I snorted. That was a nice, non-volatile way of describing their enemies.

I’d always thought the word nemesis was a tad strong, but Frazer’s three and my four loathed each other enough to be considered nemeses.

Well, I didn’t have four. Not when Dre disliked me so much, but the others felt like mine.

Sort of.

Another pang to my chest had me blinking up at Frazer. He had black hair and bright blue eyes. His skin was white, like alabaster it was so pure, and his jaw reminded me of granite. He had the jaw of a man whom you wouldn’t want to punch. Not unless you really wanted to have a broken wrist, at least.

“What are you doing out here?” I demanded and surprised myself yet again by not feeling any fear.

Once upon a time, I would have been nervous. Concerned at being away from everyone else, on my own with only a man at my side.

Though we were supposed to live a godly life, that didn’t prevent accidents from happening, and it didn’t stop the girls from being blamed either. Provocative behavior was something a man could punish any woman on the compound for, and it wasn’t the first time I realized how big a pile of bullshit that was.

The word flooded my subconscious with a deliciously disturbing image.

Bullshit.

One of Dre’s favorite words, if favoritism could be discerned by frequency of use, that is.

If I could, I’d bury Father Bryan in his own bullshit. He deserved it, that was for damn sure.

“Are you okay?”

The question was tossed at me along with a scowl. “No. I’m not,” I retorted.

He jerked back as though I’d hit him.

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