Page 484 of Filthy Elites

His smile is soft and despite his size, he’s never felt as dangerous as the others, even though I’m sure he could be. “Hello, Starling.”

“What…?” I trail off.

“You didn’t think we’d let you live all alone on a campus full of strangers did you, sis?” Evan says, stepping out from behind me and moving to take a bottle of beer from Hunter.

“We couldn’t get you to come home, so we thought we’d bring home to you,” Clay announces cheerfully as he steps past me.

“No,” I murmur, shaking my head. “You don’t go here.”

“What, Mom never told you?” Evan taunts. “Maybe if you’d spoken to her a bit more often she’d have mentioned that we decided to finish out our junior and senior years together.”

“All of us,” Clay says with a wink.

My hands ball into fists at my sides and I close my eyes, trying to make this a dream, or a nightmare or anything that means it’s not true. Except it is true, and no matter how tightly I squeeze my eyes shut when I open them, they’re all still going to be here and so is he, because when Clay said all of them, he meant him too.

“Hello, little bird.”

I want to be strong. I try to be strong but at the sound of his voice, my legs give way and I end up on my ass on the ground. Curling my legs into my chest, I scuttle across the floor until my back hits the cabinets, then I bury my face against my knees and cover my head with my hands. “No, this can’t be happening, no, no, no.”

ELEVEN

Sebastian

She’s beautiful,more so than she was the last time I was close enough to touch her. Her body has matured over the last two and a half years and instead of a girl, she’s all woman. The soft curves I loved so much have gone and she’s almost painfully slim and toned. Her hair is shorter, but still a pretty color, and I have to fight the urge to reach out and tug a strand, to reel her back to me.

I watch as Hunter reveals himself and she tenses, her fingers clenching into fists. When Evan announces his arrival, her back goes ramrod straight and by the time Clay steps into the room, she’s shaking her head.

The moment Evan taunts her with the knowledge that we’re all here I see her breath hitch. I’ve waited over two years for this moment, over two years to get her away from her dad and back into my world. Not that she was ever really out of my reach. If I wanted to, I could have taken her at any point, but that’s not what I wanted, I wanted her to come back to me willingly. Only she didn’t, not when I chased her, not when I gave her space and not when I showed her I could ruin her and take away all the people who were important to her.

All except her dad, that is. Before she went to visit him, I’d thought of him as a nonentity, not a player in the game. I was wrong, and no matter how much I’ve tried to influence him in the last two and a half years, nothing has worked. As much as I hate to admit it, I admire the man and his unwavering loyalty to his daughter.

“Hello, little bird,” I call, stepping up behind her.

I expect her to look at me, then try to run, but instead, at the sound of my voice she drops to the floor, scuttles back until her spine is flush with the cabinet, curls into a ball and starts to rock as she chants “no, no, no,” over and over again.

The others look to me, but I’m as clueless as them. This was supposed to feel victorious. I won, she’s here, she’s mine again, and this time I won’t allow her another chance to escape. But seeing her on the floor, broken, this isn’t what I want.

As I stand there staring at her, Evan rushes to her, dropping to his knees beside her and reaching out to touch her. The moment his fingers touch her, she freaks out. Her agonized scream is gut wrenching and then she’s gasping for air, her head snapping up as her face goes flush and she grabs at her throat, a wheezing, wretched sound coming from her that’s barely human.

“She’s having a panic attack,” Hunter says, opening the drawers and rooting through until he finds a paper bag and rushes over to her. “Starling,” he says softly, drawing her attention to him, while her lips turn slightly blue and choked noises fall from her parted lips. “You need to breathe into the bag. Slow, easy breaths, okay? I’m not going to touch you unless you need me to hold the bag.”

Shaking her head she grabs the paper from him, screwing the top of the bag up in her hands and holding it to her mouth.

“Slow and easy,” Hunter says calmly. “Breathe in time with me. In and out.” He does exaggerated breathing, kneeling just far enough away that he’s not touching her, but close enough to pull her attention completely onto him. “That’s it, good girl, in and out.”

After what feels like an hour, but is probably only ten or so minutes, Hunter rests back onto his heels and the tension releases from his body. “How are you feeling? Better?”

Her eyes are wide and watery, the bag still covering her mouth, but she nods.

“Good, keep breathing in and out and I’ll grab you a bottle of water.” Standing, he moves slowly, taking a bottle of water from the refrigerator and then sliding back down onto the floor, holding it out to her.

Tentatively she reaches out and takes it, her eyes moving from him, to Evan and Clay and then to me. I hate that what’s in her eyes when she looks at me isn’t lust or want, it’s fear. She’s scared of me, she’s scared of all of us, but she was upright until I spoke to her.

Hunter reaches out and she flinches, jolting away from him as if she’s expecting him to strike her. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise, I just want to check your pulse that’s all. I need to see if we need to take you to the emergency room.”

“I’m fine,” she says, her voice croaky and weak.

“Little bird, you’re not fine. I’ll call Dr. Harris.”

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