Page 38 of Reaper Flame

I took a deep breath. “What do you want?”

“We’re going to eat soon,” Q said, daring to edge closer. “Do you want to join us?”

“Seriously? You know me better than that.” I raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. “Why don’t you tell me the reason you’re really here, Q?”

Q shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t want to get involved…”

“Don’t then,” I snapped, despite sensing a ‘but’ coming my way. “You can shut the door on your way out.”

“You’re not making this easy for me, kid,” Q said, running an exasperated hand through his wavy hair.

“Don’t tell me Zander has bullied you into speaking to me?” I rolled my eyes. “Save it, okay? I’ve already heard enough.”

Q clicked the door shut and gestured to the edge of the bed. “Can I sit down?”

“It’s your yacht, you can sit where you want.”

“I’m not here for them, Candy,” Q said after a long pause. “I’m here foryou, and I know better than any Seven what life is like inside Blackthorne Towers.”

Q flinched as he said the words ‘Blackthorne Towers’. He may not have lived in the building, but he used to be a regular visitor. He knew a prolonged stay there makes an asylum for the criminally insane seem like a freaking summer camp.

“I don’t want your pity.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and focused on my anger instead. “Seeing Mieko’s puppy-dog eyes is bad enough.”

“She cares about you,” Q said. “They all do.”

I snorted.

Q ignored me and kept talking, “None of us know what you’ve been through, but I know what Hiram is capable of. I know what type of life he lives, and I want you to know that I’m here. If you ever need someone to talk to.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” I dismissed. “I’m more of a fists over therapy type.”

“You’ve always been tough. Tougher than you look,” he observed with a sad smile, reminding me of the first time we met in Blackthorne Towers. During the early weeks of my first stay, he’d been the only person to show me kindness in a world filled with darkness. “But you don’t have to do everything alone.”

“I’m the only person I can depend on.”

“Do you want my opinion?” Q asked.

“No,” I grumbled, “but I can tell you’re going to give it, anyway.”

“For what it’s worth, I think Zander thought he was doing the right thing,” Q said, then held a hand up as he saw my mouth open. “There’s still no excuse for him doing what he did. I told him all along that he should have told you what he was planning.”

“So, you knew?” I turned on him. Zander’s plan would have been hard to orchestrate alone. How could he have managed to keep the Sevens in the dark, but not Q? “If you didn’t agree with him, then why help him?”

Zander betraying me was one thing, but Q was supposed to be one of the good guys.

“Hiram was going to come for you. He was getting closer,” Q said. “I helped him because I wanted to get you out... for good.”

“And because you want to take Hiram down more than anyone,” I hissed. Hiram killed the love of his life. He’d do anything to get vengeance! “You had your own agenda, Q. Don’t pretend this was all for me.”

“I didn’t know exactly what Zander was going to do until after you were gone, but I already offered him the yacht. I never wanted to take Hiram down at your expense,” Q said, then his voice dropped to a whisper. “It’s not what Crystal would have wanted.”

“What do you think she’d say if she was here?” I asked, wanting more than anything to see my old friend again.

“I don’t know.” Q shrugged, tears filled his eyes as his mouth twitched up at the corners. It didn’t matter how much time had passed, a love like theirs was timeless. “But I know you don’t realize what you have until you lose it. I saw how happy you were last night to get a second chance with Red. If I got a second chance with Crystal, I wouldn’t waste it.”

“It’s not that simple,” I mumbled.

Rocky and I hadn’t spoken properly since the others arrived. He should have told me the whole truth the moment we left the manor, but he wasn’t entirely responsible. I wasn’t stupid. I knew that something was going on, but I didn’t want to face it. I was so wrapped up in an imaginary fairytale that I followed him blindly to avoid reality.

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