Page 36 of Reaper Flame

“Do you expect me to be flattered?” I laughed hysterically, then stopped abruptly. “Did you really think a helicopter ride and a cruise would magically erase what happened? If so, you never knew me at all.”

I turned and stormed away. We may be stuck here, but we didn’t need to spend any time together.

* * *

My chest heaved up and down from the exertion as I slammed the door to my room closed. Seeing all the guys lined up together lit my blood on fire with anger and something else stronger…hurt.

A soft knock on my door caught my attention.

“Candy? It’s me,” Mieko called through. “Can I come in?”

“Go away,” I said, grabbing the nearest pillow and squeezing it hard, pretending it was Zander’s neck. “I don’t want to talk.”

“Tough shit!” Vixen responded with the tact of a rhino and threw the door wide open. “You don’t get a choice, and there’s nowhere for you to run.”

“If you’re thinking of clawing me again,” I warned, “I won’t go easy on you this time.”

“I didn’t think you’d be so easy to take down,” Vixen replied, then held up her hands after I shot her a death stare. “Hey! I had to make it look convincing.”

“Only because I let you,” I snapped. “If I’d known Rocky was still alive, you wouldn’t have gotten close.”

“Maybe we should go, Vix.” Mieko bit her lip and tugged at her girlfriend’s arm. At least one of them was sensible. “Can’t you see she’s upset?”

“I’m not upset,” I hissed. “I’m angry, and if I were you, then I’d get the fuck out.”

My comment only made Mieko look even more worried.

“No, we’re not leaving you alone until you hear us out,” Vixen said, bounding onto the edge of the bed next to me. Was she outta her mind? “You have a right to know what happened.”

“I’m not interested.”

“I get it. Trust me, I do,” Vixen said. Get it? How could she? She wasn’t forced by Hiram to saw through bones with a blunt pen knife until her palms blistered. “Zander is a fucking asshole! When he told me what happened, I moved out of the club for two weeks and melted all his cooking utensils.”

“His cooking utensils? Really?” My voice dripped with sarcasm. “Well, as long as he can’t make pancakes, then all is forgiven!”

“He loves them as much as West loves his cars,” Vixen pointed out.

“What Vix is trying to say,” Mieko intervened smoothly, “is that Zander tracked her down and forced her to hear him out. It changed things.”

“Zander should never have made a deal with Hiram,” Vixen said. “But it was the only way.”

“There is always another way.”

“You were never supposed to stay with Hiram for long,” Vixen explained. She hung her head, giving the impression she was being sincere. “Why else would Zander have given you the necklace or shown you the way out? Rocky getting shot added an extra complication. He had to change the original plan.”

“How does that make Zander betraying me any better?” I hissed, narrowing my eyes. While he’d been plotting, he’d also been fucking me and screwing with my head. “He still planned it!”

“Maybe we should leave Candy alone?” Mieko suggested. “Give her time to process it?”

“No!” Vixen said, not moving an inch. She softened her voice. “Look, you don’t know what Bryce has done. How much we needed to get him back. Zander has waited his whole life to do this. If you knew—”

“You can save me his fucking sob story!” I interrupted. “I know what Bryce did toyourmom.”

“What?” Vixen’s face paled. “He told you?”

At our last visit to Briarly Manor, Zander disclosed the Sevens’ biggest secret. He and Vixen were half-siblings, and he believed Bryce arranged for their mother and Vixen’s father to be killed. Bryce Briarly was a jealous psychopath who murdered two innocent people because he didn’t like to share or play second best.

“What Bryce did was terrible,” I said. “But it doesn’t make what Zander did right. It makes him as bad as his father.”

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