Page 40 of Hysteria Rises
“No. Dragan and Gannon were there. It was bad. They were harassing her. And I—” He purses his lips.
“Please tell me you kicked their asses.” Hayze runs a hand over the scruff on his jaw, watching as I delicately begin to dab up the blood that’s smeared over Arrow’s back.
“Yes.” He lets out a sigh. “Could we get this over with? It was stupid. I shouldn’t have attacked them. But I couldn’t handle it. And then. She… she asked me to stay. I think she was scared.” He exhales through clenched teeth, averting his gaze as he mumbles, “I shouldn’t have touched her. It was fuckin’ stupid.”
“Then Dragan and Gannon told Kiefer you were down there.” Hayze groans. “When they get wind that he actually caught you doing something, they’re going to be fucking horrible to deal with.”
I release a tight chuckle. “And then Twenty-three gets loose somehow?”
Arrow’s jaw grinds. “I don’t have a clue how that happened.”
The wheels in my head begin to turn at a rapid rate. Things aren’t making sense.
Hayze interrupts a moment later, gesturing to the mess I’ve begun to clean up. “You’re going to need help. Tell me what to do.”
Several minutes later, we’re in the thick of it, and Arrow positively writhes in agony. There’s nothing either of us can do to help him. Even if this exam table had restraints, we wouldn’t use them after what he’s just been through.
I feel fucking terrible that there’s no pain relief for him either. My father keeps the drugs and sedatives locked in a cabinet. Their lack of accessibility isn’t an oversight. I know this. I would bet it’s another form of punishment. I can’t believe Henry would agree to it, no matter how upset he is with his son.
“You’ve gotta stay still.” I work quickly, but it’s not fast enough. “Man, I’m so sorry you’re hurting like this.”
“Oh, shit,” Hayze mutters. “He passed out.”
My eyes crash shut for a few seconds before I resume work. “Probably for the best,” I murmur as I swipe more blood from his back and disinfect the open wounds as best I can before carefully applying each bandage.
Finally, I can’t stand the silence anymore. “Did youknow the origin of the cat-o’-nine-tails dates back to ancient Egypt?” Hayze doesn’t say anything, so I keep right on talking, even if it’s to myself. “The domestic cat was sacred, and it was said they had nine lives.” I shrug. “The Egyptians believed that when they beat someone with the hide of a cat, the victim gained virtue from the whip.”
“Fuck, that’s awful. And fuckin’ weird. Where do you learn this stuff?”
“I read a lot.” I shrug.
Hayze works his jaw to the side, looking away from me. “I’d rather be drawing. Or inking someone,” he mumbles.
That’s no surprise to me, but why won’t he meet my gaze? I don’t have time to say anything because out of nowhere, Arrow drags in a ragged breath, then thrashes, pushing himself to a kneeling position. His chest heaves, and there’s a panicked look in his eye. “No!” he shouts, then follows it up with, “Don’t!” The stark crazy look on his face makes me think he doesn’t know who or where the fuck he is or what’s going on around him. Does he even know we’re here? Maybe it’s better for him if he isn’t completely aware… except he can’t seem to catch a breath.
I come in as close as I dare, attempting to get in his line of sight. The panting and gasping continues.
“Holy fuck, freak. What are you doing?”
I scowl at Malakai as he appears in the doorway. “Shut your mouth, Mal.” Nodding to Hayze, we each grab one of Arrow’s arms so he doesn’t do himself anyfurther damage. He fights us for several seconds, but then finally sags, his entire body shaking.
I tilt my head ever so slightly to the side, coming in close to peer at him. It takes a second or two, but I finally think he’s seeing me and not whatever has him all worked up. “What’s going on? I know it must hurt bad. You saidNo.Who were you talking to? I wasn’t even touching you when you regained consciousness.”
Arrow drags in an unsteady breath, gritting his teeth, and shakes his head, training his eyes on the bookshelf on the opposite wall. “Nothing,” he mutters. “It was nothing.”
I glance at Hayze, who’s looking on with cautious, speculative concern. From his raised brow, I’d say he doesn’t believe Arrow’s denial any more than I do. That outburst was way too similar to the ones that wake him from a dead sleep some nights.
There’s a reason some of the guys have taken to calling Arrowfreak. But as I’ve discussed with Hayze on several occasions—we believe there’s been something very wrong going on with him. And the shit of it is he’s been like this for quite some time. Years, even. No matter what we do or say, he refuses to discuss it with us.
Arrow studiously ignores my intense stare. “Please talk about something else.” At a huff of exhaled breath from the doorway, his eyes dart to Malakai. That fucker continues to hover on the periphery, same as he always does. Arrow swallows hard, his throat bobbing with the effort. “Isshe?—?”
Malakai tips his head to the side, then one step at a time, he joins us, coming to stand beside the treatment table. “She’s back in her cell, if that’s what you were going to ask. But if you wanted to know if she’s okay, I can’t fucking answer that.” He shrugs, tucking long strands of blond hair behind his ears, cautiously peering from Arrow to Hayze before his gaze finally lands on me with those calculating eyes.
I huff out a disturbed chuckle. “I’m gonna venture into territory that might be really fucking stupid, but I think it needs to be said.” I wait a beat, then dive in. “Kiefer told you to go after her and bring her back here. Did he promise you the girl if you were successful? Did you know they were going to make Arrow watch? That it’d be part of his correction? Because I think your answer is as simple as ‘I didn’t care because I wanted to fuck her.’”
One look at Malakai’s deep, dark eyes sends a storm of confusion through me. They hold secrets, the ramifications of which I’m unprepared for. He practically snarls when he bites out, “You can fuck right off with that. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I exhale hard, rolling my eyes. This dickhead and I are going to come to blows sooner or later. I feel it. Doesn’t matter that there’s something about him that does it for me. Glowering at us, for a moment I don’t think he’s going to say anything else, but then he proves me wrong.
