Page 51 of Deadly Sacrifice

“She’ll be okay, though? Once you get her back on medication?” Prudence peeks over her shoulder, frowning when she meets my gaze. She walks out of the room and down the hall, and I take it as my cue.

Except when I stand, my feet refuse to carry me to the door. Instead, they take me the same direction as Prudence, until I’m standing in front of a locked door and listening to her soft sobs.

It’s like my head is in a fog as I lean against the opposite wall and wait for her. I shouldn’t give a single fuck that her mom’s sick. I shouldn’t care if it hurts Prudence. I shouldn’t be second guessing my actions tonight. Yet, as I thump my skull against the wall, that’s exactly how I feel.

Ten minutes go by before the door creaks open. Prudence stops mid-step when she looks up from the floor and finds me there. She shakes her head. “Go home, Asher. You’ve met your quota for being a raging dick today,” she rasps, words thick and scratchy.

I press my lips together, completely unsure what the hell to say. My dad would tell me to take this as a win; I’ve found the one thing that could truly break this girl. Everything else I’ve done, all the depraved games I’ve played, she’s met me head on with an attitude and armor made of steel. But tonight was different. She hollowed out right before my eyes, leaving behind a fragile shell of a girl who’s lived through some shit and barely hung on.

I’ve taken an enormous leap forward. I’m eons closer to completing initiation.

So why doesn’t it feel good to stand here and see the results?

I rub the back of my neck, lost for words and lost in fucking life. “I’m sorry, Prudence, I didn’t know about—“

“How could you?” she snaps, narrowing her eyes at me. “You haven’t taken a fucking second to get to know me, Asher. You went from asking me out to a bullying douchebag like flipping a switch. You’ve spent so much time trying to make me miserable, and for what? To fucking apologize when you succeed?“ She laughs, the sound bitter and jarring. “You’re pathetic, you know that?”

I blink at her, grinding my teeth and trying to offer some kind of condolences about her mom, but nothing meaningful comes to mind.

With her eyes cast down, Prudence shoulder checks me and walks further down the hallway and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. I blow out a harsh breath, scrubbing my hand over my head, and then finally get my ass home while my mind wars with itself.

27

Creed

I’m the type of guy who likes to ensure things go according to plan. It’s my future on the line, after all, so why the fuck would I leave a single thing to chance?

Taking down Prudence is my ticket free. We succeed, and Asher, Griffin, and myself will be full-fledged members of The Celestials. No more blindly following orders like a little bitch. No more constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure someone isn’t ready to grab me and throw me in an institute again.

A blurry memory grips my throat, and I have to lean a hand against the wall to keep myself upright. Days locked in a bare room, nothing but a bed that I was frequently tied to. Faceless doctors in white coming in to shove more pills down my throat, and even sedate me the few times I was lucid enough to refuse.

It’s been a few years since I was in there, but if I think hard enough, I can still feel the needles piercing my arm and the leather cuffs tight around my wrists and ankles.

I’m dizzy when I snap back to the present. Nauseous and confused, but not so out of it that I forget why I’m hiding around the corner of the library at night.

I’ve been following Prudence around for four days, ever since that cocksucker Mark backhanded her. He’s playing a very fun game with me now. One where I might just show up outside his bedroom door one night when I’m in a particularly bad mood. Might smack him around a bit. Might bleed him dry. Who knows?

Either way, Prudence is mine. No one hurts her but the three of us. No one touches her but the three of us. Her pain and pleasure belong to me, Asher, and Griffin. But mostly me. Whether she survives past the end of the semester or not, I don’t really care.

That thought sinks into my stomach until I feel like a fucking asshole. More than usual. I shake it free, ignoring the quiet murmur in the back of my mind that’s saying I may care just a little about her life. Just if she continues living it or not, nothing more. I mean, she turned out to be a lot of fun on that date and I enjoy her company more than anyone else’s, so I’d hate to see her die too soon. Not that I plan on getting any closer than I am, so really, what difference does it make? I want her to stick around so she can go on and be with someone else? Fuck that. But I can’t be with her, even if I wanted to. Not like that. Not beyond this game I’m playing to help lead her to her inevitable fate. But what if I didn’t want to play this deadly game with her? Did anyone ask what I wanted? What do I even want?

It’s just back and forth, back and forth, until I want to scream. Fuck, everything is getting so mixed up in my brain. I grab the sides of my head, fisting my fingers through my hair, and squeeze my eyes shut. I can’t think right when I’m paranoid like this.

Focus, Creed. Get it the fuck together.

When I control my thoughts and open my eyes again, I catch the faintest glimpse of red hair and an oversized sweater before the doors to the library close again. Doesn’t matter that I barely saw her. It was Prudence. She’s been coming to the library every night since I’ve been tailing her. Staying past closing, too.

But that’s not the weirdest part.

No, that would be— Ah, there he is.

Griffin crosses the empty quad and jogs up the stairs to the double doors of the library. I watch him up until the second he’s inside, and then I lean back against the wall and wait.

I guess it’s not totally out of the norm for Griff to spend some time in the library. I know he likes places that are quiet and open; nothing that could possibly trigger a panic attack. But for as long as I’ve known him, he’s never been a bookworm.

So why is he meeting Prudence here every night?

And more importantly, what the hell do they do in there that could take hours?

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