Page 34 of War and his Queen

It’s not an easy track, it requires drifting, skills, and a level of carelessness to get your ass away from the cliff’s edge near a tight bend also known as Halen’s Bend. Since she was the first girl who successfully drifted it, it’s only fitting. Besides, the girl can drive.

“Excuse me!” Evie falls onto Vaden’s lap, caressing his face, clearly on shrooms. “Why are you so damn beautiful?” Her finger glides all over the hard edges of Vaden’s features. “A sculpture emanating every poem ever written from a heartbroken woman. You’re a tragedy, Vitiosis. A damn tragedy.”

I kick out my leg and hold Priest’s eyes. “You’re not going to do what you want to do.”

“Why not?” Priest leans forward, scooping up the rolled dollar bill and playing with it between his fingers. Beside the fact that the table is frosty as hell, between the weed and tobacco, I know that Priest pulling further and further away has nothing to do with it.

He’s always been this way. Cold and distant, with an uncanny kind of macabre. Most likely why Bishop was adamant on bringing in Halen. The levelheaded one. I mean… I say that fucking lightly.

I narrow my eyes. “How about she’s your sister?”

He leans back against his chair, spreading his legs wide. The party around us doesn’t exist to him. The cars, the girls, the drinks, even the coke. It doesn’t. “She wanted this. To be involved in this side of our world. Did I try to protect her from it? Sure. But now that she’s here?” He tosses the rolled bill back onto the table and holds my stare. “She has to be treated the same way we would anyone.”

Well, fuck. Good thing you said that, huh?

I bite my tongue. Not that I give that much of a fuck about the fact that I’d be obvious, but Priest… All this time, she probablythought I was stopping her from coming in closer because I wanted to protect her from the outside.

All along, it was from her own brother.

“War?” A hand curves over my shoulder, and scarlet painted nails come into view. Too desperate. Too loud. Demanding to be picked.

She leans down behind my ear, bringing a whiff of her perfume. Flowers and antiseptic.

“Can you show me the back seat of your car?”

Jenna Hale had been hanging around our shit since we were in high school, and aside from the fact that she’s definitely hot enough to walk a runway, she has never been my type for anything more than what she’s good for.

Bending her over the teacher’s desk. It just so happened that my teacher was also her daddy and the fucker kept trying to fail me on all my classes. Made sure to clean her up using the handkerchief he kept in his top draw.

I catch Priest’s eyes again, his brows slightly lifted as the little bud of ember burns saffron every time he inhales. “You gonna get that?” He doesn’t look away from me as his teeth catch the trunk of his smoke. I know what he’s waiting for. To see if his suspicions of Halen and I are valid.

I ignore her, but she rounds the chair and rests both of her hands on my shoulders, lowering herself down onto my lap.

I lean my head back against the outdoor sofa, catching her eyes. “What do you want?”

She wriggles on my lap. “I’m bored.”

I grab her by the wrist and shove her off me. “Then go fuck someone who wants to fuck you.”

She doesn’t even huff as she turns and makes her way to where her lame friends are waiting near the line of cars on the other side.

Movement catches my eye at the lone car that rolls up slowly behind ours. Hidden beneath the trees, they probably think they look inconspicuous.

Someone moves inside and my hackles rise as I find myself slowly standing to my feet, staying locked on whoever is in the car.

“What?” Vaden asks but doesn’t move from his chair.

My body vibrates as I canter forward, and the rest of the party dissolves around us. Smoke twirls around my feet from someone doing donuts behind the starting line. Usually, the smell of burning rubber would get my dick hard, but right now, all I see is that.It.Right there, hovering in the shadows.

Priest creeps up behind me. “That car…”

“Yeah…”

He advances forward and I follow close behind. People part as we continue, crossing the track and burnout pad. Headlights flash, blinding both of us, and Priest picks up his pace.

Fuck.

I jog faster, but the car reverses, before stopping sideways. The tinted windows show nothing, but when it rolls down slightly, we see a slither of a baseball cap.

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