Page 100 of I Was Born Ruined (Death by Daybreak MC 1)
“Got a smoke?” I ask, and Sin digs a pack from his pocket, pulling out a cig for each of us. He lights himself up and then gestures with fingers covered in rings for me to lean forward. I do, and he monkey-fucks my smoke to life.
“What are you doing up here?” Crown continues, digging his fingertips into his pockets and looking me over. He seems to like what he sees, but I have a feeling he's not going to act on it. No, the only reason he fucked me the first time around was because he was drunk off his ass. That's it. Clearly, it didn't go over quite so well the second time we tried it.
What the hell am I going to do with him?
“I want to know how many of my classmates are dead,” I say, smoking and letting their eyes trail over me. Sin's face scrunches up, and he grits his teeth, glancing away sharply. Crown, though, that asshole stares right through me with those green eyes of his. They're not so much moss green right now, no. Instead, they're bathed in shadows and a grim sense of duty that I'm sure he finds righteous but which I just find downright annoying. “Don't I at least have a right to know that?”
“Your dad wanted them all dead,” Sin says, and Crown turns a look on him that's hell frozen over. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that look. I realize that despite all my hard-won cynicism and skepticism, I underestimated the fuck out of Calder Reid. He's as scary as Beast, and as mean as Grainger. Worse, even, because he puts a nice guy façade over the top of it all. “But Crown argued against it. Nobody's dead.”
“What was in that blow?” I ask, frustrated to the point of tears. That is, if I were still the type to cry over things. When neither man answers me, I get frustrated and turn, punching my fist into the bark of a tree so hard that pain ricochets up my arm and into my shoulders, making my teeth hurt from the impact. “Jesus Christ, you made me give that dope out, you shot my dog, you put a gun to my head, and now you're going to make me … that guy, Grey, he …”
Putting my palms over my face, I feel this layer of stress just … evaporate off of me, this strange, cool sense of detachment. Huh. Maybe that's what Sin and Crown are channeling right now, this loss of control. There's nothing I can do that I'm not doing right now, so why am I letting myself freak out? What's the point? It'll either work out, or it won't. And if it doesn't, I'll be heading for the long, long sleep so who gives a shit?
“I'm already in this so deep, I don’t understand why can't you just tell me this one little thing?” I ask, lifting my face up and dropping my hands to my sides. All of my strength, all of this resistance, all of these quips … I'm running out of steam. Gidget Kesselring is fucking tired.
“Fentanyl.” Just that one word, from Crown. And then … “Among other things.”
He looks at me without emotion, and I stare right back, trying to decide if he's really going to be the final roadblock, the nail in my coffin, if I'll be laid to rest next to my sisters because Crown won't get his stubborn ass out of my way.
“I need a minute,” he grinds out after a moment, moving forward and stepping around me. “Sin, don't let her out of your sight.” Crown continues on down the hill, and I glance back, watching as he disappears through the trees.
Wow.
If I'd have known an emotional breakdown would shake him loose, I'd have tried that shit a long time ago. I turn back to Sin, but he's not looking at me, just smoking and staring into the woods. No noises escape the cabin, that shit is sound-proofed to high hell. But I bet Grey is still alive. Otherwise, why would I be here?
“What's his problem?” I ask, moving up to lean my shoulder against the wall of the cabin. Sin doesn't seem alarmed that I'm standing near the door, nor does he seem bothered or concerned that we're only a few inches apart. Actually … his eyes flick my direction and take in my long, pale legs, that flash of perfect thigh that shows beneath the pleats of the mini-skirt.
“I think Crown wants you,” he says, which is sort of the last thing I ever expected him to say to me. My eyes widen slightly, but I'm already shaking my head.
“He's dating Amber. He basically just told me he wants to marry her.”
