Page 31 of Mayhem At Prescott High (The Havoc Boys 3)
“Were you expecting something different?” Oscar asks, setting his iPad on the counter. If I know him—and I do—he’s going to wait until everyone else is asleep before he eats anything. He’ll do it in the dark, by himself, because god forbid we see him with a bit of sauce on his lips or crumbs on his shirt. He’s never wanted to be human. Fucking Bernadette the way he did? That proves he is and he hates it.
“When I said you owe me a blowie, what I meant was that I’m now officially single and unattached so …” Hael inserts, and I grit my teeth.
“And Bernadette Channing is a married woman.” I step back from the counter, my eyes finding Aaron’s. He’s been awfully quiet, but that won’t last. He’s only going to keep his tongue for so long before he challenges me. If he does, I’ll have to put him in his place, and I don’t want to do that.
You have two choices, Victor, I tell myself as I stare at Aaron. Choose Bernie for yourself or choose Havoc.
There has only ever been one appropriate choice.
“When you’ve been lied to by everyone around you, when you have nothing else, you realize the one currency you can carry is truth. So a single word does have meaning. A promise does hold importance. And a pact is worth carrying to the grave.”
My own words echo around inside my head, a reminder that when we laid out Bernie’s price, I said our girl. A Havoc Girl. I am as bound and beholden to that price as she is.
She cannot belong to me and me alone while I still hold the reigns of this family. Those things are mutually exclusive.
Just … I can’t make any changes today.
I am not ready today.
“She’s a married woman, and this is my honeymoon. I am done discussing this shit tonight.” I gesture with my chin toward the stairs. “Let’s go, Bern.” She tears her gaze away from Oscar like she’d just as soon slit his fucking throat.
“You’re right: we can talk about it later,” Aaron agrees, while still also managing to be an asshole. I resist the urge to flip him off. I gave Bernadette to him to take care of once. Nobody can ever say that I didn’t try. I did. I left her alone. I gave her away. I pushed her away. Yet, here she is.
A man can only be so strong, even one who’s as stubborn as this asshole right here.
Bernadette is my blood and my breath and my bone.
The Havoc Boys are my brothers.
Something will have to give and, like any true leader can tell you, sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do, make decisions you don’t want to make. Sometimes you have to admit you were wrong and readjust the way you look at the world. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar; beware the silver-tongued serpent.
Bernie says nothing as I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her close, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair. If I could keep her all to myself, I would. In my heart, I know she is mine and mine alone, but I’m also sure that neither of us will be happy if we let our love and obsession with one another drive away the rest of Havoc.
Blood in, blood out.
That statement holds true, even if it’s just me bleeding on the fucking inside.
“We’ll talk about it when I damn well say it’s time,” I snarl out, cracking my knuckles. Aaron scowls at me, but he can make faces all he wants. Hael rolls his eyes and Callum smiles. Oscar … he simply turns away and heads for a pair of French doors that lead to the deck. Even though it’s just started raining, he walks outside, barefoot and wearing pajamas, and closes the doors behind him.
“I’m going to fucking break him,” Bernie whispers, a promise in her words. I do my best not to smile. Even though I have the urge to murder my friends when I see them balls-deep in my girl … it’s kind of funny at the same time. Oscar deserves Bernadette’s wrath. Let’s see if she’ll have any better luck opening him up than the rest of us did.
I wish her the best with that.
‘Cause, you know, she’s definitely going to need all the help she can get.Bernadette BlackbirdThe little girl, Alyssa, tells us her last name is Hart, but that she doesn’t know where she lives because her mom moves around all the time. The last place she remembers living is in a motel off the freeway.
That could be any motel, on any freeway, in any state.
She’s cute, dark-haired and dark-eyed, but suspicious as fuck. I don’t blame her; there’s a look in her gaze that says she’s been betrayed before by people who promised to help. I know that look because it’s the same one that I have, even now, even after joining Havoc. I will never trust anyone but my boys again.
