Page 100 of Savage Torment

“No, Ben. I’m not worried.”

He sits at the foot of my bed, elbows braced on his knees as he frowns at me. “Are you sure?”

“I should have left you down in the basement,” I grumble, turning away from him before I actually consider doing it, and he snickers, but it lacks the humor I think he was expecting.

“I’m thankful that you didn’t,” he states, clearing his throat, and I cut my gaze to him, eyes narrowed.

“Then shut up.”

My outburst only makes the grin on his face spread wider. Fucker. “I’m still struggling to understand what Polaris sees in you.”

I turn to him fully, giving him my entire attention. I have to when he makes a statement like that. “How’s that?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. She always kept everyone at arm’s length at Florentine’s. She also hated anyone with a bad attitude. You scream asshole with every fiber of your being. She never would have paid you any attention back there.”

“Are you saying I have a bad attitude?” I grunt, gaping at him, and he snickers again.

“The worst.”

I roll my eyes at him, but I know he’s not wrong. But so fucking what? There’s a reason I have a bad attitude, at least I own it. “She seemed to pay Terence attention at Florentine’s.” I hate the words as soon as I say them, especially when his grin spreads from ear to ear.

“Nah. She entertained him, for sure. Maybe explored a little, but when he wanted something he couldn’t have, he lost interest and showed his true colors. She’s always known her worth.”

Amen to that.

Her worth.

Fuck.

Even when she’s confused, lost, surviving a world she doesn’t understand, she still knows her value. It may not always be clear to her when she does, but I’ve never seen her drop her morals. Not once. And I’ve been watching.

Ben clears his throat and I peer at him from the corner of my eye. “Do you think Sian thinks of me?”

I grimace, hating the truth, but he deserves to understand. “She’s still hunting for Terence, so I’d say not.” His smile vanishes, and I feel bad for him, but he’s delusional when it comes to that girl because she sure as shit didn’t worry overhim when she chose him has her fucking feeding bank. But that reminds me, there’s something else he should know. “Also, her name was called too.”

“Wait, what?” He darts up off the bed, eyes wide as he shakes his head, perplexed. “No, what if she’s my…”

“Are you forgetting what she did to you?” I growl back, exhausted by his unwavering love for this girl, but there’s a part of me that gets it because if Polaris were to do that to me? I’d still be hers and she’d still be mine.

“No, I’m just stuck on clinging to the past. It’s all I fucking understand, remember?” he grunts, and before I can snap back at him a knock sounds from the door, silencing both of us.

Uncertainty dances in his eyes as I mouth one word to him.

“Hide.”

I give him five seconds to disappear into the makeshift space we’ve created in the floorboards before I turn my attention to the door. I’ve barely turned the knob when it’s forcefully swung open from the other side. I glare at the fucker that comes into view, sauntering into my room like he owns it.

It’s hilarious, really.

Most people on campus think I’m an asshole. They’re not wrong, but they know nothing. Especially the other factions. They don’t have to deal with this motherfucker.

“Finch,” I grunt, but he ignores me, shouldering me as he moves farther into my room, searching for Ben.

He doesn’t say it, and I don’t acknowledge it, I just remain frozen in place, waiting for him to realize he’s not winning here today. Not this time at least.

Finch is the secret puppet master of the vampire dorm. Fuck. It’s more than that, as the right hand man for the devil who walks the Earth, he reigns over more than just the dorms. He just focuses here more because the younger you are, the longeryou’re in his pocket. Yet he’s still nothing in comparison to his boss; The Crow.

Sometimes I consider if it’s worth losing to the blood kin curse so I no longer have to live in a world where they both exist, but the thought of not seeing Polaris ever again makes it a stupid idea. One I won’t follow through on. Not unless she’s my…

---