Page 20 of Hush, Hush

“Ihappened to him,” a cold, familiar voice announces from behind me. It’s so recognizable because I’ve been spoken to with that same tone in the same dead octave. Turning, I find Keegan glaring at Cameron from the doorway. When he notices me looking at him, he comes up behind me to whisper firmly, “I’ve been blowing up your phone. Where the hell have you been?”

“Studying...” He’s taken me so off guard that I actually answer the question. He never cares where I am.

He places his hand on my hip and squeezes. His touch is both comforting and insulting at the same time. It’s like the wisp from a memory when all I wanted was for Keegan Forbes to touch me, but the dreaminess of the idea faded and grew into a harsh reality.

Leading me to a chair, he sits right next to me. I eye him warily, wondering what it is he’s scheming at now by hovering. I can’t believe he hit Cameron. He hasn’t gotten into fights since he was a kid and his father knocked him out to teach him a “lesson.” When Keegan finally came to, his father calmly explained that there would always be someone bigger around to take him down physically, so he should figure out other ways to get his point across.

It was a sick form of parenting then, and it’s sick now.

“It was a sucker punch,” Cameron fumes. “Next time, face me like a man.”

“You’re lucky that’s all you got, asshole.”

Cameron smirks. “Why? Because I was giving Delilah options?”

Keegan’s hands turn to fists on the table. “She doesn’t want anything you have to give her.”

Ignoring their bravado nonsense, I pull out my phone. Oddly enough, it’s turned off. When I power it back on, I have several missed texts and calls from him, so he wasn’t lying about that. I peek out of the corner of my eye as more Knights enter the room. He’s stock still, jaw flexing. Cameron must have really pissed him off in order for him to turn to his fists again.

I lean toward him. “I’m not your property you need to defend.”

He shifts his gaze to mine. “Wrong, Dee. Completely and utterly wrong.”

His words ring in my ear like a blaring siren while the room fills with more Knights. Some fledglings like Keegan and me and some a little older.

Darren Greene, a Knight who graduated last year, stands at the head of the table. “Good to see so many of you. Our Devil’s Night reputation precedes us, I see. Gentlemen—” He quickly switches his gaze to me. “—and lady, welcome to the biggest night of the year…apart from graduation, of course.”

The twinkle in his eyes, along with his words, makes me wonder just how depraved this night can get.

“Every year, fledglings and young Knights put together the biggest party of the year to impress the elders. If the party is fantastic, expect to receive accolades. If it lacks...” He grimaces charismatically. “Let’s just say you won’t be put on the Head Knight’s Christmas card list. This isn’t just another boring fundraising party. This is the party of the year where the Knights can be Knights. Where they can enjoy the spoils of their hard work. And yes, indeed, you will be judged. They expect a lot, so you better give them a lot.”

When are we not being judged? The Knights are all about out-doing one another.

“In case you aren’t yet aware, the main staples of the party are the lavish and interesting ways to get our guests to Dark Island, hot women, and luxurious decorations and festivities. I’m not going to tell you what’s been done in previous years, so don’t ask. At the end of the party, the elders will decide whether or not it exceeded their expectations. All the fledgling Knights will help, but it’s up to this committee to plan the entire thing from start to finish. Don’t miss out on any details. Trust me, the judges are particular.”

He gives us all a winning smile before leaving the room. I blink after him. He was like one of those professors who “teaches” with monologue after monologue and then exits the room, believing he just did something deserving of a mic drop.

“How the hell are we supposed to do this?” Cameron whines. “I don’t know a damn thing about throwing a party.”

“What happened to your eye?” another Knight asks.

He scowls, and I speak up to transfer the attention away from him before he and Keegan get into it again. “Listen, he said we needed to plan the party and he wasn’t going to tell us what has happened in previous years, but most of our fathers have been to this party, yes? We can ask them.”

“Great idea,” Keegan affirms. “We should all ask our fathers about previous years. I actually happened to sneak onto Dark Island during a couple of the parties, so I’ve seen a little.”

“My dad’s told me about them,” Hunter Rothchild informs us with a sinister smirk. “Think a ton of sexy, naked women, rooms where we can go off to have sex with said naked women, and regular party shit.”

If he says sex and naked women one more time...

“That lines up with my experience, too,” Keegan relays. “There were a bunch of n—”

“Okay,” I interrupt. “I think we’ve established the fact that there was a plethora of naked women.”

“Jealous, Delilah?” Hunter asks. He has a disarmingly wide smile with an array of adorable freckles.

“Not in the slightest. I just don’t think we’re going to get extra credit for women in their birthday suits since it sounds like every Devil’s Night has had that very same thing.”

“But we can’t skimp out on it either,” Cameron argues. “If that’s what they’re used to, that’s what they get.”

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