Page 34 of Reaper Flame

I grabbed the nearest life ring. We were close enough to shore that I could swim to safety, but I wasn’t about to take any chances.

“What do you need that for?” Rocky asked.

“You may trust the Sevens,” I said. “But I don’t.”

Shit was about to go down faster than the Titanic.

I stomped away, climbing the stairs of the deck two at a time.

Rocky groaned, following in pursuit. “Don’t do anything stupid, C.”

“Or, what?” I challenged, whirling around to face him on the final step. “You’re the one who said you wanted to go on an adventure. Isn’t a little excitement what you wanted?”

Being stuck on a floating vessel with these monsters was not how I anticipated our trip to go. But I’d be damned if I was about to show our new arrivals any sign of weakness. I may have dropped my knife back at Briarly Manor, but my bare hands were my most lethal weapon.

Up on the deck, the Sevens and Mieko were gathered around Q.

“Were you followed?” Q asked. His eyes scoured the skyline as if he were expecting to be ambushed at any moment. “Did anyone see you?”

“We shook them off.” West shrugged casually. “For a criminal mastermind, I expected more.”

“Don’t underestimate Hiram,” Q said. He knew better than anyone what atrocities Hiram was capable of.

West smirked like the arrogant asshole he was. “He’s no match for us.”

“We would have got here last night if it wasn’t for someone tailing Miekoand me. The motherfucker had to sleep at some point…” Vixen’s voice trailed off as I caught her attention. Her eyes flicked down to the ring in my hand, and she cocked her head to the side, grinning. “Nice choice of accessory.”

The others all turned to face me. Despite her queasy expression and unsteady legs, Mieko beamed. West’s expression remained neutral, but his stare raked over my body with a burning intensity, like he was searching for something. Either that, or he was trying to figure out whose t-shirt I was wearing. Zander barely acknowledged me. He continued to lean casually against the railing, only looking at me for a few seconds before his gray eyes returned to the stretch of the shore they left behind.

“Orange looks good on me,” I snapped at Vixen defensively. Carrying the bright life ring may not make me look the most intimidating, but I’d be having the last laugh. “And it’ll look even nicer when someone is begging for me to throw it over.”

“No one is going overboard,” Rocky said, placing a firm hand on my shoulder. I may not have a gun to shoot him if he stood in my way again, but I wouldn’t hesitate to break his wrist.

“It looks like isolation has turned you into a killjoy, Red,” West teased.

“You shouldn’t joke about it,” Mieko chastised. In my absence, she must have spent more time with the guys; she’d never have been so outspoken before. Maybe Vixen’s opinionated nature was rubbing off on her? “It’s not funny. None of it is.”

“Lighten up, Saint Mieko!” West rolled his eyes and ruffled her hair playfully like she was his kid sister. “Everything worked out how it was supposed to, right?”

“Easy for you to say,” Mieko said, then flinched. “You’re not the one who had to hang out with Hiram.”

“Hang on!” My mind replayed what happened at Rocky’s ‘funeral’. Mieko had insisted on showing Hiram the artwork, which gave me time to slip away. “You being friendly with Hiram at the manor was all an act? A distraction?”

“I did what had to be done. It turns out my acting skills aren’t bad,” Mieko said. “I guess all my time spent playing up to the customers for tips paid off.”

I ignored Mieko. Instead, I turned my attention to the others and glared at the three of them. Hiram wasn’t someone you could play games with. He wouldn’t forget Mieko’s role in helping me get away... and someone would have to pay for it.

“You fuckers used her as bait?” I exploded. “Do you even realize what danger you put her in?!”

“Do you really think I’d leave her alone?” Vixen wrapped a protective arm around Mieko’s waist and kissed her cheek. “I wouldn’t let anyone touch a hair on her fucking head.”

“Mieko was under our protection the whole time,” Zander confirmed, waving it off with a dismissive flick of his wrist without looking at me. “She was perfectly safe.”

“Your protection means nothing,” I said, clenching my fists. “You don’t know the meaning of the word. I’m surprised you didn’t auction Mieko off to Hiram, too.”

“Everything I do is to protect the Sevens,” Zander said. He took a few steps towards me. His gray eyes were stormy but looked over my shoulder, and his voice cold with zero feeling. “You may not believe me now, but you’ll see how my actions were the only way. I owe you an explanation.”

The only way my fucking ass! Whatever garbage explanation he’d spent the last two months polishing wouldn’t be enough to justify what I’d been subjected to in Blackthorne Towers.

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