Page 16 of Requiem

I reach the edge of the crowd, content to walk my way back to the other side again, back where Mel and her clique are still standing, but when I turn around, I come face-to-face with the one person I would have lovednotto bump into tonight.

His face is devoid of all expression as he stands in front of me. Shadows dance across his regal features, making him look ghoulish in the firelight. His full lips press together into an unimpressed line as he brings his solo cup up to his mouth and takes a sip of his drink. I say nothing. Do nothing. I just let him look at me. Though I’m wearing the Parka and my skin is basically covered down to my knees, I feel stripped bare by his gaze.

“I’ve been thinking, you know,” he says. Another shiver traverses my spine, chasing up and then down, up and then down; I hate that a look like this from him could elicit any kind of physical reaction out of me, even if that reactionisrepulsion. I find myself staring at the three dark freckles underneath his eye. I have to dig my fingernails into my palm to make myself stop. “Ahh, I’m sorry.” I pout at him. “That’s gotta hurt.”

His flat smile curdles and turns sour. “Cute.”

I try and slip past him, but he side-steps, blocking my path. “Girls like you think they’re invincible. You think you’re fucking untouchable.”

I cock my head to one side. “That’s funny. I literally said the same thing about you yesterday. And…girls like me? You know nothing about girls like me.”

I attempt to move around him again. He mirrors my move again. “I know plenty.”

“Oh really? Enlighten me.” My tongue is slick with hatred. My throat throbs with it. “What doyou…” I stab my finger into his chest. “Think you know aboutme?I’d love to hear it, Merchant.”

He peers down at the point on his chest, right above his solar plexus, where my index finger just poked him. With his faded long-sleeved ACDC t-shirt and his ripped black jeans, his dark hair all mussed and so carefully messy, he looks like he’s trying too hard not to be the person that he is—the rich, spoiled arrogant trust fund kid with the silver spoon shoved a mile up his ass.

“You think that just because you’ve suffered, we know nothing about suffering. You think that our pain pales in comparison to yours. Your pain is so much more important than ours. You, so holier-than-thou, with your fucking orphan kid doctrine, and your rules and your orders, with that white-hot vengeance burning in your veins.”

It galls me that he’s repeating the thoughts that were just clouding my mind out loud. It’s even more galling that he does seem to knowsomethingabout me. Once again, a tremor of panic sizzles in my gut. “And what do you know about my rules? My orders?” I spit the words out, forcing them past clenched teeth.

His dark eyes, almost black in the darkness, skip from my mouth, to my cheeks, to my own eyes, where they linger and burn. A sly smirk draws his mouth up on the left. “Oh, that would ruin the game. If you’re intent on playing this thing out with me, we should at least make it fun, shouldn’t we? But…why don’t you help me out, Kid? When you report back tomorrow evening and relay all of the intel you’ve gathered about the situation here at Toussaint, will you do me a favor?”

“Why the fuck would I doyouany favors?”

He ignores the question. “Ask her about Henry.”

“Who the hell is Henry?”

Taking another sip of his drink, he shrugs. “That’s for me to know and you to find out. Ask her, Sorrell.”Heslips aroundmenow, heading back toward the fire, leaving me cold in his wake, and a spike of anger knifes me right between the ribs.

I follow after him. It’s the wrong thing to do, but I can’t help myself. “Askwho?” He doesn’t answer, just keeps drinking casually from his cup, grinning broadly at people as he passes them by. The nonchalance is more than I can take. Grabbing him by the shoulder, I spin him around, and the dark liquor in his cup sloshes out, spattering down his shirt. He looks down at his chest again, now at the wet patch I’ve just caused, then slowly glances up at me with murder in his eyes.

“Who the fuck am I reporting back to, Theo? Who the fuck am I asking questions? Who the fuck do you think has—”

“Ruth.”The name fires out of his mouth, laced with venom—a cruel and raw sound that seems to cause him pain. “You knowthatname, don’t you?” I reel back, both stung by his vitriol and stunned by that name on his lips. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he says coldly. “Why don’t you ask your precious Ruth about Henry? And when she lies to you and tells you she has no idea what you’re talking about? And tells you to do your job and stop asking stupid questions? Come find me.I’lltell you all about Henry then. Okay?” He breathes hard down his nose, nostrils flared, a dangerous light flickering in his eyes that has nothing to do with the fire.

“Hey, baby.” Beth appears out of nowhere in a cloud of ridiculous pink feathers and cloying, sweet perfume. She runs her hand over Theo’s chest, casting a look of abject disgust in my direction as she does so. She looks away from me and back up at him, fluttering fake eyelashes. “You haven’t even said hello to me yet, babe. Where the hell have you been all night?”

He doesn’t even look down at her. Tipping his cup back, he drains it, the muscles in his throat working as he swallows, knocking back the remainder of his liquor. With the cup now empty, he tosses it into the fire, never tearing his gaze away from me. No further words pass between us, but the look in his eyes speaks volumes: he’s daring me to do as he’s told me.

He clears his throat, turns and storms off into the throng of people without so much as a backward glance.

Beth wheels on me like an angry pit viper. “Stay the fuck away from Theo, bitch. He’smine,and everyone with half a brain cell here knows it. I don’t know who the fuck told you that shit about Lance, but it’s not true. And if you even think about releasing any kind of pictures, or video, or—or—or whatever, then so help me God—”

I laugh right in her face. “Beth, if I decide to do anything of the sort, then even God won’t be able to help you.Bitch.” These petty games are beneath me. Engaging with the likes of her is demeaning on every possible level. I hate that I get drawn into it, but the sheer entitlement of the girl rubs me the wrong way.

Her face is a rictus of rage as she leans close to whisper to me, mirroring the very actions I took with her in the hallway this morning. “My father will never let that shit get out, you stupid little cunt. What, do you think he’s just gonna sit by and let you spill something like that to the general public?” She wraps her hand around my forearm, tightening her grip, trying to dig her fingernails into my skin, but I’m wearing a thick jacket, for fuck’s sake. “My father will sue you for every single penny your family is worth. He’ll take everything. And I meaneverything.”

With very measured, careful movements, I place my hand on top of hers and remove it from my arm, wrinkling my nose, as if I find touching her repugnant. It is not an act. “The beautiful thing about having nothing is that no one can take it away from you, Beth. When you have no things, or money, or reputation…you’re free. I know that’s a foreign concept to you, but it really is liberating. Your father can’t destroy me, sweetheart. Iamnothing. There’s nothing to destroy.”

She spits something after me as I walk away from her, but I can’t even be bothered to listen. The show she just put on was pathetic, and I think she knows it. Theo Merchant is mine. Hah! The guy didn’t even register her existence. If he wasn’t responsible for my best friend’s death and I hadn’t been sent here to break him, I’d make a point of convincing the bastard to fall in love with me just to fuck with her.

“All right, guys. The moment you’ve all been waiting for has arrived!” Over on the other side of the bonfire, a tall guy with wavy brown hair stands on top of a stack of pallets, holding a bottle of tequila over his head. He takes a huge swig from the bottle and then sprays it from his mouth, sending an arc of fire leaping up from the blaze. Everyone goes quiet, turning as one to face him.

“Sorrell! Sorrell, Jesus Christ, girl. I’ve been looking for you all over the place.” Mel’s suddenly standing next to me. She places her hand in the small of my back, urging me forward. “Come on. You’ve gotta come with me.”

The loud bass music that has been thumping out of the speakers, set up in the tree line, cuts out abruptly as Mel cajoles me back toward the girls from my floor. I allow myself to be pushed along, still hot with frustration over my interaction with Theo and the words that I exchanged with Beth.

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