Rafe didn’t reply, and it sounded like he was tinkering with the machinery. Whatever the missing piece was, it must be ready to go now.
I knew I wasn’t getting any more sleep, I yawned and stretched, rolling over and to lift my head like I was sleepy and confused. Two sets of eyes locked on me.
"Hey," I greeted Rafe, trying really freaking hard to shove my dirty thoughts aside. No matter how good of friends these guys were, I seriously doubted they'd be cool sharing a girlfriend long term. They were both too alpha. Even Jordan, despite his relaxed nature.
Not to mention the sheer scandal if it all got out. Two crown heirs both fucking the same penniless vagrant? A ballot winner, no less. I'd probably find myself strapped to a concrete block at the bottom of the Atlantic before the newspapers even printed.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep," I said to Jordan with a small smile. "Did I miss anything?"
He shook his head and crossed back over to me, sliding into the warm space at my side and draping his arm over my shoulders. "Nothing important," he replied before cuddling me into his side and kissing my hair. "I'm glad you got a bit of sleep. You’ve looked so exhausted this week."
I yawned, wriggling around until I was comfortable with my head resting on Jordan's shoulder and my feet tucked up on the seat. It should have been awkward, snuggling with my secret boyfriend in front of my occasional angry-fuck buddy, but it wasn't. It felt oddly calm.
"I haven't been sleeping much," I admitted.
Rafe shot a dark look at Jordan, who made a disgruntled noise.
"Don't look at me like that," he chided his friend. "It's not me that's been keeping her up."
My face flamed, and I cleared my throat. There went that peaceful calm.
"Not... like that. Just from Alex and..." I sucked in a deep breath, running it all through my head with lightning speed. I hadn't told them about the engagement ring or about Alex's dad and his ticking clock. But it was all becoming too much for me to shoulder alone, and what had Jordan said? My problems were his problems now? Let's hope Rafe felt the same way.
"Alex gave me a ring." I blurted it out, then wrinkled my nose in distaste. Saying it out loud was even more cringe-worthy than it had sounded inside my head, and the stunned look on Rafe's face made me instantly regret telling them. I couldn't see Jordan's expression, but the tension radiating through his body kinda clued me in.
"What kind of ring?" Rafe demanded, looking... panicked? Nah, that must've been sleep deprivation reading his expression all wrong.
I rolled my eyes. "A nipple ring. Idiot." That answer was pure sarcasm, and I made sure it was clear in my deadpan glare. "He gave me a fucking diamond engagement ring. A huge, ugly, billion-carat stone. Apparently his father—King Steve—wants him to either marry me or impregnate me before the end of the school year."
Rafe flipped a table. The low coffee table that held scattered papers with Jordan's handwriting all over them was upended and landed with a crack of breaking wood.
"Dramatic, much?" I remarked, leaning on my strongest defense mechanism. Snark. "Neither option is going to happen. Obviously. Once this virus that Jordan activated works, Alex is going to end up in a whole pile of shit for hacking confidential files. Right?"
"Temporarily," Rafe snapped, his chest heaving and his fists clenching. He wanted to hit something. Bad.
Jordan shifted away from me and swiped a hand through his hair in a telltale gesture of agitation. "We need to work on plan B," he muttered, mostly to himself, then looked up at Rafe. "Did you cover for me with coach?"
It took me a second to understand what he was talking about, but then it clicked. Friday afternoons were soccer practice before the game on Saturday. Jordan must have skipped it to stay with me.
Rafe gave a jerking nod, his brow still furrowed. "I did, but he was still pissed. There’ve been more resistance attacks, and all the increased security has Coach on edge."
“Why are they attacking?” I asked the princes, since they were on the inside. In a manner.
The pair exchanged a look. “Truthfully, these are not official Society-sanctioned attacks,” Jordan told me. “Not that we’re involved in everything, but from what we’ve heard, these might be some extremist wings of the group acting off book, so to speak.”
Great. Just fucking great.
Rafe’s jaw was tight, and I could tell there was something more that he needed to say.
“Do you know more about this?” I asked him.
Rafe shook his head.
"You're holding something back,” Jordan said as he crouched down to start tidying the papers up. “I can tell."
I nodded. "Me too. Spill it, Angel baby."
Something flashed across his face when I said that, but it was gone again too fast for me to name. Weird.
"Coach told me about Zach..." he started, and Jordan groaned.
"Please don't say what I think you're about to say," he begged. "It’s bad enough we have to see him during Society events, but… Just no. "
Rafe grimaced. "Sorry, bro. I couldn’t get his transfer stopped in time. He got a permanent spot here… and a place on the team."
"Fuck!" Jordan yelled, slamming his hand into the already broken table and sending the papers flying once more. It occurred to me that I'd never seen him fight... but I got the feeling he could be pretty badass. Maybe he wasn’t as “light” as I’d thought earlier. There was some darkness there too. I liked it. "I'm sorry, Violet; I need to go and speak with my brother. Are you—"
"Go," I told him, waving off whatever concern he was about to express. "Deal with Zach. I should be going to bed anyway."
His eyes darkened, the amber tones fading into midnight. “Tempting,” I heard him murmur, but he didn’t push it, just leaned over to press a kiss to my lips.
My mouth parted slightly, inviting him in, and he wasted no time, his tongue sweeping across mine. Whatever sleepiness I’d been feeling faded, but with Rafe watching us, it wasn’t the time to get lost in this moment.
Later. Definitely later.
When Jordan left, I couldn’t stay there with Rafe’s enigmatic stare on me. “So, you all good here?” I asked, swallowing hard as I did my best to avoid direct eye contact.
Rafe’s voice was a warm wash of sound. “Yep, I’ll be here a while finishing this up. We’ll send a message to your palm reader when it’s all set in motion. Did Jordan tell you it’ll probably be a week or so before we see the full effect?”
I nodded, stifling a yawn.
“Yeah, he explained the whole chain of events, blah blah. I kind of zoned out when he started talking all tech.”
I thought I heard a little snort of laughter, but when I finally jerked my head up to see him, there was no expression on his face.
“See you later,” I said in a rush, hurrying off.
This time I knew for sure it was laughter that followed me, but I didn’t turn back.
To say I was in a bit of a daze walking to my room would be an understatement. I really hadn’t been sleeping well, and it had taken that small nap to really showcase how tired I was. Apparently I had to stop pacing my room at night and actually try sleeping if I wanted to feel rested.
Who knew?
When I turned the last corridor to my room, I let out another huge yawn, the sort that took over my whole face and closed both eyes.
It was a stupid move, letting my guard down like that; apparently Arbon had made me soft. I sensed the presence a moment before I felt the prick of a needle in my neck. Quick and sharp, it bit into my skin, the burn of whatever was injected heating along my artery.
“Fuck!” I cursed, swinging around and smashing into whoever was behind me.
But it was too late. I got only one good hit, heard a surprisingly feminine cry, and then my legs buckled and everything went black.
Chapter 25
I’d never had an issue with anesthesia. Any time I’d required it, I’d woken up afterward with almost no side effects. This time, though, as my eyes shot open, I was rewarded with a pounding headache.
There was no disorientation, and I remembered that I’d been ambushed, putting me immediately on alert. My eyes darted around as I catalogued my situation.
Laid out flat on a semi-soft surface. Ankles bound. Wrists bound. Head held down by something strapped over my forehead.
It took me another few seconds to figure out what the familiar surface was, and the moment I did, chills of dread ran across my skin, filling my gut with cramps as I jerked at both my hand and ankle restraints. I was on a bed in the medical wing.
“Ah, you’re awake, Ms. Spencer.”
The creepy nurse’s face swam into view as she peered down at me. She wasn’t smiling like she enjoyed this; instead she wore a professional face as if this was all part of her job.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I cried, still trying to work my ankles free. “This is kidnapping and deprivation of liberty.”
She clucked at me, her expression unchanging. “Please, Ms. Spencer. You know that by agreeing to come to Arbon, you gave up all medical rights to your body. You’ve been ignoring my summons for weeks now. This is the next logical step.”
I blinked at her, some of my movements slowing. “You wouldn’t know logic if it bit you on your fucking ass,” I snarled at her. “I think you meant psychotic.”