Knox: Ezren’s a damn idiot. Remember how he was all mouth last night? Yelling about how he wasn’t going to South End, how no one could drag him there, and how he wasn’t some “little freak” to be ordered around? He even had the balls to point at me with the same energy as someone flinging an insult with a finger dipped in glitter as if he was about to conduct a fucking exorcism on me. Goddamn ME. But guess who’s in the passenger seat of my car right now? He’s got his arms crossed, his head leaned against the window like he’s filming a tragic indie movie in his head. His boots won’t quit tapping the floor, some kind of Morse code for “get me the hell out of here.” If I didn’t know him, I’d think he was just anxious, but I do know him, and this is exactly how he acts when he wants attention without asking for it. I hadn’t said a word since we pulled out. Didn’t see the point in wasting air on someone who acts like every emotion he has should be carved into a monument.
Ezren:I didn’t say a damn thing after that, just like they wanted. And they didn’t either.Eli yanked the blanket off like it had personally offended him and stood up without a single word. His shoulder nudged mine as he passed, and yeah, if that wasn’t on purpose, then I’m not the ghost of every bad decision I’ve ever made, in boots.He paused at the door. “I’ll be outside,” was all he said, before slamming it hard enough to make the walls shudder.For some reason, I found myself wondering why his dad chose to live in a place like this while he stayed up in some penthouse suite. I mean, the Graye family could buy the entire Upper East Side and still have change for a yacht named after their trust fund.Not that the place didn’t have a vibe. It did. It doesn’t look cheap or abandoned. It actually feels like home.Typical Graye Family energy, if you ask me. Dark wood and dusty corners. It was chaotic, a little haunted, probably hiding a secret or two in the floorboards… and weirdly,
Ezren: You ever walk into a room and feel like you’re the only one who doesn’t know what the hell is actually going on? That’s how I felt as I breathed in slow, stepped back into the room Eli was in, and lowered myself onto the same chair beside Eli. The one Gareth had pulled out before heading off to check on dinner. In less than twenty-four hours, my life’s already spinning off track and I’ve got Eli’s charming asshole of a brother to thank for that. Sorry, ‘Stepbrother.’ Still can’t believe I kissed the guy. I’ve got questions. A thousand of them but, no one here will give me the answers I want. And what’s messing with my head the most? Somehow, Eli’s tangled up in my past. And now, every damn person in this house apparently knows the name Raveni and knows that I’m one. Even Eli. The one person I thought I’d been fooling this whole time. And like life doesn’t know when to stop screwing with me, the self-centered bastard I called a father is still out there obsessi
Knox:It’s dark now, but the street has this strange glow to it, like nothing’s wrong. We hadn’t even gotten halfway down the block before I saw them standing there.Two Ravenites. Not in uniform, nothing flashy. They wore regular clothes, as if they belonged in any other average street, but I’d recognize those stiff movements anywhere. One leaned back on a black car parked by the curb. The other had his arms folded across his chest exactly like a prick auditioning for a death sentence.Then I saw Eli.He was slumped on the ground, his back pressed to a metal mailbox. Gareth Pa stood beside him, barely holding it together. The look in his eyes said he wasn’t far from falling apart.Eli wasn’t unconscious, but he was far from okay.I let go of Ezren’s arm so fast, he stumbled forward. My body moved before I could process anything else.My steps took me to Eli without a thought. His jaw was clenched. His hands were pressed to his sides, fingers working like they were reacting to pain
Knox: I said it six years ago that I’d be back like a thief in the night. And now I am. Exactly like a thief, with the kind of grin you earn from years of knowing you were right. Fifteen minutes. That’s how long I spent making sure he understood. That I wasn’t just back. I was inside his carefully rebuilt life, already peeling it apart. I didn’t need to raise my voice. I just watched until fear started to set in behind his eyes. The kind of fear I live for. We reached the building. The elevator dinged like a countdown. The doors slid open with a hiss, and he stepped in first. Of course he did. Some things just don’t change. Not even him. His dark hair was still messily styled to look unintentional and casual. Always trying so hard to look like he wasn’t trying at all. And the scent, the exact same one from back then, it hit me in the gut. Six years, and it still clung to him like it belonged to him. Cherry. All that time he spent running, hiding, pretending… and he still sm
Ezren: I don't want to lose myself in all of these, but how do you play a game where the only safe choice is the one you hate? Kiss or Kill? ~~~ I blinked slowly, trying to adjust to the harsh light above me. It hurt. My head throbbed with every breath, like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the inside of my skull. The smell of antiseptic, the low humming of machines, and the faint murmur of voices just beyond the door told me where I was. A hospital. What the hell happened? My eyes darted around the bland room until they landed on a figure sitting in the corner, elbows on knees, a designer jacket tossed over the chair like it belonged there. “You fainted,” Eli said quietly. He looked tired but still maintained looking polished, rich, and annoyingly breathtaking. His dark turtleneck clung to his frame, and the Cartier bracelet on his wrist sparkled against the dull hospital walls The scent of his expensive cologne reached me when he stepped closer and I tri