Chapter 21

Twenty-One

Rook

R egan didn't look happy with the seating arrangement, but she still made her way over until she stood in front of me, her hands on her hips like I was in trouble.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Hanging out? Was there something else I should be doing?" I smirked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

Technically, there was something else I should do, but I didn't think she would stay up in her room with me all night right away. Mason and Zack were walking the house, noting anything they could easily find as Aiden, Evie, and Hero planned to break into Cameron's office once I got Regan out of the way.

So my job now was making sure the moment we went to her room, we wouldn't be leaving until morning.

I had already been pretty sure she would be interested, but I made her find me just to be certain. If she asked me over and hunted me down, there really wouldn't be a question about me succeeding.

"Why did I have to find you?"

"Sit down," I said, not liking the way everyone around us could hear what we were saying. The girl that had been trying to reach out to me every second glared now.

"There are no open seats over here. We can go somewhere else."

I leaned forward, grabbing her hips and pulling her down. She nearly fell, but with a little adjusting, she got herself draped over my legs.

"Hello, Rebel. Looks like you found a seat."

"I think I was forced onto this seat."

"Uncomfortable?"

"Only because everyone is looking at us. I need another drink," she said, reaching for mine next to me. I didn't mind, but still laughed as she threw back the entire thing.

"Need another?" I asked, and she nodded. "I would have thought you loved the attention. Aren't you always in the spotlight, being one of the richest heiresses here? Or are you the only heiress here?"

"I don't give myself that title."

"What title do you give yourself, then? Because you seem to not like any of them."

She leaned in, her eyes narrowing as her nose nearly touched mine. "Regan."

"Rebel?"

"I don't mind that one."

"Pretty. Little. Slut," I said, my lips against hers now.

She sucked in a breath, wiggling in my lap. "That one is…interesting."

"I'm sure you'll find it quickly becoming a favorite."

"And why would I do that?"

I trailed my hand up her thigh, running my fingers over the lace of her underwear. "Because I think you will like what happens every time you hear it."

"It sounds like you're trying to train me like a dog. Is it like, I hear pretty little slut and I come running?"

"No running involved. You'll just come."

She smacked my chest but laughed. "You get a girl off one time and your ego is bigger than this house."

"My ego was already that big."

"That's true. You seemed that way the night we met."

My fingers trailed up and down her thigh, the delicate skin making me relax. I thought back to meeting her. What were the chances that I would meet the daughter of the man who had killed my family and feel something for her? Even if all I had wanted to do was sleep with her, was the world mocking me for everything it took away?

Her hand cupped my jaw, making me look at her. The lazy smile on her face made me realize how much the alcohol was getting to her. I wasn't sure how much, so I decided to ease into my questions or trying to get upstairs.

"Alright. I'm here and don't know anyone. Tell me everyone's secrets," I said.

"Secrets aren't free."

"That's true," I said, pulling her closer. "What would you like in exchange, Rebel? Name your price."

Kane brought us two more drinks, and Regan reached out for hers, not wasting any time opening it.

"I want to know one of your secrets for all of theirs. A good secret, not some silly one."

"You already know one of my secrets," I said. "A very large secret."

"Do you mean this?" she asked, running a hand over my side. The hoodie covered everything, but she knew what was underneath and how it got there. "Maybe, but you gave that to me of your own free will."

She wasn't wrong. I had given it up to make her want to keep me around, and it had worked. "You are getting very good at this," I said. "Fine. When my parents died, Evie and I were shipped off to a stranger. We were told they were family, but they weren't. I was older, around fifteen, and Evie was about ten. We decided we didn't want to be there anymore. The couple were terrible to us, so we did something about it. We started with harmless pranks and quickly amped it up to more harmful things. Some were enough to send them to the hospital. The couple got so scared of us, they shipped us back."

"Back to the burned house?"

"Back to this town. We were basically dropped on the street in front of that burned up house and forgotten about."

"What did you do?"

"That's more than one secret, Rebel. Now tell me theirs."

She huffed, but leaned in and started pointing everyone out, telling me whatever secret she could think of.

Another hour went by before I was almost bored. Unsurprisingly, the rich kids all had similar, boring secrets. From crashing daddy's cars to drug charges to almost getting kicked out of school until their parents paid someone off, they were all the same, and all boring.

"Why do you want your dad to let you take over his company?" I asked her, wanting to know more about her and less about them.

"Why wouldn't I? Wouldn't you?"

"I meant, what is the reason? You want the money, the power, the status? What?"

I groaned as she wiggled again, her ass rubbing hard against me.

"All of it," she whispered. "I want to be in charge of my life. I want a legacy for our family. I want money to do whatever I want with. I want people to look at me and not see a boring little rich girl. I want people to stop watching my every move just to criticize me for them."

"You want them to fear you."

"Not quite fear, Mr. Serial Killer, but more like…respect me."

The idea that she could want a sliver of the life I wanted instantly made me hard.

"Do you know secrets about my dad?" she asked. The question felt like a knife to my chest. Her dad was the reason I came back for her in the first place and the only reason we were together tonight.

Now his daughter was in my lap, and I would be taking her up to her room, in his house, to fuck her only to keep her occupied, so my friends could tear the house apart.

"Yes," I said. "Plenty."

"Would you tell me?"

"Maybe a different night. Have you told him about me?"

She nodded. "A little, but I didn't tell him your real name."

My heart twisted. She was keeping my secrets. She was doing everything I fucking needed her to do so I could use her to ruin him. "Why?"

She sighed, sinking deeper against me as her face fell. "I didn't think you would want me to."

I leaned my head back, closing my eyes as my hand still moved over her leg.

The revenge-focused part of my brain suddenly short-circuited. Could Regan actually be loyal to me over her own father? I had never considered it a possibility, but here she was, lying to him to protect me.

I kept my eyes closed, thinking over her confession. "Tell me if someone suddenly decides they want to kill me," I mumbled.

She gave a small laugh, adjusting on top of me. "I can move, Rook."

I didn't open my eyes but grabbed on tighter, holding her in place. "Don't."

Luckily, she listened, her fingers moving up my chest and tracing over tattoos on my neck.

I had no ideations about love. There was never any dream of falling for it one day.

But this felt like something it could be. Someone who wasn't going to tell our secrets, the moments between us all our own. Someone who would always have my back and always face the world with me. Someone who would let me sit here in silence, posted up on my lap to warn me if there was a problem.

Someone who would give me five fucking minutes of peace.

I didn't know how long I sat there, the party carrying on around us, but I didn't care until I heard another drink open.

My eyes flickered open, watching her as she took another long sip.

"Getting drunk?"

"I think so. How many have I had?"

"I don't think I could keep count. What's wrong, Rebel? Too nervous about me staying here?"

She groaned and drank more. "Don't remind me."

"Am I really that bad?" I grinned, already knowing she thought I was.

She leaned back, mumbling something, but I couldn't make out the slurred words.

"Alright, Rebel. I think it's time to get you upstairs."

"No, I think I'm alright," she said, the gagging sound after it not convincing me.

"Sure. Let's go be alright in your room, then." I picked her up, sweeping her legs out from under her. "Try not to puke on me."

"I'm not going to puke." Her voice was unsteady, and I knew she had to be fighting back the urge to gag again.

"Right. Do you always throw back more drinks than you can count, get unsteady on your feet, and then start gagging?"

We headed inside, but Aiden stopped me, nodding that he needed to talk to me. I set her down on a kitchen stool, making sure she would sit up on her own. "I'll be right back, Rebel. Try not to move."

She mumbled again, leaning back in the chair.

Aiden waited near the open kitchen arch, turned away from her. "There's a pretty serious lock on her dad's office door. Hero isn't sure if he can get inside."

"Hero has never had an issue with locks."

"This one is set up with a key and a code. You have to have both to open it."

I sighed, glancing back to make sure Regan had stayed still. "Get Evie on the code, and Hero on the lock. You, Kane, and Zack can keep looking around. She'll be busy for the night."

Aiden glanced back and laughed. "Wow, you really misunderstood the whole ‘keep her busy in the room' thing. I meant sex, Rook, not get her so drunk she passes out."

I hit his arm. "Asshole. She got nervous and drank too much."

"Nervous? Or just has to get drunk to handle looking at your face?"

I looked back again, and she was a little more pale than before.

"Alright, fuck off, I'm taking her upstairs. You should have a few hours, but keep your phone on you. Where's Harper?"

"Her friend?" Hero asked. "The one currently making out with Zack?"

"Apparently, we should have put Zack on the whole seduction thing, because he's already out there closing the deal, unlike you."

I nearly hit him again, but the whine of an alarm filled the house. I heard a curse from Hero. Evie ran into the room, eyes wide.

"I triggered an alarm," she said. "I don't know what happened, but I triggered it."

"How do we turn it off?"

"We need the code or I'm assuming the police will be here in ten-ish minutes."

"What the fuck?" I muttered, looking back at Regan. Her eyes were wide now, looking around the house. "Regan," I said, running over and helping her up. "Someone accidentally hit the alarm. Can you turn it off?"

"There's a different code to turn it off," she slurred.

"Okay, do you know it?" Her eyes narrowed, but she let me help her to the office where I planted her in front of the alarm code box. "Here, baby, can you type it in?"

"Are we still calling me that?" she asked, her hand reaching up and holding onto the box. I planted myself behind her, nearly holding her up.

"Yes, we are," I said, laughing. "Do you know the code? Can you turn this thing off?" She grumbled, hitting the key code once, but nothing stopped. "You know the code?"

"Mmhmm," she mumbled, hitting the keypad again. The alarm beeped again before going silent.

She spun, running right into my chest. I leaned down, picking her up before she completely fell over. "I'm done," I said. "Be more careful, because that was way too fucking close. If you can't get in, do what you can to get a bug near the door or something. We need something to give us more information on what he's doing."

"Rook, I still don't know what happened. I really don't know if I can do this without triggering it again," Evie said.

"Then do as much as you can. You saw the shutoff code she used. Try to get the door open, but don't let it go off more than another one or two times. I'll pick up her phone if the alarm company calls her, but we can't raise too many red flags because I don't know when it will call Cameron." Regan mumbled again, and I headed up the steps. "Text me if you make any progress. I'll let you know if anything changes on my end, but I think we are good with her for the night."

"I'm going to puke," she mumbled. I picked up my pace, trying not to shake her too much as I made it to her bedroom door and headed into the bathroom I knew she had off to the side.

I barely set her down before she leaned over the bowl, puking.

I hid my laugh as I sat down next to her as she continued.

"When I planned to keep you locked in your room all night, this wasn't what I had in mind," I said, brushing her hair back again.

"No? What were your ideas? Ritualistic killing? Violently torturing a man to death? Starting a cult?"

"Well, those weren't my first ideas, but I love where your mind is. A cult could be fun. Would you like to be the leader? We can start with ritualistic killings immediately. Should I assume the attitude means you're feeling better?"

"No. I feel worse. Why are you still here?"

I had been asking myself the same question. I could probably go. It wasn't like she would be getting far from this bathroom for an hour or two at least, so they would still have time to search if they got in.

"Thought you wouldn't mind company."

"I mind. Nobody that has watched while I did…other things needs to watch me do this."

I laughed as she crawled back over, and I handed her the bottle of water I had grabbed from the kitchen as I leaned back against the wall.

"I can handle seeing you throw up."

"Oh, that's right, you see guts for a living. This should be nothing for you."

"Honestly, guts and vomit. A lot of people vomit when you cut into body parts." She gagged, leaning back over like she might puke again. "I'll assume you're not a big drinker, then?"

"Yeah. Also not big on cutting off body parts, so could we keep that out of the conversation?"

I smirked, kicking my legs out before pulling her across the floor until she was leaning back against me between them. She groaned and her head rolled to the side to look at me. "Why are you being so nice? You're always being so nice. Are you always this nice to people you're trying to sleep with?" she asked with a quiet laugh.

I smiled against her hair, my lips pressing against her head. "No. I usually don't spend more than a few hours with people I sleep with."

"Oh." The word was barely a hiccup. "What are all your friends doing downstairs?"

"Why is a drunk girl asking so many questions? Doesn't that brain shut off at some point?"

"Not when there are so many things going on. I spend enough time alone with no one to answer my questions."

"I think I would kill to have more time alone."

She laughed again. "Bad choice of words. I have too much alone time, and too many questions."

"I can always try to answer any of your questions, but you might not always like the truth."

She gave an exasperated sigh and grabbed my hands, pulling them to rest them on top of hers, apparently inspecting the tattoos.

"But it's the truth, so I do like it. I get left in the dark with so many questions unanswered. I would rather know an ugly truth than be completely na?ve."

I stayed quiet, thinking about how little she must be told. How little her dad wanted to involve her. Before I could find anything to say, she went heavy in my arms, nearly on top of me as she fell asleep.

But instead of getting her into bed or moving, I stayed right there. From in here, the house was quiet. I felt an unexpected sense of comfort holding her, something I hadn't felt in a long time. I could hear her soft, steady breaths, feel the rise and fall of her chest against mine.

Every part of me wanted to stay in that moment, so I held her tighter, my thoughts slowing down. The troubles of the outside world seemed to fade away. I found myself sinking into a calmness I didn't know I needed, and before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep, too, holding her close.