8. ~Caleb~

Well, damn.

We'd finally met the legendary Onyx in all her glory.

Bloodlust out in full force.

Violence the only language she'd been capable of speaking.

All that destructive energy blazing forth.

She'd made a delicious mess of that shithead, Carl Vicars, something that had pleased me immensely, seeing as though he'd been on my watchlist for some time. Rumors had been swirling about that rape-charge-waiting-to-happen toying with girls half his age, employing sexual manipulation and grooming. Damien had caught him choking a high school girl on his cock to soothe him after he'd lost to D in the ring one night. Apart from Damien smashing his fist into the concrete wall of the building and getting the girl home, that was all that had come of it so far. One, Damien's word was never enough to go on. Especially not for Caspian. Not to mention, Damien didn't care about the cause so much as using it to inflict damage and dominance and get his rocks off in the process. And Cas always wanted indisputable proof before we acted. And I'd been working on it. Him calling a halt to our nightly activities had put that and a lot of things where that was concerned on the backburner, though, something that wasn't sitting right with me.

Just thinking about assholes like that doing that shit, preying on the vulnerable, cut at me something fierce.

I took it personally too, so it added a whole other mind-bending element to it. Some would call it obsessive. Namely, Bastian.

It wasn't. It was determination.

To right the wrongs that I hadn't been able to when it had come to Hayley.

I squeezed my eyes shut, then took a harsh drag of my smoke, trying to quell those memories before they surged up and took me hostage again.

It had already been happening far too often lately.

Because of this fucking hiatus.

When we were immersed in that, when I became darkness, it was a barrier to all the rest.

Even trying to crack that brothel shit hadn't been enough to quell it. But at least it was something. The rest, the normalcy, attending Luxe… it wasn't meshing well with me.

Cas thought I needed to give it more time, so I was.

For him. Because he'd asked it of me.

I just didn't know how much longer I could keep it up and stay in that lane if we didn't resume our nightly activities soon.

Well, at least last night had helped a bit, taken some of the edge off when I'd gotten to watch Skylar rip into that motherfucker like a merciless beast.

It had stirred something in me, and not just through partially satiating my need for violence and punishment upon the guilty. Seeing her unleash like that, so raw and free, owning that darkness, it had made my cock rock fucking hard. And that rarely happened when it came to women. The last time had been when Cas and I had been in our senior year of high school with my high school sweetheart, Rachel. It had been short-lived. I'd even tried to keep it going by bringing Cas in on it, sharing her with him, because there'd been something missing. It hadn't been satisfying enough and my disinterest there had grown. After I'd brought Cas in, I'd ended up breaking up with her and just keeping it to him and me. Since then we'd been on-and-off. Right now we were on, so me having a reaction to Skylar was interesting, to say the least.

I didn't fully understand it yet.

And I wouldn't until I spent some more time with her.

Fortunately, that would be happening sooner rather than later now after last night.

After Bastian's reactions.

I'd had to hold him at bay several times.

That never happened.

And it was all because of her.

After we'd pulled her out of that ring when we'd noticed Vicars' friends and supporters fighting their way in to come at her for almost killing their boy, the intention had been for Bastian to talk her down. He'd been developing a connection with her, so it stood to reason that he'd been the best bet to be able to get through to her in her rabid state.

As much as I enjoyed that state—especially on her, apparently—it hadn't been conducive to us extracting her from the situation.

While I'd dealt with Damien, who'd been all for her taking on a second fighter and keeping the night going, Bastian had been left alone with her in that bathroom.

After I'd managed to get rid of the unhinged brother, I'd gone to give Bastian the word that the way was clear, when I'd been pulled up short by the sounds of snarling, screaming, thuds, and flesh slapping. Him fucking her. Or, her fucking him, as might have been more accurate.

While using that to calm her down wasn't the worst idea, it was the fact that it hadn't been the plan, that he'd deviated from it. I'd brought a sedative with me, the intent to put Damien out, because his interactions via those texts had been moving toward unhinged. It wouldn't be the first time we'd had to employ that with him.

But then it had turned out that Skylar had been the one needing it.

So, I'd handed the syringe to Bastian.

Instead of using it, he'd had her all over him in that state.

He'd reveled in her unleashing her animal side on him. He'd surrounded himself with it, succumbed to it even, judging by what I'd heard.

"Yeah, there's my savage thing, fucking back on my fingers in her tight little ass. Swallow them like my filthy little whore. Mmm… fuck."

His growled words to her were burned into my brain.

He'd gotten so fucking caught up in it.

Consumed.

Pulled right fucking under.

At that was dangerous, given how he was.

I cursed under my breath and butted out my smoke, just as my phone buzzed in the pocket of my sweats.

I pulled it out and ground my jaw at a text notification that had come in.

The sender was what had me reacting that way.

Damien: Wanna kiss it better?

I opened the picture he'd attached to see a selfie of him pouting and pointing to his black eye that I'd inflicted last night to stop him and calm him the fuck down.

Damien: How about this?

He sent another and I glared at a full body shot this time as he bit his lip then held his very hard cock in his hand, making sure the bruises all along the shaft were visible and prominent for me to see.

"Jeez," I muttered.

Caleb: You forced my hand.

Damien: Mmm, literally.

Caleb: Lock it up.

Damien: I hit Obscura after and pictured your hand roughing up my cock as I worked over two subs. The girl wanted her boyfriend to become a cuckold for the night. Right up my alley, you'd think. It was your hand that had me painting them both with my cum, though.

I shifted my weight, hating that he had me reacting in any way.

Damien: Cat got your tongue? How about you bring that tongue my way?

Caleb: You want this conversation forwarded to Cas?

Damien: Hell, yeah. It'll be just the thing to get him on board and realize his mistake in turning me down. With you in the picture, the dynamic will be perfect.

He'd come on to Cas?

My eyes narrowed as I typed back with stabbing fingers.

Caleb: Cas doesn't change his mind. Once he makes a decision, that's it.

Damien: We'll see.

Caleb: Back off.

Damien: Come on, you're not even tempted to have a crack at this?

He sent another photo, this one of his very hard cock leaking pre-cum, his thumb on the crown slicked with it.

I deleted it and blinked hard.

Son of a bitch. I shouldn't have gone for his dick last night. Even purely in a violent way to jolt him back from the edge when I'd seen him heading toward that dangerous headspace. He'd clearly taken it as an invitation. That, combined with his now apparent revitalized interest in Cas, was just exacerbating it.

This was him being insecure about us cutting him out of our nightly activities.

It was him acting out.

Part of the reason Cas had finally done what he'd wanted to a long time ago, and actually kicked him off the team. He would've done it sooner if it hadn't been for Bastian.

He'd been concerned about creating complications for him with the unstable and volatile relationship between the brothers—Damien's doing without a doubt. There was a lot of jealousy there on Damien's end. Especially after it had come out after their father's death that Wayne Thorn had designated Bastian as his heir apparent in his will, not Damien. The guy was volatile at the best of times and unhinged at the worst, so it wasn't a surprise. Cas bringing Damien in on our team had eased some of that.

But now that he was out, he was showing signs of heading back down that road.

It was why I was playing it more carefully than I normally would, trying to be diplomatic—well as much as I could. Last night hadn't exactly been my best work where that was concerned, neither through our text message exchange or when I'd had to physically restrain and calm him at the venue. It was because he'd come at Bastian and tried to mess with him. Worse—he'd tried to get inside his head.

Me and Cas guarded against that fiercely.

Any hit Bastian took there risked cracks forming and him being pulled back into the undertow.

This girl… Skylar… could very well be one such threat in that department.

The difference was, I couldn't just send her far away—or have Cas do it in a very definitive way, because we needed her for something.

So, I'd removed Bastian from the situation earlier this morning.

Fortunately, I hadn't had to push that hard because he'd been worried about his actions last night with Skylar too, so he'd wanted to clear his head, and focus on school and all that math and logic and whatnot that he thrived at.

Damien: Too stunned to respond? I know it's fucking glorious, Cal. Tastes even better.

Caleb: We're done here. Get to class.

Damien: I'll let you top me from the bottom, baby.

I stilled.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard, hesitating.

Damien: We both know you've thought about having a down and dirty hate-fuck with me.

Son of a bitch.

Caleb: I'd destroy you.

Damien: Mmm… making me harder.

When I didn't respond fast enough, he sent yet another message.

Damien: Still hung up on how Bastian would react?

He wouldn't like it and that was playing it down a ton.

But I couldn't let Damien think it was about that, or it risked making Bastian his target again.

Besides, there was another reason—aside from Cas, of course. While we were open there, mostly because he needed Obscura and all the depravities he got up to there, Damien had been off-limits as a personal rule of mine. He played mind games and he provoked my dark side, and that was even staying at a distance. He was dangerous for me.

Caleb: It's not about him.

Damien: Cas then?

Caleb: Yes.

Not only could Caspian take it, Damien wouldn't dare go at him.

It was the safest bet to shut him down.

Damien: Hmm. We'll revisit this when things shift then. In the meantime, enjoy my dick pics.

When things shift.

What the hell did that mean?

A sharp beeping alert coming from my phone pulled me from that thought path—and his manipulative assholery—and I looked to see the motion sensors I'd placed in one of the guestrooms had just registered some movement. Stirrings, really. It was still enough for me to need to react, though.

I slid my phone into the inside pocket of my aviator jacket, then headed off the back porch, back into the kitchen, then made my way through the mansion toward the spiral staircase.

I took the steps two at a time, then hurried down the corridor until I reached the last door on the right.

I opened the door to the guestroom, the lamp in the corner I'd left on so I could assess the situation quickly if I'd needed to burst on in here, providing enough illumination for me to see our impromptu guest still tucked up in the crimson silk sheets, that wild blue and silver hair clashing with the same shade of the pillow cases as it fanned out all over.

She was stirring, though.

Soft little groans spilled from her lips as she clearly started to rouse awake.

Skylar Bennett was in our home.

We'd had little choice after Bastian had literally fucked her into unconsciousness last night.

Taking her back to her parents' home would've invited way too many questions, not to mention, major suspicion. I was sure the smell of blood and sex and Bastian's cum all over her wouldn't have gone over too well either.

Normally, we wouldn't care about that shit.

But her father wasn't somebody Caspian wanted us crossing.

I settled myself onto the rolling armchair across from the bed situated under the window as I watched her.

She wasn't sleeping peacefully, that was for damn sure.

Aside from the increasingly forceful stirring, her face was scrunched up tight, her pouty lips pulled into what was almost a snarl.

As she moved more in the throes of some sort of disturbing sleep, the covers pushed down, uncovering her upper half revealing her clad in just one of my white short-sleeved tees. It was huge on her little compact body, coming down to the tops of her thighs. I noted that the bandage wrapped around her left arm where that fucker had stabbed her was still holding well, no sign of blood seeping through. I'd managed to stop it after all. All the blood was wiped clean too, something Bastian hadn't exactly helped with. I knew it had been his handiwork spreading all that over her skin. Well, it was our thing, all three of us. We all went in for that.

Her skin was still marred by Bastian's marks, though. Her throat and chest were a canvas of bruises, scratches and even bite marks. I winced, more evidence of his loss of control last night.

There was something else, something that was now hidden by my shirt. But last night in just her sports bra during the fight, they'd been on display. Scars all over her lower back and her upper left arm too, raised angry red flesh. I'd asked Bastian about them, because he'd spent more time with her, but he'd had no answers to give, he had no clue how they'd come about either.

She stilled all of a sudden.

And then her eyes popped open, those emerald-green pools shining through the dimly lit room like beacons.

She bolted upright with a startled gasp as she took in the bed and realized it wasn't her own. It had the covers slipping all the way down, baring her completely. I saw her wince and squeeze her thighs together.

Yeah, I wasn't surprised. Bastian had clearly fucked her raw.

He'd been so freaked out that he'd even admitted to me that he'd come inside her.

Jesus Christ.

That was why the morning-after pill now sat beside a glass of water and a couple of painkillers on the nightstand right next to the bed.

At least I knew he was clean.

She was too, although I wasn't gonna bring that up, given how Cas had come to know that and the reason behind her freaked-out visit to a clinic near Vista Ridge.

Her eyes landed on me and she snatched up the covers and shoved them against her chest, eyes wide. "What the… why am I… is this your place?"

I sat forward on the chair, clasping my hands between my knees. "Mine and Bastian's, yes."

"I don't… why am I here?"

"You passed out last night," I responded in a deliberately calm tone. "Do you remember what happened?"

She thought for a moment, wincing as she did. "I… yeah."

I watched her shift her legs beneath the covers again and grimace. Then she touched her hand to her throat and the marks on her chest.

That was also when she noticed she wasn't in her own clothes.

She tugged at it. "Is this Sebastian's?"

"Mine."

The last thing we needed was Bastian seeing her wearing his clothes. He was already clearly into her as it was, seeing a mark of possession like that would only worsen all that.

"You stripped me?" she seethed, eyes blazing.

"Bastian. He's already seen you naked. We figured you wouldn't like the choice being taken from you in that respect when it came to me."

She stilled, staring at me in a mixture of startlement and curiosity. "Huh. All the blood, right? Dirt too."

"That's right." My lips quirked and I couldn't resist adding, "And other sticky things."

I was pleasantly surprised when her cheeks didn't heat and no signs of embarrassment showed and, instead, she smirked. "Well, he certainly didn't disappoint."

I grinned, then pointed at the meds. "Morning-after pill and pain meds."

"I'm on birth control."

"Even so."

She grunted, taking my insistence as a lack of trust when it was more a fear of bringing an innocent into our fucked-up lives. Cas shared my feelings on that, too.

After she downed them, worry flickered across her face. "Is he—"

"He's good. Been tested and he hasn't fucked anyone in about a year."

She flinched. "Excuse me?"

"Truth."

"The It-Boy? The bad boy media darling? The guy whose combo of popularity and notoriety can have him walking into a room with panties dropping all over?"

"It's just an image."

I pushed out of the chair and rounded the bed toward the side she was sleeping on. "Besides, you should be more concerned about that dirty blade that Vicars sliced you with." I pointed to the bandage and it had her inspecting it. "I treated it and I've stashed a course of antibiotics in one of those zipped-up pockets of your hoodie. Make sure you take them."

She looked more than a little stunned. "Thanks. That's… really nice."

As I sat on the edge of the bed beside her, she shifted a little, not sure what to make of me coming in such close proximity.

But I needed to.

I needed to see if I still had a reaction to her like the one of last night.

Her softness was throwing me off, though. I'd expected her to wake up enraged and full of accusation and indignation, claiming kidnapping and a whole lot of shit.

Instead, she was calm and completely rational about the whole thing.

Had Bastian gotten into more than her panties last night? Had he gotten into her head?

"Why are you being nice?" she asked.

"Is there a reason why I shouldn't be?"

She stared at me for a moment, then shoved a hand through her hair. "I need to… I need my phone… my parents must be—"

"They're not concerned. I made sure of it."

"You… what? How?"

"I sent a text as you telling them you were involved in an overnight group study, trying to socialize and become more of a part of Luxe."

"You broke into my phone?"

"Would you rather we would have dropped you home covered in blood and reeking of a dirty fucking?"

"That's not—"

"Perhaps even told them that you tore into a huge motherfucker in an underground fighting ring, got stabbed, but then beat him to within an inch of his life, then went feral all over my boy's cock in a dirty bathroom and got off on him claiming you as his filthy little whore?"

Her eyes narrowed and I could see her intent to react, to rip into me.

But then she sucked in a harsh breath and looked away.

Hmm. She was containing herself.

Back to the denial, it looked like.

We couldn't have that.

"He didn't claim me," she said, running her hand over the silk sheets like they were the most interesting things in the world.

"His marks would seem to indicate otherwise."

"It was the heat of the moment."

"That's not Bastian's style." None of it was. "Not to mention, he's sporting many of your marks today too."

She arched an eyebrow. "Why are you pushing this?"

"I'm just trying to determine where you stand."

"Nowhere. I don't stand anywhere."

"You trusted him last night."

"What?"

"It takes trust to allow somebody to take you while you're in that state."

"What do you know about it?"

"I've been in it myself. Many a time actually. There's a lot of power that comes with it—the most intoxicating thing about it. But it also comes with a certain vulnerability because you lose a part of your control, your access to your rational mind, during it. If there wasn't trust there between you and Bastian, you would've put him down just like you did with Vicars. You made a decision with the raw and honest part of you to let him in."

"I hardly know him."

"The research you've been conducting on us would beg to differ." At her incredulous look that I knew about that—all about it, actually—I went on, "Besides, sometimes there's an innate connection between people that overrides all else. Primal and undeniable, really."

"You're way off the mark," she said, noticeably unable to look me in the eye as the words tumbled from her lips unsteadily.

She pushed off the bed hastily then.

I watched her notice her hoodie hanging on the back of the door.

She quickly slipped it on, then pulled her phone out, checking the time and uttering something to herself about still having time to get to her first class.

"Why did you keep those texts?"

She stilled. "Texts?"

"From that unknown number. The threatening ones?"

She looked at me, a haunted expression cutting into me.

"Is that what set you off last night? Is it why you went down to the fight venue?"

"It's not your concern. You shouldn't have violated my phone. Sebastian already did that and I remain pissed about it. What you did is way beyond plugging in your phone number though."

"Who is he?"

"What?"

"Who is the guy threatening you?"

I saw her swallow a couple of times.

She stared down at her phone, clearly deliberating.

And then she finally looked back at me. "Why would you care?"

"The thing you should focus on is that I do, that we do."

She stepped up to me. "Again, why? Why did Sebastian pursue me? Why did you guys come down to the fight venue? Why take care of me and even bring me to your home?"

"Do you really think you're ready to know? You're still fooling yourself."

Her eyes flashed.

It was the only warning I got, before she fisted my shirt and used my weight against me to slam me up against the door.

My cock jerked as she slapped her forearm to my throat and bore down nice and rough.

Jesus.

There it was.

The kind of erotic threatening shit I lived for.

In her sudden spark of rage, she went to shift her hold in my shirt to obviously strengthen her hold on me, but she slipped and grabbed at the bulge in my jeans instead.

My now very hard and very erect bulge.

She jolted.

I smirked. "Gonna fight me or fuck me, darling?"

"Why are you hard?"

"For the same reason I'd bet my entire investment portfolio that you're dripping into my t-shirt right now." I grabbed her hand on my cock and rubbed it up and down my length. "It's more than violence, it's more than the thrill. It's something dark and depraved. Holding that power in your hands, power over others. Wanting to see how far you can push it, how much higher you can climb until you touch that utter euphoria like you did last night." I reached out and stroked my fingers through her soft hair. "Like I got off on seeing you do last night to that piece of shit. You were so fucking primal and raw, not held down by anything, beyond the emotional weight that's too often an unbearable burden, beyond rules and morality." I breathed her in, past the scent of the medical wipes I'd used on her, and picking up on the jasmine of her hair.

Her eyes rolled back in her head as my words took her hostage, holding her to me.

She even turned into my touch, her cheek rubbing against my palm.

Her fingers tightened in mine around my cock, the harshness combined with the warmth of her touch making me thicken against her and sending delectable sparks of pleasure through me.

Ah, fuck.

Now I saw what had gotten to Bastian.

It wasn't just attractiveness. Although, she was beyond that. Fucking gorgeous. And her tight little body with those big, perky breasts were a treat to behold.

It was more than a regular sort of allure too.

It was mesmerizing and enchanting—in a really fucked-up way. Right up all our alleys.

She'd tasted the dark and that was what I was feeling from her. As the one who wrestled with that the most but also craved it the most, I was most susceptible to it too. It tasted so damn good and it made the prospect of tasting it through her fucking glorious.

Bastian, though, he wasn't the same as me when it came to that, so he'd been drawn to something else in her, likely how she would've fought back over his provocations and given hell right back to him, challenging his attempted dominance and meeting it with her own. That hellfire of his when he was riled up had met its match in hers, and he was obviously loving it.

She released me all of a sudden and stepped back, the spell breaking—somewhat.

Panting, her hands shaking, she shoved them through her hair. "You saw the results of that for me last night. It wasn't pretty."

"Beg to differ."

She shook her head. "I lost control. I went there to vent, but it turned into a whole lot more."

"I'd argue that you went there for a lot more than that. To reclaim your power, for instance. To reconnect with who you really are."

"Don't," she said, taking another step back.

"Repressing and denying it is why you lost complete control."

"No, it's because I let it out."

"After shoving it down for so long. You need to embrace it, then it won't get to that point."

Her gaze zoned in on my silver chain and recognition shone as she took in the angel wings enveloping a heart with a red gem near its center. She was obviously making the connection to Bastian's. While his was a blue gem, representing the peace that he was amongst our trio as Rein, mine was red indicative of the passion I brought with me, especially into our covert activities. Often passionate fury, which lent its weight to my whole Wrath persona.

She looked away, not speaking to it, and blew out a breath, then slumped down onto the foot of the bed. "Is that what you do?"

"Yes." Although that had been in a stalled state lately. "You need to give it an outlet."

"And you can walk the line doing that?"

"I can." I said, strolling to her. "And I can teach you."

"Maybe," she murmured.

I sat down beside her. "The repressing route clearly isn't working, right? It's just causing you pain and the violent, uncontrolled explosion that was last night."

"I was provoked. Over and over. Sebastian was partly responsible for that. I doubt he did it alone either, given how close you are. He was under orders, or at least, you were also a part of it. Likely, your best buddy, Caspian King too."

Hmm. She was certainly astute.

"I can get you to a place where you won't be susceptible to provocation. We just needed you to see that you weren't currently, to acknowledge it."

"Then tell me why. Why did you need to confirm that? What do you want that version of me for? Onyx?"

"So, you can openly admit that's who you are now?"

She nodded, giving me what we'd wanted since she'd first stepped foot back into Rossun. "Onyx is a part of me. A part I tried to kill. Yet, a part you and certain others won't allow to rest in peace after all."

"You've made quite a name for yourself—well, your alter ego has. You were fast approaching legend status in fact. We know about the fighting circuits, what you were able to accomplish there as a masked unknown, using the moniker of Onyx to maintain your anonymity. We also know that was only your training ground for the real purpose of taking on that mantle. We know of your vigilante activities, how you operated as a guardian angel in and around that college town."

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. "It's true what they say about King then. His resources are extensive and insanely invasive. I covered my tracks. Very well." She stared at me for a moment. "Was it the slipup? Is that what had you catching on? Near the end of my time there?"

"The thing your dad covered up for you, you mean?"

She winced. "So you know."

"I also know it was an accident."

"It doesn't matter. It still happened."

"And that's why you stopped?"

"It was a wakeup call, that it was taking me over. That justice had become muddied with bloodlust and vengeance."

"Yeah, it's a fine line to walk. But, like I said, I can help you. If you'll let me."

"To what end? You want something from that version of me. What is it?"

"We do want something, yes. I meant it when I said you're not ready to know, though. Not until you're stabilized and until we can be sure we can trust you."

"Trust you? Shouldn't I be the one calling you on that after Sebastian came at me, you violated my phone and hell knows what else?"

"Then I guess it needs to be worked on from all sides then." I took her hand in mine and she let me, breathing out peacefully as I stroked my thumb over the back. "Let's start with this, with me helping you to walk the line with Onyx. You're right on the edge, it can't wait. So either you go to your father—who I'm betting you don't want to for fear that he'll see all that darkness in you and be disgusted and never see his baby girl the same way again—or you give me a chance."

Her eyes narrowed at my reference to her dad and his possible reaction.

I had to.

I couldn't risk her going that route, to him. It would cut her off from us right when she was on the verge and in need, and open to us getting our claws into her and pulling her in.

That was my role in this after all.

To play with that dark in her and cultivate it, then weaponize it for our own purposes.

But witnessing what I had last night from her and interacting with her here and now… it pulled me up short. Also seeing the impact she'd had on Bastian—actually making him feel and break from that whole robotic thing of his, as worrying as it was, it was also a big fucking deal for him to go there, and it could be a positive thing as long as the rest was kept in check.

All of that, it had me actually wanting to help her too. Not just for our own purposes.

Not just for her to be something to be used.

Her struggle, seeing the humanity in it, in her, and the way she wanted to do things for the right reasons, the way she'd put down Carl Vicars for more than violent need and power, but because he was a perverted bastard who needed taking out… it affected me.

Caspian's part in this to then wreck her and shatter her into pieces so he could use her like a puppet to do what we needed her to… it wasn't as thrilling as it had been when we'd talked about it, or when he'd initially laid out the plan.

Because back then we'd thought she'd been heartless, almost a machine really using the alias of Onyx to carry out a dark reckoning and just choosing sickos to punish without much thought into it, her intent to just hurt and dominate, regardless.

But now I was seeing that it wasn't the case with her.

She'd been acting like a guardian angel, but she'd just lost control, was all.

Besides, wrecking her was just Caspian going the automatic heavy-handed approach because it was known to achieve results faster.

But that might not even be needed here with Skylar.

She might want it.

She might come to want to do what we needed of her.

"All right," she said, pulling me from my conflicted thoughts.

I cocked an eyebrow.

"We'll give it a go. You already know about Onyx, and while I don't like that, it is what it is. We'll try this… trusting each other thing." She squeezed my hand painfully, making me hiss. "But if you try to manipulate me with my dad again, or you abuse that trust, what you saw me do to Vicars will seem like nothing."

I grinned, partly from the pain, partly from the ferociousness rolling off her. "Understood."

We shook and then she released me and stood up, looking all around. "For now, I need to get to Luxe. I can't have that going to hell too. Where are my clothes?"

I pointed to the closet in the far corner. "They're hanging up. Clean and dry. Good to go."

"Right… uh… thanks," she said, clearly trying to hide how touched—and confused—she was that we'd seen to that for her.

"We had your bike transported back here. It's in the garage with my Audi. I also noticed your messenger bag was inside one of the saddlebags, so you don't need to head home first. We can head out together."

She chuckled. "I don't need an escort. But thanks."

"Some of the spectators during that fight were Luxe students. With you keeping your head down, I figured you wouldn't have noticed."

"Okay. And?"

"And you put on quite the show. There will be some attention swirling around you. I'll have Bastian meet us when we head inside and we'll diffuse it for you, so you can go about your day unbothered."

"Great," she muttered. "Public notoriety."

"You were too worked up to go into it in full Onyx attire, huh?"

"Your boy's fault."

"And the sender of those threatening and rather provocative texts?"

She stilled for a moment.

"Skylar?"

"Trust, right? Like you said, it needs time. And that issue is included in that."

"As you wish."

"Meet you outside," she said as she opened the closet and found her clothes hanging there.

I smiled to myself at the clear command, more than a question.

"Yeah. Ten minutes. Gotta freshen up myself."

With that, I walked out, closing the door behind me.

I leaned against it for a moment, processing everything that had happened.

Interesting.

To say the least.

And I had no doubt that it was going to go way beyond that.