Savage Gods (Reign & Ruin Book 2) Page 3

“Rhiannon,” she warned.

  I turned away from her and sat my satchel beside one of the sinks. My brown-eyed gaze watched me in the mirror. I didn’t look anywhere near as tired as I felt right now—physically and emotionally. This was a good thing I guess since I needed to pretend as if everything was business as usual.

  I had to.

  For my parents and my best friend.

  For the beautifully wicked boy, I couldn’t get away from and everyone else watching me with bated breath to see if I’d slip up. Pretending to be an ordinary high-school girl went with the M-O even if it couldn’t be further from the truth.

  Truth.

  That was something I could no longer give Audrey. It wasn’t as if I didn’t want to. I wished I could tell her every agonizing thought that had sown a seed inside my brain. Maybe that would soothe the mess of emotions clawing at my chest.

  Like a certain someone made a point of reminding me, though, this situation couldn’t be dealt with in my often-reckless manner. I had no way of knowing how she’d handle everything I was keeping to myself.

  Audrey understood me better than anyone else, to an extent. She wasn’t aware of my history with Judas. Her self-conceived notions of our relationship weren’t anywhere near accurate, which I didn’t blame her for.

  How could she possibly know that the twisted bond between us made me want to crawl beneath his skin just so that I could be closer with him?

  Shifting my weight from left to the right, I uncrossed my arms and faced her head-on. There was only one thing to do right now--deflect.

  “What about what you’re keeping from me?”

  “Huh? I’m not keeping anything from you.”

  “Lies.”

  She tossed her blonde hair behind her shoulders and placed a hand on her hip. “It’s nothing serious, just stuff with Gavin.”

  “What kind of stuff? Why are you so determined to hide you’re fooling around?”

  Her freshly threaded brows shot up to her hairline. “First of all, Gavin and I are not fooling around. I’ve slept with him a total of two times and won’t be doing so ever again. Secondly, stop trying to flip this around on me.”

  This could be considered pot-calling the kettle, but I didn’t care about my ulterior hypocrisy right now.

  I already knew her issues had something to do with Gavin. It was the secrecy of their rendezvous that bothered me. Did she realize she’d avoided an actual answer just like I had? Was that the theme of the month? Avoidance?

  The bell sounded again, signaling the beginning of the next class. Luckily, this was our lunch period because otherwise, we’d have to ditch or hide out in here for forty minutes. If there was anything I’d learned since being at Pesadilla, it was that the teachers played no games when it came to attendance.

  “We should go.” I grabbed my bag and looped it back over my head.

  “Why don’t you talk to me anymore Rhia?”

  The obvious hurt in her voice almost made me cave.

  I held strong, my need to keep her safe more important to me than any kind of self-loathing I felt or anger I might receive. Her safety was a top priority. I couldn’t say if Judas would hurt her or not and it wasn’t a risk I wanted to take.

  “I talk to you every day. It was just a couple of texts, Auds.”

  “This isn’t about those. Do you think I don’t know you’re dealing with something? I’m your best friend.”

  Withholding a sigh, I studied her face. This was ridiculous. Audrey and I were rarely at odds. We had our disagreements like most friendships had but never to the point we locked ourselves in a school bathroom for a round of interrogations. Something had to give.

  “We can’t talk here,” I finally said.

  “Why? It’s only us.”

  “Not here.” I waved a hand around the room. “I meant the school.”

  “Then we can talk later?”

  “Sure.”

  She eyed me suspiciously. “When? You’re chained to Judas’ side lately.”

  I wanted to explain that wasn’t entirely all my choice, but there was the whole telling too much thing to consider. One thing I wouldn’t do under any circumstance, however, was let her believe that dick was coming between us. I needed to come up with an explanation that would placate her, but it wasn’t going to be that.

  “How about you give me a ride home today?”

  “Really?”

  “Dead serious.”

  She twisted her lips as if she needed to think about it. We both knew she’d agreed before I finished asking.

  “K. It’s a date.” She turned and unlocked the door, peering back at me as she pulled it open. “Let’s go eat.”

  Finally.

  I followed her into the hall. It was empty aside from one lone person leaning against the opposite wall. As soon as she saw us come out, she slipped her cellphone into the front pocket of her uniform jacket.

  “Have you been out here the whole time?” I asked.

  Brianna straightened with a smile.

  “Yup. I stopped anyone from trying to come in, I figured you two needed to have a one on one.”

  More like she was listening to see if I spilled my guts.

  “We’re fine,” Audrey stated defensively. “Are you eating?”

  “I never skip a meal,” Bri answered, smoothing a hand over her silky hair.

  Wordlessly, I began walking in the direction of the south stairwell.

  It was the quickest way to the cafeteria in this monster-sized fortress someone dared call a school.

  “What’s up with your car?” Audrey asked.

  “I have no idea. It’s lifeless, won’t do anything.” I left out that Judas was responsible for this issue as well.

  “Mm. I’m sure your dad will have it handled soon.”

  “Maybe. Money is tight now since he bought the house.”

  “That’s understandable,” Audrey sympathized.

  Bri made an intelligible sound. It took effort not to turn around and snap at her. I didn’t know the whole deal with what my parents had going on. The details I’d been given were purposely minuscule. She had no room to say a damn word as far as I was concerned.

  There wasn’t a single person around me not harboring a secret or living with a lie.

  When we finally reached the cafeteria, I was ready to sprint off to the Villa Pizza window. Shockingly, I wasn’t all that hungry. It was a viable excuse to put some space between myself and the two of them.

  “I’m going for a slice,” I announced, walking off without waiting for a reply. Various pairs of eyes tracked my movement across the cafeteria. I almost stopped twice to make sure my ass wasn’t hanging out. If my life wasn’t already overflowing with drama I would have stopped and yelled they could all go fuck themselves.

  Grabbing a red tray, I got in line and waited patiently for my turn. Once I paid for the food with my meal card, I found my way to my usual table and sat in my usual seat, diagonal from Judas with Audrey on my left and Bri on the right.

  My silver-eyed devil didn’t waste any time assessing me. I proudly held his stare while the gears in my head continued to churn through a thick puree of thoughts.

  “You two need a moment alone?” Owen joked from the far end of the table.

  When Judas ignored him and continued to silently watch me, I finally had to look away. I felt like I was under microscopic display when he did this. I caught Owen’s knowing blue-eyed gaze and returned his slight smile. I picked at my food, relieved when they eventually fell into conversation about trivial matters.

  I was impressed at how well they pulled off normal. It made me wonder how many people got to see the real them. Who knew they were far more than an elite group of seniors? Their presence almost made me feel better about taking the spot of someone that deserved to go to school here. Almost, but not quite.

  They didn’t need the credentials the rest of the student body was stressing over. Pesadilla was nothing but a cover-up for whatever Judas had co
me to Crudele to accomplish. That much I’d deduced with common sense.

  It was a decent means of camouflage. Regardless of the reason, they were here, this was still a highly rated academy they could claim they attended after all was said and done.

  “You’re unusually quiet. Are you reminiscing?”

  His question pulled me away from my inner musings. “About what?”

  I internally groaned the second his infuriating smirk made an appearance.

  “Everything we did in my bed.”

  Laughter spilled from the childish few people sitting with us.

  Of all the things circulating through my head, I was making a conscious effort not to think about that and Dax.

  One I’d dated without knowing who they were and the other had left me with a bloodied memory I obsessed over for two years. Unhealthily may I add. Now I had an entire weekend of vivid, tangible imagery to go with it.

  “Sorry but no, I can’t remember much of it.” I shrugged and lifted the last bit of gooey heaven to my mouth.

  “Ouch,” Gavin remarked, placing a hand on his chest.

  “By the way, Audrey’s giving me a ride home today.”

  “Yeah, Sorry J. You’re going to have to learn to share,” she lilted.

  Judas leaned back and smiled. “I’ve never been any good at sharing. Ask Dax.”

  Nearly choking on my half-chewed bite of pizza, I reached for my lemonade. What the hell was wrong with him?

  “No thanks. I’d rather never see or speak to Dax again,” Audrey muttered, oblivious to the dark undertone in Judas’ words. She was the only one at the table that didn’t know Daxton was dead and his killers were close enough to reach out and hug, casually enjoying lunch and discussing homework.

  The conversation continued to flow as if they were unaware of what he’d meant too, thankfully back to the topic of school. Judas made no further comments about me riding with Audrey which was surprising and also a bit unsettling. I didn’t trust it. I gnawed the inside of my cheek wondering what he could be up to now.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  For the first ten minutes, we rode in silence. It was highly uncomfortable and the last thing I wanted to deal with after the day I’d had, but I owed Audrey this.

  “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on with you?” she asked, turning off the main road.

  I adjusted how I was sitting and gathered my hair into a ponytail. “I’m trying to get my thoughts in order.”

  “You don’t have to do that with me. You never have.”

  “I know,” I replied softly.

  “Then talk to me!”

  I leaned back and wet my lips. Where was the wisest place to begin? What did I need to leave out aside from the obvious? Audrey never judged me. That was liable to change if everything wound up out in the open. Staying on my current path things were bound to get worse.

  “Is it him?”

  “This isn’t about Judas, and while on that topic, I’d never give you up for him. I need you to always remember that.”

  “No shit you wouldn’t. I’d kick his ass and yours. That wasn’t who I was referring to but go on.”

  Slightly confused, I continued. “I’m…having issues at home.”

  She gave me a fleeting glance, taking her attention off the road just long enough to show her concern. “What kind of issues? Does it have anything to do with your mom going to the store a hundred times the other night?”

  It took me a minute to remember what she was talking about. With everything that’d happened over the weekend, I’d forgotten all about that. Mom had behaved like a junkie needing to rush out for her next hit. Talk about embarrassing.

  “I don’t know what the deal is, but her behavior has been strange.”

  “Do you think it has something to do with your dad?”

  “I’m sure it does.”

  There was no faking the bitterness in my tone. My parents were my world. Being told they were imposters was one of the hardest things about all of this. I didn’t love them any less, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hurt, angry, and more than a little confused.

  If what Judas and his friends told me turned out to be true, well, I didn’t know what I was going to do. That would change everything.

  Audrey sighed loudly, her shoulders relaxing as the breath left her lungs. “You could have told me this, Rhia. You can tell me anything. I thought this was because of Erin Moore.”

  “Who is Erin Moore?”

  “Uh, the missing jock everyone has been whispering about. Where’ve you been, girl?”

  “Do I know him?”

  “Rhia.” She laughed and shook her head. “He ran into you in the lunchroom, remember? I barely avoided in-school suspension for slapping the shit out of him. Fortunately, our headmaster likes blondes.”

  Now that she explained I could remember that incident vividly. Putting the thought on pause for a second, I turned my head and looked at her. “What do you mean the headmaster likes blondes?”

  “Oh, I didn’t fuck him,” she hurriedly reassured me with another laugh.

  “My mom does. That’s how I got out of trouble scotch-free. I thought I told you about this.”

  “You didn’t.”

  Her mom and our headmaster? Ew, the dude had to be pushing sixty and I’m certain he’d been married for almost as long. I wasn’t going near that conversation with a twelve-foot pole. There wasn’t enough bleach in the world to rid my brain of the images it would conjure.

  “I’m guessing you don’t know that people are saying your boyfriend is the reason he vanished into thin air then.”

  I popped my lips and shook my head, forcing out what I hoped sounded like a genuine laugh. “Do you seriously think Judas is that well connected?”

  “Do you?”

  I knew he was. I hoped he hadn’t hurt some dumbass jock because the guy threw around too much little dick energy.

  This wasn’t something I could share with Audrey. I should’ve been more aware of my surroundings today. If I had been I wouldn’t be blindsided by this revelation. I should have figured out how to navigate this conversation long before it happened.

  “Rhia?” Audrey probed when I took too long to answer.

  “Is that an actual question? Judas is just a boy. He isn’t part of some powerfully secret organization that can make people disappear.”

  Lies. Lies. Lies.

  Judas was a lot of things. Just a boy was not one of them.

  “You think that’s all he is, Rhia?”

  “Wow, Auds. You’re serious?”

  “I’m just saying. Judas and his friends come from money. That’s not a secret.”

  “So does half the population of Crudele. So do you,” I pointed out, “Why would he go that far for me?”

  Her head whipped to the side, an incredulous expression distorting her features. “Judas is Every Breath You Take fucking crazy about you, Rhiannon.”

  “What?” I sputtered around a fit of inappropriate laughter.

  “I’m being serious.”

  “Audrey…”

  I rolled my lower lip between my teeth and sighed. I’d always known she was perceptive. It was admirable, but now I was beginning to worry about that. How could I keep her away from all this and safe if she went looking for the trouble on her own?

  It left me torn on how to handle this dilemma. When I first got in the car with her I intended to make her believe anything but the truth.

  That was looking like a catch twenty-two. What if the deviation caused more harm than good? Most often lies always did.

  I propped an arm on the passenger door’s windowsill and looked out the window. Catching sight of the car behind hers in the side mirror, I jerked from the slouch I’d settled in. How long had he been following us?

  “What’s wrong?” Audrey questioned, peering into her rearview. She let out a sound of disbelief when she spotted the SUV. “Isn’t that Gavin’s car?”

  “I think so.”

  I
could bet my life he had Judas with him. I knew he couldn’t let a ride home be as simple as that. Since he’d come crashing back into my life nothing was ever less than chaotic.

  “Just keep driving.”

  “I planned to.”

  As the SUV got closer, my thumbnail became a casualty of nerves. What could they possibly want? Audrey gripped the steering wheel of her Macan with both hands, gradually increasing her speed.

  She couldn’t gain a mile.

  Gavin kept up with ease. Having the hindsight of what happened when Judas tried to do something similar a few weeks ago, I knew he wasn’t going to stop.

  “Never mind, Auds. You have to pull over.”

  “What?”

  “Pull over,” I repeated.

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  She cursed beneath her breath and jerked the wheel, screeching to a rough stop on the shoulder of the road. I rocked forward slightly, being pinned in place by my seatbelt.

  Gavin pulled up right behind her.

  He and Judas were out of the SUV before I could think to undo my buckle or open the door.

  A tap on the passenger window had me leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

  I hated to admit it, but I was craving some semblance of normalcy.

  “Are you serious?” Audrey yelled.

  I popped one eye open, finding Gavin on the other side of the car trying to open her door.

  “Get out Rhia,” Judas’ husky voice carried through the glass.

  I undid the seatbelt and grasped the doorhandle, throwing my shoulder against the door. My exaggerated movement caused it to hit Judas with a satisfying thump. I held back a smile as I slid from my seat. As soon as my feet touched the pavement, he was reaching above me to slam the door shut.

  “Do you wanna make a scene?” he asked coolly.

  “You’ve already done a good job of that so why don’t you tell me why you and your attack dog decided to follow us.”

  From the other side of the car, I could hear Audrey arguing with Gavin. I looked over the roof to make sure she was okay.

  “What if I would have crashed?”

  “Dollface, the only way that would’ve happened is if you forgot how to drive.”

  “Or, it would have happened because some Gooch made me think he was going to run my car off the road.”