Deviation (16 page)

“What are you doing?” Linc asks at the same time I yell, “Watch out!”

Daniel’s fist lands with a cracking sound across Linc’s jaw. “No!” I scream as Linc’s head is flung sideways with the force of the impact. He stumbles back, putting distance between himself and Daniel. I take a step, intending I don’t know what. To get between them. To make them stop. But a rough hand closes over my wrist and another wraps around my shoulders and I’m yanked back.

Linc rights himself and glares at whoever’s behind me holding me in place. “Let go of her,” he snaps. The grip loosens but doesn’t release. I twist, trying to free myself.

“Deitrich, let her go,” Linc repeats, this time venom coating his words.

“Boss says she can’t interfere,” Deitrich says. There’s a pause and I can hear a faint trace of a voice in his earpiece before he adds, “He says finish it. Then I can let her go.” Daniel lets out a groan.

Linc’s fury is tangible. I can taste the bitterness in the air as he crosses to the guard. I have absolutely no doubt what will happen if this man’s arms are still restraining me when Linc closes the distance. With one final yank, the collar of my pajama shirt rips and I am free. I meet Linc before he can reach the guard.

“Don’t,” I say, my hands braced against his chest. I don’t have the physical strength to hold him but he stops the second I touch him and glares past me at Deitrich.

“It’s okay. I’m okay,” I say.

Behind me, Deitrich mumbles into his earpiece and waits for instructions. When he doesn’t move to restrain me again, I relax a little. Linc isn’t so easy.

Eventually, he breaks his stare and looks down at me. He blinks as if seeing me for the first time. Regret, sympathy, rage, and a thousand other emotions wash across his features. His face pales and he raises a hand to the knot on the side of my face. His fingers stop short an inch from my skin and hover there as if he’s terrified to touch me.

“What are you doing down here?” he asks in a choked voice. He casts a nervous glance sideways, his eyes not quite reaching the mirrored wall, but I take the hint. I might not have seen Titus or Alton but they can see me.

“I could ask you the same,” I say, keeping it strictly business when all I want to do is throw myself into his arms and never let go. If I could speak freely in this moment, I would beg him to take me away. I would run and never look back.

He shifts his hand to my unmarred cheek and brushes his bare knuckles over my skin. “I … I’m—” He trails off and his eyes squeeze shut. He leans forward until our foreheads touch, his head hanging. He blames himself. He doesn’t have to speak the words for me to know it.

“It’s not your fault,” I whisper. He looks like he might argue so I add, “You saved us.”

He nods, eyes still closed, and exhales a deliberate breath.

“Your kisses are that good,” I add, low enough I hope no one else hears.

Linc’s eyes crack open and his mouth curves into the barest hint of a wry smile. It makes my own curve in victory. For now, he isn’t torturing himself about my face.

“Why are you hitting Daniel?” I ask and his amusement fades into a dark glare. He aims it at Daniel, who is still against the wall but has slumped to a sitting position as he watches the show. Without a word, Linc’s gaze sweeps away and he gestures with his chin.

“Her.”

It takes me a minute to see who he means. I blink into the shadows and then I see it. Wedged into the impossibly narrow space between the cot’s metal frame and the concrete floor is a body. I can hardly make out the face behind the rat’s nest of hair that half-covers it. Clothing is torn and the only thing that alerts me to gender is the remnant of a pink robe that hangs off one dark-skinned shoulder. Just above that, a pair of terrified eyes blinks back at me.

“Is that Sofia?” I ask, finally placing the face within my memory. I haven’t seen her since our tennis match weeks ago.

“Yes.” Linc’s answer is short and full of fury.

“Why is she here?” I begin to understand, though my brain tries to shove it away and deny the possibility of the scene before me until there is no other option left. “Did Daniel—?”

“No.”

I am sick with relief.

“Not for lack of trying,” Linc adds.

“I don’t understand.” I shake my head in an attempt to dispel the renewed ache in my temples.

Behind me, Deitrich steps closer as if readying to grab me again. Linc gives him a look so fierce, he backs away again and whispers something into his earpiece. We probably have only seconds before we’re separated, no matter what Linc says next. I’m surprised we haven’t been yet.

“It was my punishment for earlier,” Linc explains. He swallows. “To watch.”

My insides curl and burn with the poison of what he’s just said. I understand enough of the “why” that I don’t want to know any more. I shouldn’t be surprised at the length Titus has gone to punish Linc while still honoring our deal, but I am. Maybe it’s my own naiveté, but his evil has reached new heights for me today.

There is a commotion at the door and Deitrich moves aside. Titus stares back at us, his stony expression giving away nothing. Behind him, Alton is like an obedient statue.

“Raven,” Titus greets me. There is no surprise in his voice and I have no doubt he’s watched and listened to our entire exchange. Underneath my fingers, Linc’s arms flex and tighten. I drop my hands to my sides when I realize I’m still touching him in front of Titus. Not that it matters now.

“Linc,” Titus says and somehow the name sounds distasteful falling from his lips. He glances at Daniel and then back again, his blank expression unchanged. “You were supposed to stand and watch.” He doesn’t sound angry that Linc broke the rules, though, and somehow I know this was his plan all along.

“You knew I wouldn’t,” Linc says evenly.

Titus shrugs as if he couldn’t care less either way. “You and I have an understanding now.”

“And what understanding is that, sir?” Linc says, sarcasm heaviest on the last word.

Titus steps closer. Anger flashes. “The next time you want to put your hands on my daughter, you’ll remember the price is an eye for an eye. You touch her, Daniel touches someone else.”

Linc doesn’t respond. I don’t have to touch his arms to know the muscles underneath are flexing and bunching as he imagines ripping Titus to shreds. I know because I am doing the same, though Linc is far more capable. I understand why Titus didn’t physically attack Linc in any way. One look at Linc’s face and I know this is a far worse punishment than physical injury or even death. Linc cannot stand the anguish that comes from knowing someone was hurt because of him.

At that moment, I don’t care if Titus is standing over us. My heart aches to comfort him. And maybe to defy Titus in some small way. I reach out and slide my fingers into his palm. Before I can intertwine them in his, he shakes me off and shoves his hands inside his pockets.

Titus smiles and it’s the worst kind of smile I’ve ever seen. It’s victory. “Good choice,” he tells Linc.

I want to claw his lips off his face.

There is movement in the doorway and then another face joins the crowd. Josephine slips in behind Alton and stops just behind Titus, speaking low in his ear. He nods and she makes her way to Daniel, crouching beside him as she begins to examine his wounds.

The sight of her is my undoing.

I remember the loosening feeling left behind as she stroked my hair earlier. The piece of me that relaxed against the soothing affection she gave me. And the way it evaporated when I realized she’d lied. She knew exactly what was going on here. Was probably on call for when it was over to treat whoever was most wounded in the end. That knowledge, combined with the horrific way everyone present acts like it’s normal to assault girls and beat men senseless for fun, unravels me.

In this moment, I am empty except for the rage. It is consuming and numbing. The pounding in my head is gone. The taut pull of my skin around my engorged cheek vanishes. My vision clouds with red. I imagine it as blood pouring from Titus.

I don’t realize I’ve moved an inch until I feel the fabric of clothing underneath my hands. I blink down and realize it is the same color as the shirt Titus wears. I look up—into his face. His surprise mirrors my own. Neither of us expected my attack. But then I’m moving again, using my nails to grip into his eye sockets and rake downward.

Titus screams.

I shiver in satisfaction and let go long enough to reach up and dig in again.

“It’s happening again,” someone shouts. “Grab her.” Hands close over my body. Linc yells to let go. I don’t see any of it. I only see the blood from the skin I’ve separated with my fingernails. I want to do it again and again. For Linc. For Melanie. For all of the Ravens.

But the hands won’t let me. They push and pull, finally using my hair to yank me clean away. It is a pain that finally reaches me and, at the sharp stab in my scalp, I scream. The sound doesn’t reach my ears before my back slams against the wall and my breath is stolen.

“Do you want me to dose her again?” Josephine asks.

“Not yet,” Titus says.

Alton’s face swims in front of me, the right edges of his chin and hairline blurred. The left side of his face is completely blotted out behind my swollen eye. His expression is densely blank. He doesn’t say a word, just stands there, his hands pinning me.

Linc yells but Deitrich and another guard stand in his way, forming a wall around me. They move to allow Titus through but somehow manage to keep Linc back. I blink but nothing focuses completely. Air refills my lungs and I wheeze as I inhale.

“You have attacked me for the last time,” Titus says quietly. His eerie calm is different with me than it was with Linc. It takes me a moment to realize what has changed and even then I doubt the realization. Maybe I’m imagining it or wanting it to be true, but the confidence he used when dealing with Linc is gone. Or lessened. I’m not sure the reason for the change, but it makes me braver.

What did he mean, it’s happening again?

“So have you,” I shoot back. His eyes flash and I wonder if he’ll hit me again just to make me a liar. But he doesn’t. His lip curls back, revealing even, white teeth. I want to spit on him I hate him so much.

“We’re going for a ride,” he says.

I blink. It’s not what I expected.

No one moves right away. It’s not what they expected either.

“Alton, bring the car. Crawford,” Titus snaps. The guards part and Linc approaches. Tension lines crease his forehead. I know he’s still considering retaliating against Titus. I shake my head “no” at him, hoping to send a message. He doesn’t acknowledge it other than to inspect me. But we both know Titus didn’t lay a hand on me just now. If he did, there would’ve been no hesitation on Linc’s part.

“Rogen,” Linc says simply, his eyes trained on me.

“Your services won’t be needed for the rest of the night.”

“If you’re going out—”

“Your services won’t be needed,” Titus repeats. “Go back to your room.”

Linc snorts. “My cell, you mean?”

“No. You’re free to go. Just get out of my sight. Report to the tower in the morning.”

Linc doesn’t move. Silently, I plead with him to obey. This night, horrible as it has been, could still be much worse. Blackmailing Linc into keeping his distance is one thing. Hurting him in front of me would be another.

“I’ll be fine,” I say, ignoring the noise Titus makes at my words.

Linc nods slowly. “All right then.” He glances back at where Josephine still crouches in front of Daniel. Then to where Sofia huddles beside Daniel’s bed. I’d almost forgotten she was here.