Black Knight (Royal Elite #4) by Rina Kent

Silver has been acting out of character more often than not lately. That means she’s either being threatened, or she has a life-altering situation.

Maybe I should tell Dad about it. He’s friends with her father, the mighty future prime minister, Sebastian Queens.

The party goes on. The boys put on a football game, and it’s a nostalgic reminder of the times where we used to meet in Aiden’s house for game nights when he started going out with Elsa.

How I used to sit in a position that gave me a discreet view of Xander’s side profile. I’ve lost count of how many times I watched him while pretending to focus on the game. Or how much I smiled when he and Ronan jumped up to celebrate a goal.

Now, he’s gone.

I shake my head once, not wanting to think about that particular subject.

“So, hear this.” Elsa brings my attention to her and Teal. The three of us are sitting with Kir around the dining table as he devours the cake. “Teal says love is only a chemical reaction.”

“It is.” Teal crosses her arms over her T-shirt that reads, Don’t Know. Don’t Care. “It’s just a dopamine rush like drugs and other things.”

“You can’t get drugs to fuck you.” Elsa raises an eyebrow.

“You can have them get you high, and that’s better than fucking.” Teal keeps her ground.

“Drugs can make you feel high, but it’s temporary.” I wipe the corner of Kir’s mouth. “Love can be temporary, too, but it has an everlasting effect. Sometimes, it becomes hard to breathe or think or even be without it.”

“That.” Elsa’s eyes brighten up.

She’s saying that because she’s living it with Aiden – who’s been watching her instead of the game, by the way, but why the hell am I saying it?

“You guys need help.” Teal shoves an earbud in her ear. Elsa laughs, hitting her shoulder with hers.

“Can I get juice, Kimmy?” Kir asks me.

“Sure thing, Monkey. And slow down.”

“Mmmm,” he speaks through his bite of cake, grinning up at me.

Teal and Elsa are still in their friendly banter. Knox and Ronan are shouting at the game while Aiden watches Elsa. Cole flips through a sociology book from Dad’s library.

The scene and the sounds disappear as I go into the kitchen. I open the refrigerator, but I don’t find Kir’s favourite apple juice.

I try the cupboard, but the top one won’t open. I stand on tiptoe and pull it hard, but still nothing.

Frustration bubbles into my blood, and it’s not because of the stupid cupboard.

My gaze strays to the house opposite us. It’s quiet, lifeless, and appears deserted.

Is this how I will act from now on? I’ll look at that house and fight the need to cry or something?

He could’ve not told me. He could’ve left and kept the entire thing to himself.

But is that what I want, really?

“Here.”

I push back as a taller body opens the cupboard for me. Cole smiles down at me as I retrieve the bottle of juice.

“Thanks.” I take it, then steal one last glance at the Knights’ house.

Will we meet on holidays now? Or will he cut off any relationship he has with Lewis – and, therefore, this place?

Lewis is my father. Uncle Lewis is my…father.

I shut down that idea before I can focus on it.

“He’s probably watching,” Cole says.

“W-what? Who?”

He leans against the counter and crosses his legs at the ankles. After Xander, Cole is probably the most attractive of the horsemen. His beauty is that calm, refined type. The kind that can belong to a handsome professor or a hotshot CEO.

His green eyes are dark and he gives off a composed façade – façade, because from what Elsa says and what I’ve noticed, Cole runs a lot deeper than what meets the eyes. While he’s kind and doesn’t talk much, he seems to know everything, and he has moments where he completely changes – like when he smirked as Silver ran away to hide her fear.

No good person would enjoy that. I’m not even close to Silver anymore and even I didn’t like seeing her that way.

He’s her stepbrother. He’s supposed to care more, not take pleasure in it.

“He can’t stop watching. It’s an impulse. He used to control it better in the past, but the alcohol is screwing up his judgement,” he continues in his neutral tone. “Xander, I mean.”

“Is his drinking issue bad?”

“Bad? He’s becoming an alcoholic.”

I swallow, my fingers shaking around the bottle. “Maybe it’s better he leaves then.”

“Better?” Cole’s eyes light up as if he’s a dog who found a bone. “So that means you’ve thought of another option to the situation.”

“Y-you know?”

He nods. “So does Aiden.”

Oh. That must be why Aiden said he might have information that explains Xander’s hatred. It was around the time he started getting involved with Elsa, but he never told me anything.

“Since when?” I ask Cole. “Why the hell did he tell you but not me?”

“He didn’t tell me. I connected the dots myself. He did tell Aiden, though, when he was drunk and vomiting his gut. He was complaining about how close you got to Knox after he beat him up.”