Crooked Crows by Elena Lawson

I used the back door,like I always did, creeping into the silent lemon-scented halls of Briar Hall. Pro tip? No one ever checked to make sure that one was locked, and slipping a plug into the lock slot on my way out had always worked. Though I thought I could climb up to my window using the weathered brick facade and climbing vines if I ever needed to.

A violent buzzing almost had me tripping over my own feet, and I cursed in the dark as I rooted around in the lining of the oversized jacket for my cell, expecting a text from Becca.

Instead, the screen lit green with a text from another problem I didn’t fucking need right now.

Unknown: You should have killed the dark one while you had the chance, but now I see I’ll have to do it for you. Nobody touches what’s mine.

Rage flared back to life in my veins like liquid fire and I saw red, my thumbs jabbing the keypad to the point of cracking glass.

Ava Jade: I belong to no one, asshole. Text me again, and I’ll find you and gut you like the animal you are. Fuck. Off.

The reply was immediate.

Unknown: That’s my girl.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in before flicking over the screen to get the unknown phone number, I committed it to memory before blocking it. Even if it wouldn’t help, since whatever piece of shit this was liked to change phones every few days, at least it would shut him up for tonight. I had enough on my goddamned mind as it was.

Safe to say it wasn’t Corvus, though, or any of the Crows as I’d once thought, unless this was an attempt at misdirection, which was also entirely plausible.

Groaning, I stuffed the phone back into my jacket and pushed the hair from my face, deciding to stuff away the added stress in a back corner of my mind. Ignore it. At least for now.

I could analyze later. I could find whoever it was and pour bleach in their eyeballs and chop off their thumbs later.

Removing my heels, I padded up the narrow back staircase the janitors used, avoiding the main floor and second floor cameras. I fumbled with the keys once at the door, my hands still infuriatingly unsteady after what happened.

I swallowed past the dry lump in my throat, cursing my weakness, as I finally sheathed the key in the lock and twisted. The door opened out of my hand before I could even push. The darkened shape of a disheveled Becca filled the entry.

“Hey,” she said, bag of M&M’s in hand. “Thought that was—”

She paused mid-sentence, backing up a step to flip on the hall light. I lifted an arm to shield my eyes, wincing.

“Girl, what the fuck happened?” she demanded, hustling me inside and shutting the door behind me.

I tossed my jacket and the small clutch swaddled within it to the floor and ran my palms over my face, sighing as I dragged my tired feet to the couch. Fear Street was paused with a still-image of a screaming female face filling the entirety of the sixty-inch screen.

Becca shut it off and my own reflection appeared in the black, not looking much better than the girl that’d been there before. She rooted around under the magazine covered coffee table until the rattle of her metal tin rang out around us.

“Here,” she said, passing me a joint. “You look like you could use it.”

I put it to my lips gratefully, leaning forward on the sofa as she flicked on her torch lighter. I inhaled deeply, my tensed muscles relaxing already as I blew out a cloud of pot smoke.

I passed her the joint and glanced up in search of smoke alarms.

“I disabled those months ago,” she said without my need to ask. “I usually just smoke outside, but fuck it, they won’t say shit to me anyway.”

She took a long drag and went to pass it back, but I shook my head. The edge had been taken off, any more and I wouldn’t be able to stay as sharp as I needed to be.

“So, you going to tell me what the hell happened, or…?”

I sighed heavily, letting my head fall back against the cushions.

“I mean, you don’t have to, I just—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted her. It might be nice to talk about it, and even though I’d only known Becca for a few weeks now, I really felt like I could trust her. But feeling like I could and knowing I could were two different things. There were some things she could know. Others, not so much. Not yet.

“I went to Sanctum tonight,” I admitted, trying to suss out how much I wanted to share. “Rook was fighting there, in the basement.”

“I’ve heard of that place,” Becca mused. “I think my dad actually went there once for a match, before the Saints started buying up all the properties in Thorn Valley and pushed him out further South.”

She snuffed out her joint and tucked her legs up under her on the sofa, getting comfortable. “If Rook was the one fighting, why do you look like shit?”

“Thanks,” I scoffed, bringing two fingers up to pinch the bridge of my nose. There was a nasty headache forming behind my eyes, and it was just adding insult to injury. “I fought, too,” I told her. “Afterward. With Rook. In the street.”

“What?” she gushed, leaning in. When I chanced a look in her direction, her brown eyes were wide with worry. “Why? Oh my god, are they coming after you?”

Becca’s gaze flicked fearfully to the door.

“No, I don’t think so.”

She cocked her head. “Okay, I don’t think I’m following. What exactly is going on?”

I met her stare, curious if she would be able to see the truth in my eyes. The one I didn’t want to admit. Not even to myself.

She gasped, her hand going to her mouth. “Shit,” she said on a breath. “You want them, don’t you? And they’ve made no secret about wanting to claim you.”

I looked away, and she stiffened next to me.

Becca blew out a breath. I couldn’t look at her as I worked my jaw, unable to confirm or deny her suspicions. I wanted to dick punch them as much as I wanted to fuck them, but that was just semantics.

“Fuck, babe. That’s…”

“Insane?”

“Hot.”

I twisted back around, my face screwing up into a scowl. “What?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, I mean, they’re dangerous. Fucking total psychos. Criminals. But…”

“But what?”

“But they are three of the most powerful men in this city. They are definitely the hottest guys in this school. Girl! You could have your own reverse harem! And I know you can handle them. I mean, I’ve had some pretty vivid dreams about handling them myself.”

My stomach soured.

She laughed, oblivious to my green-eyed monster trying to lay claim to property that was definitely not hers.

She stopped laughing abruptly, her eyes gleaming. “Oh fuck! Bri would absolutely shit if you ever fucked Grey.”

I winced.

“Oh my god you fucked Grey?”

“A little bit.”

She shoved me, pulling a blanket into her lap to get comfortable. “Tell me everything.”

So, I did. At least the parts I could. About my confusing split feelings and how I wasn’t sure yet if I wanted to fuck them or bury them. How I might just do both. It didn’t change anything though.

Tomorrow night when they went to meet with the Aces, I was going to be there. I would buy my freedom by whatever means necessary, whether or not I dreamed of Corvus’s hands on my body tonight. Or Grey’s cock thrusting into my pussy. Or Rook’s dark eyes, his bloodstained face. The power behind his punch.

...the moment I thought he was going to kiss me when he lifted that envelope out of my reach. How my traitorous heart nearly stopped.

None of that mattered because they made their stance clear. To them, it was either me on my knees or hell on earth at Briar Hall. That shit wasn’t going to fly. Not as long as I was still breathing.

It was time to trap some Crows.