Hers To Keep (Servite Academy #2)

Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

SCARLETT

I t’s one thing to keep up appearances and act like everything is normal in front of my friends, his friends, and the others here today and back at the academy, but it’s another thing to pretend in private.

I won’t be giving in to that so easily.

Ace may get me to share a room with him, but I will not be sharing his bed. I repeat the mantra in my head over and over, hoping if I say it enough, my body and mind will hear my pleas.

Because so far, as much as I’m determined to get my vengeance on him and his uncle, I’ve been helpless when it comes to Ace Servite.

Being helpless is not something I’m used to.

I set my bag down on the small gray couch that sits beside the giant four-poster bed and finally look around at the rest of my surroundings. The bedroom is wide and bright, walls painted a light shade of olive green, and a full-length window and balcony overlook the back of the cabin leading into the surrounding woods. I walk over to the balcony, open the door, and let the cool breeze hit me like a blanket of ice, cooling the fire that’s been burning inside of me for days.

A fire ignited by the betrayals and lies spewed by the Servite men. Only here and now, taking in the view before me somewhat calms my inner blaze. The view ahead of me is not only beautiful and serene, but absolutely liberating. One thing is the magnificence of the vast ocean back at Ace’s beach house, but this, this is nature at its finest. Rows and rows of trees in all shades of green, red, and yellow, nearly all barren of leaves that have fallen atop the drying grass, ready to shed its past and be reborn into majestic green and fruitful trees come spring. In the far back, mountains with their first white peaks of snow sit behind the gleam of the moonlight peeking in.

A soft knock startles me and my body tenses fearing it’s Ace, already back for more of his heinous taunting, but I realize it can’t be him, he’d never knock. He’d just barge in like he owned the place, like he does everywhere he goes. To his defense he does practically own it all, and deep inside I’m loathing the idea that he truly owns me as well.

My life is indebted to the Servite men. Out of fear, because I’m powerless against them, regardless of the reason they hold all control over me and there is nothing I can do but play along like the good little girl they need me to be.

“Come in,” I call out, walking back over to the bed to unpack my clothes and place them inside the chest of drawers beside the window. I’m going to be here for at least a week so might as well get somewhat comfortable.

“Didn’t know if you were planning on coming back down?” Stella says, standing in the doorway, her strawberry blonde hair a tad shorter, falling in soft waves on her shoulders framing her flawless, makeup free face. She’s dressed in her usual preppy chic style, light blue jeans, a cream-colored knit Henley, and a thin cardigan in the shade of dusty rose. Her look is complete with tan flats with a golden buckle and a matching pink headband.

As I stand here in leggings and a gray cropped hoodie, we’d never look to be friends to any outsider walking by, but Stella has become like family to me. She’s a breath of fresh air amongst the chaos that is my life, the one person who can bring me back when I threaten to fall apart.

“Wasn’t planning to, figured I’d unpack, and you and Jade would come up to find me. Was hoping I’d get to skip out on whatever’s going on downstairs.”

She steps further inside and sits on the bed beside me, her hands nervously fiddling on her lap. “Jade’s down at the lake with Kai, Jax, and Ruby. They took some coolers full of beer and some wood for the firepit. The guys went to the nearby town to pick up some food and some other things they forgot, while Wynter and the girls have yet to emerge from their rooms.”

“And you skipped out on all the fun?” I ask, setting my makeup bag on the bed next to her.

“I came to check on you,” she says, shifting toward me, a worried look on her face as she watches me deflect what she’s really asking.

“I’m fine, Stella. You should have gone out to the lake with them.”

“I kind of told Jade I’d stay and convince you to come down with me,” she adds, placing her hand on mine. I look up at her, her round gray eyes, looking hopeful and sympathetic as she looks in mine. Like she can feel the hurt within me, as if she senses my anger, and is trying to calm me. Stella’s greatest gift is that she is an empath. I guess in the end it also might be her biggest flaw.

I don’t need her to understand me. I don’t want her to calm me. This rage inside keeps me going. Without it the pain, the hurt will consume me, and I am afraid of what will become of me if it does.

“Not really in the mood today, Silver. Maybe later.” I pull my hand away, putting my dead phone to charge on the night table beside the bed, hoping she’ll take a hint and leave me be. Obviously, she doesn’t.

“Come on, Scarlett, it will be fun I promise,” she whines, falling back on the bed with a loud thump.

Maybe she’s right. Maybe hanging out with them, my old friends will allow me to hide away from Ace longer. Being around Stella and Jade may be just what I need. I’m sure the others are not keen on speaking to me yet, after my break-up with Drake and him not being here because of it. I can only imagine the fallout if they find out what happened to Drake because of Ace. Because of me and my failure to keep him safe and out of harm's way.

My heart aches when his face appears in my mind, bloody and bruised. Everything I saw just hours ago, fresh in my mind. I have to make things right between us, and I will do that as soon as we get back to town.

“Fine, you win, Silver, you’re lucky I can never say no to you. Just give me a few minutes to change and I’ll meet you downstairs.” She claps her hands, giddy and proud of her accomplishment as stands and turns to me before walking off.

“You sure you’re okay, Scarlett? We were worried you guys wouldn’t show. Figured you didn’t want to run into Drake, but then he didn’t show either, so we thought maybe you'd heard the queens were coming.”

I tense at her mention of Drake. “Did he say why he didn’t come?” I ask, anxiously.

“No but figured that was self-explanatory.” I should have guessed his absence wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone given the circumstances between him, Ace and me. The guys must have realized they wouldn’t be questioned about his no-show, one less thing to worry about.

“Yeah, we just ended up staying longer at Ace’s house.” The lie comes easily, like it’s become second nature to me to spew lie after lie to those I care about.

“Okay. I’ll wait for you downstairs, then. ”

Once Stella leaves, I grab a pair of ripped jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt. Picking up my makeup bag, I head over to the adjoining bathroom to change, and quickly apply a few coats of mascara and a bit of liner, hoping to hide my swollen eyes that cried all night and morning. I let my hair, which has now air dried, down from the loose bun it was in, letting it fall down my back.

I’m not mentally prepared for whatever tonight will bring, but I know it’s crucial to keep a face of indifference. I need to find the strength to act as if the last few days haven’t happened. Act as if I didn’t just see my mother again after over three years, looking every bit as pretentious as these fiends act. As if I didn’t see my stepdad murdered in cold blood before me by my boyfriend. Act as if my boyfriend and his friends didn’t beat my ex-boyfriend half to death. Act as if I haven’t once again sold what bit remains of my soul to the devil himself.

Changing my mind, I head back into the room quickly taking off the outfit I first chose and decide instead on a more provocative pair of black cut-offs and a red cropped tank with a peephole in the middle of my chest giving a lot more cleavage than I’m used to. I grab my hoodie from the bed but throw it back, deciding instead to slip into a thin black cardigan I borrowed from Stella once and never returned.

I’ll be freezing my ass off, but it'll be worth Ace losing his head over the way his boys look at me in this getup. The way their sensual gazes will linger over my body from head to toe. I see the way they look at me when I’m around, the things they’ve said to him about me. The Horsemen may hate me, hate the fact that I’m with their king, but I have no doubt they’d want me as theirs given the chance.

Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I gaze into the eyes of the seductive temptress I need to become. They want me to play nice, nice is what they’re going to get. They won’t see it coming.