Tarnished Crown (Gravestone Elite #2) by Caitlyn Dare (books like beach read TXT) 📕

his mouth, from Cade's hit or the previous guy’s, who knows. Cade steps in front of him and drops to his haunches. "Regretting it yet?" he snarls in the guy's face.

He doesn't give him an answer, just averts his gaze, but I think that pisses Cade off even more.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, cunt." His fist connects with his eye, and his head snaps back once more. But again, no noise.

Cade points at his head, between his brows. "Right here, Rexford. You think you can hit the target?"

Alex doesn't respond, his entire body now trembling in fear.

"Come closer. Give yourself half a chance."

Alex hesitantly steps forward.

"That's it." Cade comes to stand beside him. "Now lift your arm. Aim and pull that motherfucking trigger."

His voice doesn't sound like his own. He sounds… excited.

It's just another clue to how fucked up he really is.

"O-okay." Alex does as he's told, and I suck in a sharp breath.

I really don't want this for him. Killing someone will eat him alive, I just know it.

Everyone around me gasps simultaneously, and only two seconds later, the sound of a round firing makes us all jump. But when I look, the guy is still alive, Alex is trembling violently, and the gun is hanging limply in his hand.

"What the fuck, Rexford? Do it again."

"I… I can't," Alex whimpers.

"Motherfucker." Cade slams his palm into Alex's chest. "This is why Q won't let Channing go. They know what a fucking pussy his replacement is. Kill him, or there will be repercussions for you, Rexford."

Unable to watch Alex take Cade's wrath, I take a step forward. "I'll do it. Just leave him alone. He's not ready."

Cade turns his manic eyes on me. "Fine,” he smirks, almost triumphantly, “but next time, the kill is his."

Alex looks up at me, his eyes full of unshed tears, but he nods in agreement.

A smile twitches at my lips.

I owe Alex this. After everything he did for me when I first arrived—even if Marcus did set it up—he's been nothing but good to me.

I take the gun from his still trembling hand and lift it to the guy who's silently staring at the floor. Taking aim, and without putting another thought into it, I fire.

"We done here?" I ask, knowing without looking that I hit my target.

"Moore, Cargill, clean up. We'll be waiting in the cars," Cade barks and marches past me as if this is just a normal day.

I guess maybe it is for him.

I follow him out with my heart in my throat and my stomach churning.

Swallowing down the contents of my lunch, I force myself to plaster on a blank expression as if what I just did was nothing. That I’m as much a monster as Cade.

The reality is, I’m not going to forget what I just did for a long, long time.

14

Mia

“You’re alive.” Annabel smirks at me as I open the door wider and let her in.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Relax, I’ve accepted my fate as an outsider.”

“Bel, it isn’t like that—”

“Yeah, Mia. It is.” She kicks off her pumps and plops herself on my bed. “But you’re my best friend, so I’m willing to overlook the fact that you’re practically one of them now.”

“If it’s any consolation, I hate it.” I sit down and nudge her shoulder with mine.

“Well, I have news.” Her eyes light up. “Jared Clifton asked me out on a date.”

“Jared? The guy from the party?” It had been the one at the beginning of the semester.

“Yep. He took me to that cute little diner downtown, you know the one with the jukebox, and then we went to a drive-in movie just outside town.”

“Sounds nice.” Jealousy snakes through me.

“It was. I’m seeing him again tomorrow.”

“Good for you, Bel.” I give her a thin smile.

“What about you? How’s Cade?”

“As much an asshole as ever,” I grumble.

“It can’t be that bad… he’s so freaking hot.”

“Trust me, his good looks do not balance out his shitty personality.”

“What did you do all weekend?”

“There was a party… it was—”

“Insiders only, got it.” Dejection swirls in her eyes, and I hate it. I hate that this is causing such a rift between me and my only true friend. I mean, I like to think of Sasha as a friend too now, but she’s one of them. It isn’t the same. Our paths would never have crossed if it wasn’t for the Eligere.

“You didn’t miss much,” I quickly add. “Then I hung out some with Sasha.”

“And Bexley?”

“What about him?” I shrug.

“Well, what’s happening there?”

“Nothing. It’s over.”

“But—”

“No buts, Bel. It’s too risky.” Memories of Bexley’s hands on me, his lips tracing my skin and branding me as he fucked me on the counter fill my mind. My body heats, remembering how good it felt… how good he felt.

“Mia?”

I snap out of my reverie, forcing a smile. “It’s done,” I say, the words twisting something inside me.

We’re not done, not by a long shot. But Annabel doesn’t need to know that. No one does. Well, not except Sasha and Channing, but at least I know they won’t be in any hurry to reveal what happened in her room.

“So Jared?” I change the subject. “Do you like him?”

“Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, he’s cute, and he seems into me…”

“I sense a but there.”

“There wasn’t that spark.” Her expression falls.

“But it was only your first date.”

“Yeah, but I always imagined when I met the right guy, I’d feel… more, you know?”

I do.

Because it’s exactly what I felt with Bexley down by the lake, the first night we met.

“Well, don’t write him off too soon. Besides, no one says you have to marry the first guy you date.” My breath catches.

Annabel won’t have to marry anyone she doesn’t want to… but I will.

The next day, I hatch my plan. I don’t even know what I’ll find at the Town Hall, but it seems like the best place to start. I spend the day flitting between classes. At lunch, I eat with Cade and the Electi in their private dining