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Lev
For an entire week I’ve watched Scout be shunned, made fun of, and treated like a pariah at Scarsdale High. All because of one asshole: Justin Hearst. I may have ended up with three broken ribs, a fractured jaw, and more bruises than I can count on my body from my run-in with dear old Dad, but I’m not too beaten up to keep my promises.
I’m also lucky enough to have a little help from my friends.
King, River, and Saint stand beside me in the dark outside the Hearst Mansion. Slowly, quietly, we climb the fence and drop down into the yard, then we sneak around the back of the house to the gaming room. Hearst is alone, watching porn—watching some crusty snuff film with a woman old enough to be his mother—as he plays with his pin dick. King busts down the door. Feminine moans and then screams come from the huge flat-screen as the woman is hacked to death and a shriek equally as girly comes from Justin. He stands there with his hands over his junk, his balls swinging in the breeze, sweats down around his ankles, his eyes wide, mouth open wider, and a horrified look on his face.
I pull out my phone and snap a few choice pictures for the yearbook.
“Well, well, it seems Hearst has a thing for violence,” I say to my brothers.
“Looks like.” King cracks his knuckles on the end of his baseball bat.
“Certainly seems that way after holding my sister down and attempting to rape her.” Saint leans against the mantel, the picture of reserved rage. Inside, I know his heart is every bit as black as mine, and he can’t wait to see Justin bleed.
“Your sister came on to me.”
“Gosh, let’s not do anything to make Saint mad,” I say.
Saint strides forward and punches him in the nose.
“Oops! You made him mad.” I snap another picture. This one of Justin holding his bleeding—very likely broken—nose. “That’s the thing about rape—she’s not coming onto you if she’s bent over the hood of a car screaming for you to let her go.”
“Come on, you know how girls are. They want it, they don’t. She didn’t know what she wanted.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. If I know anything about Scout Taylor it’s that she knows exactly what she wants and she’s never been shy about demanding it.”
“Amen, brother,” King says.
River just nods from his position by the door.
“Wanna know what else I know about the Taylors?” I circle Justin like prey, leaving him just enough room to think he can escape. The truth is, there is no escape from this punishment. It’s been coming a long-ass time, and it’s gonna hurt like hell in the harsh light of day.
He shakes his head, glancing from Saint to me, then to King, and finally at the bag in River’s hand.
“They’re big on revenge,” I whisper from behind him. “All of us Royals are, really.”
River comes forward and hands me Saint’s black weekender, and I tip out the contents, all over Justin. Dildos of every size litter the floor. There are rolls of duct tape and lengths of rope, and lastly, every letter he sent to Scout outlining his plans for blackmail.
“You fuck with The Royals, we fuck you back, harder, and so much worse than you ever imagined,” I say through my teeth,
“You won’t get away with this,” Justin spits.
“Maybe, maybe not. But I have three other girls willing to testify in court that you did to them exactly what you did to Scout. Know what else we found? The IP address of the original uploader of one little sex tape. And guess where it leads? Right here, to a computer owned by none other than Justin Theodore Hearst. You know the cops don’t take too kindly to the distribution of child pornography, and since Scout is technically only seventeen ...”
“You, dumb fuck.” River shakes his head. “Do you know how easy it was to trace that link back to you?”
“What are you going to do?”
“First, we’re gonna fuck you up real good and proper, and the rest depends on you,” I say, grabbing his hair and yanking his head back. “You ever talk to her again, you look at her, you so much as fucking breathe in the same room as her and all of your little secrets come to light.”
“And to the attention of the Scarsdale police,” River says with a smirk.
“But more than that, you ever bother Scout again, and I’ll kill you with my bare hands. You’re lucky Saint was there to stop me in that hospital, or you’d already be dead.”
“I won’t.” Justin shakes his head, his cheeks ruddy and lined with tears. “I won’t even look at her.”
“Mmhmm. I’d like to believe that, but I’m just not convinced yet. Saint, would you like to do the honors?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” Saint steps forward and bends to grab a roll of duct tape. He elbows Justin in the face, knocking two teeth clean out of the little rodent-fucker’s mouth. Saint picks them up from the floor and smiles.
“Trophy,” he says as he pockets them, and then he picks up a short dildo from the floor. Saint pulls up a length of tape and places it over the end of the latex dick and then jams it into Justin’s mouth. His protests are muffled as Saint winds the tape the whole way around the fucker’s head. Saint produces a knife. Justin’s eyes grow wide and he shakes his head.
“One other thing you should know about Saint ... he likes his knives. A lot.” I chuckle. “And people think I’m the scary one.”
Saint lifts the knife to Justin’s face and kisses his skin with the wicked-sharp blade. He applies barely any pressure and the finest line of ruby-red blood wells on Justin’s cheek. Saint slices through the tape with ease and the roll drops to the carpet with a thud. He pockets the knife, and picks up a bundle of red rope.
Justin shouts behind his gag. Saint bends and ties Hearst’s hands behind his back, and shoves him with his boot. Justin falls forward, his large body hitting the floor like a sack of shit. Saint sits on his ass, pulling Justin’s legs back towards him, and then, with a few easy maneuvers that come far too naturally to my best friend, Justin is bound, naked, and hogtied in his gaming room.
“Damn, son,” King crows. “That’s gotta be some kind of record.”
Saint shrugs, but his grin is cocky and self-assured. “My record is one minute. If this fucker didn’t squirm so much, it might have been less.”
“Jesus,” I say, clapping Saint on the back. “Remind me never to enter your Red Room of Pain.”
“Like you’d ever be invited.”
“Can we get on with this?” River says impatiently. “Violet’s texting me every ten minutes to bring her candy and pizza pockets.”
King laughs. “You’re so fucking pussy whipped.”
“Oh, like you aren’t? I see you sniffing around Blythe.”
King just shrugs as Saint fastens another rope to Justin’s arms and more still around his legs. Then he hands River one length and tilts his chin to the corner of the room. Saint takes his rope and hoists Justin off the ground, tying it off against the banister before securing River’s side to the heavy oak billiards table. The kid squeals like a little pig, but he’s not going anywhere.
“Voila. Hog-tied pinata.” Saint stands back and appraises his work, and of course I snap a few more incriminating pictures. King hands Saint the baseball bat, and my friend grins like the lunatic he truly is. “Let’s see if I can win a prize.”
He swings. Bone cracks. Justin cries out behind his gag. And me? I smile. This asshole is going to take everything we give, get everything he deserves. You don’t fuck with The Royals without getting fucked in return.
***
I SNAP THE LAST PICTURE and smile at our handiwork. Justin is still hogtied with a dildo in his mouth, a plethora of rubber cocks around him, and a baseball bat sticking out his ass.
We steal out into the night like phantoms and climb into our getaway cars: King and River in his Jeep, and me with Saint in his mom’s Mercedes.
Saint smiles at me from the driver’s seat. “Where to? Home or the hospital?”
“Home.”
“My parents are back, but you’re welcome to stay if you want.”
“Nah, I don’t think I’d be welcome,” I say quietly. Saint shoots me a quizzical look but I blurt out, “For what it’s worth, I like this darker side of you.”
“Of course you do. That’s why we’re friends, isn’t it? My darkness calls to yours.”
“Something like that.” I stare out the windshield, unable to meet his gaze. “You’re gonna need it to take care of her.”
Saint shakes his head and darts his eyes from the road to me. “Aww, man. Don’t do this shit.”
“I have to. You know I have to. I can’t stay here.”
“Because running away solves everything, right?”
“I’m not running. I’m leaving so your sister can have the kind of man she deserves.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Navrin.” I stare out the windshield at the empty streets. This town looks so quaint and peaceful from the outside, but it’s filled with predators, thirsting for blood, fighting for dominance. “She deserves a man like Navrin.”
“And what if she doesn’t want Navrin?”
“Then she doesn’t know what’s good for her.”
“Careful. You’re starting to sound an awful lot like Justin.”
“You know what I mean, Saint. Together they can heal one another. He needs her more than I do right now.”
“So that’s it. You break up a perfectly good relationship, you ruin her life and your brother’s, and you’re out? You got my little sister beneath you and now you’re done?”
“It isn’t like that. You know it isn’t.”
“What I know is that you’re a fucking coward.”
“You’re right. I am. And she deserves better, don’t you think?”
He bangs his head against the seat rest. “Fuck!” Saint sighs and glances at me. “She’s never going to forgive you for this, Lev.”
I nod and swallow hard. “I’m counting on it.”