Chapter 15: Jokes & Games


    Blythe’s P.O.V.


    I couldn’t believe that Karma wasn’t yelling at me right now. I mean, Karma doesn’t really yell, but still. How am I not in trouble? Everly was right, I did disrespect him and the club. I hid it well after Everly’s insult, but I


    didn’t think that Karma was really going to just let it go.


    I


    We silently walked side-by-side down the hall. I was too afraid to look at him, so I kept my eyes straight.


    Butter meowed a few times, but other than that it was silent.


    At the end of the hall we could have turned either left or right, but Karma actually stopped at thest door on the left. He turned the handle and walked inside. I timidly followed after him, looking around.


    The room is pretty bare. There’s a full-sized bed in the corner under a wall, a bedside table beside it, a


    vanity on the other side of the room next to the door, a closet, and another door that leads to a small


    bathroom. The walls were light gray and bare of anything else. There were no towels or anything else in the bathroom either. The room was clearly vacant.


    “I’ll get someone to bring you sheets and towels,” Karma told me, but made no move to leave.


    “Sure,” I muttered, not really believing that he would.


    I sat down on the bed and put Butter’s carrier on the floor. I opened the little cage door and Butter slowly came out, sniffing the ground as he did so. He rubbed himself over my legs and meowed. I smiled as I


    picked him up and set him on myp.


    “I’ll get stuff for the cat too,” Karma said. “Tonight.”


    “Kay, well, if he pi.sses on the carpet before that happens, it’s not my fault.” I replied.


    “I’ll go get it now,” he bit out, probably irritated that I clearly didn’t believe him.


    Karma stomped to the door, his eyes burning a hole in the side of my head. I ignored him, secretly counting down the seconds for him to leave. I wanted to be alone, where I could cry and be weak in


    peace.


    Unfortunately, I wasn’t so lucky.


    The moment Karma opened the door, C.G. was standing on the other side with his fist raised like he was about to know. He moved his eyes from Karma to me. I looked away from him, focusing on Butter and scratching behind his ears. Petting Butter and listening to him purr is so rxing for me.


    “Uh, can Ie in?” C.G. asked.


    “Yeah,” Karma replied. “Keep an eye on her while I go get-”


    “I was asking her,” C.G. cut him off, a bit of a bite to his tone. Wow, trouble between brothers. I wonder


    Chapter 15 Jokes & Games


    * Poindex


    what that’s about. C.G. has always been the silent, loyal type. Karma must have really done something to pi.ss him off. “This is her room, isn’t it?” He asked.


    Karma only sighed before turning to look at me.


    “Do I really even get a choice?” I asked.


    “No,” Karma said.


    “Yes,” C.G. said at the same time.


    I sighed as C.G. red at Karma.


    “You don’t have to let me in if you don’t want to, Bly,” C.G. told me, his voice calm and gentle, just like I


    remember.


    “Then no,” I replied, feeling like I was seconds away from crumbling. “I’d rather be alone, thanks.”


    “Alone?” C.G. muttered, confused and hurt. Probably because I used to hate being alone more than anything in the world. Now I know better though. It’s better to be alone.


    “Listen here, Missy,” Karma said, bending down to get in my face. “You are never going to be alone here. At least not until I fu.cking say otherwise. I don’t trust you not to run, so, you’ll have a prospect on you at all


    times. At least watching your every move from somewhere.”


    “Until I talk to my mother,” I stated, giving him a hard look. “And the moment she sees me and acts the


    same way Evander just did… you can throw me out on the street. I’ll find my way after that.”


    I looked back down at Butter as silence filled the room. He was still rubbing himself all over me, trying to


    get me to pet him more. I obliged, loving that at least this little guy loves me if nobody else does.


    “Why would you think Ang would act like that?” C.G. mumbled.


    I rolled my eyes, but refused to answer.


    Either Mom was good at hiding her true feelings, even after she didn’t have to anymore, or they were all


    messing with me. Could be either. Mom had me fooled too after all. So that she could look like a good


    mother. At least, it had to be that. Because why else would she care so little about me as soon as I was


    out of her sight?


    Not to mention how she was when I was still living with her. I heard her say that I was the daughter she


    never wanted. I heard with my own ears exactly how my mother really felt about me.


    I don’t put it past any of them to be messing with me either though. Why would they? I have no idea. Why does anyone do anything? Why did my own father abuse me? Why did Silent Divine do what they did? Why did my husband lie and trick me?


    I don’t know why people do what they do, but my time at Silent Divine taught me a very important thing… People are cruel for no reason. They do things simply because they like to, because it makes them feel powerful and in control. People can’t be trusted.


    “Where even is Ang?” Karma asked. “Let’s get their sh.it over with, so Blythe can’t stop trying to y this bullsh.it sympathy card.”


    “Oh, uh, Tusk took her to the cabin for a little vacation…” C.G. said, ncing at me. “You know this time of year is hard for her.”


    Why’s that? Because my birthday wasst month? Because nine years ago, around this time was when my father came and took me away?


    I seriously doubted that. They probably go to celebrate another year without me. Another year of their perfect lives while I lie in the shadows with monsters.


    “When are theying back?” Karma asked.


    C.G. shrugged.


    “Last year they were up there for like a week or two,” he replied.


    “I’ll give him a call,” Karma mumbled. “Stay here and guard her door if she won’t let you in. I’ll be right back


    with stuff for the cat.” And with that, he was gone.


    “His name is Butter!” I shouted after him, irritated that he kept referring to Butter as “the cat”.


    C.G. snorted, drawing my attention to him.


    “Butter?” He asked, amused, his hazel eyes twinkling. “Why’d you name him Butter?”


    Am I really going to do this?


    “I found him behind the diner I was working at one night,” I said. Guess I’m really doing this. “He was


    licking a stick of butter. It kinda just fit, I guess.”


    “It’s cute,” he replied. “I always pictured you as a cat person.”


    “Really?” I asked, looking up at him with a raised brow.


    C.G. beamed at me as he walked into my room, slowly walking towards me.


    “Yeah,” he said. “I knew that when we moved in together, we would have at least six cats and four dogs.”


    I couldn’t help the sputter ofughter that bubbled out of me.


    “Moved in together?” I asked,ughing. “Why so many pets?”


    C.G. shrugged before plopping down on the bed next to me.


    “Well, our kids would need some four-legged friends, right?” he said, making myughter stop and my face heat up. “And married couples live together Bly. You should know that.” My eyes snapped to him as confusion and shock disabled my tongue. “They even sleep in the same bed together,” he added in a low voice, smirking at me.


    “W-what?” I stuttered. “W-who said we were getting married?”


    C.G. shrugged again before he leaned back on his hands.


    “It was always my dream,” he told him, smiling brightly. “I was going to make you my ol’dy the day you turned 18. I was going to marry you, and you were going to have my babies. It was all I ever wanted.”


    I frowned at C.G. as his words sunk in. <fn8ae0> ???s ??????? ?s ?????? ?? find?novel</fn8ae0>


    “Is this a joke?” I asked, my tone shaking with fury.


    “What?” he asked, confused.


    I shook my head, begging my tears to stay hidden just a little while longer.


    “Just get out,” I said. “I don’t need your bullsh.it games. Leave me alone.”


    “Bly, what are you talking about?” he asked. “What joke? What games? I was being honest.”


    I scoffed and clicked my tongue at that.


    Do I even justify that with an answer? I mean, they all made it pretty clear that I meant nothing to them. I suspected it before I moved with Daniel, but I still had hope. Especially for Tae. Especially after all those times that we kissed. He gave me my first hickey that night in the closet. I really thought that, if not the others, at least I meant something to Tae.


    But I didn’t. I never meant anything to anybody. I learned that the hard way.


    “Blythe, please, talk to me-”


    “I think you should just go,” I cut him off, refusing to look at him.


    “Fireball…” C.G. said softly, but I ignored him.


    “Leave her alone for now,” Karma said, announcing that he was back. He had a liter box which he set in the corner of the bathroom, and two bowls for food and water. “We don’t have cat food, but there’s some leftover, cooked chicken I shredded for him. I’ll get food tomorrow,” he told me.


    As if Butter knew how I was feeling, he didn’t move from myp. He sat on my thighs, facing the two men. After a moment of silence, C.G. stood up with a sigh. I could tell he was reluctant to move, but I refused to look him in the eyes still.


    “Call the guys in for church, the ones that aren’t wasted right now,” Karma told C.G., who nodded before walking out of my room. “I’ll have one of the club girls bring you sheets and towels. I’m trusting you without a guard tonight, but be warned that I’ve already told the brothers not to let you leave. Someone is always keeping an eye on you, whether you know it or not, Blythe. Remember that.”


    “Creepy,” I muttered.


    Karma sighed, but didn’t say anything else. Finally, he left, closing my door and leaving me alone. Butter jumped from myp, heading straight for his food bowl.


    And I finally let myself crumble.