“I don’t know. My Variant has always led me true and never faltered. Should I follow the path that I’m being led towards?”

“Is it your Variant? Or is it you, Micah? You’ve never known anything other than feeling what others feel, knowing someone’s heart before they even know themselves. What’s in yours?” He pointed to the middle of my chest.

I hung my head, meandering his words. I honestly didn’t know. My Variant was an innate part of my psyche. I’d never had to compartmentalise my ability before, the thought alone disconcerting.

I huffed, no closer to the answer. “I wish she was here. She could have told me what made her leave Reeds for you.”

“Pfft. As if he could ever compare,” he said, his gaze clashing with mine.

I laughed at the blatant truth. As soon as Chase and Tanner met, there was no other for her—her boyfriend at the time included.

Will I regret breaking Psycho to gain the information that I covet? Will what I receive in return be worth the price?

Tanner’s gaze didn’t falter from my own, his suddenly clouded over with memory as he unintentionally got lost in my amber eyes—eyes that were exactly the same as my older sister’s, Chase.

A sharp spike of desperate longing escaped his form, quickly to be shut down again. His emotions must be severe if they managed to escape his Variant and ricochet into mine.

That happened occasionally. Usually when he was staring at me. This wasn’t lust or want, more the yearning for his previous lover. Out of all four sisters, Chase and I took after our father and looked the most alike.

Tanner blinked and visibly shuddered, attempting to shake off the fragments of past tragedy. We never spoke of those moments, our mixed pain potent enough without voicing them into reality.

“What will you do?” he asked.

I heaved in a long, steady breath, succumbing to my wrought emotions, submitting to my shame. “I have no choice but to leave. He’s unable to give me what I need, and I’m unwilling to use the methods to force the answers from him. I wouldn’t forgive myself.”

Tanner nodded. “If that’s what you wish.”

“Are you disappointed?”

“Each one of us has sacrificed so much to get here. I don’t expect for you to give even more, Micah. Neither would our sisters. I don’t want that for you, Chase wouldn’t want that for you. Don’t sacrifice what you find sacred, otherwise what you become by the end will be unrecognisable.”

“I’ll remain at Oakview until the Fundraiser Ball. Then I’ll leave.” It was an upcoming event attended by the social elite of Junction City. It would be remiss to forfeit the opportunity.

We remained in companionable silence, the city sounds drifting up to keep us company.

I eventually tipped to the side, my head resting against his shoulder. “I miss her. I’m sorry you lost her so young.”

“I am too.” He leant his cheek against the crown of my head. “But with her loss, I also gained all of you. I wish I was a part of your family with Chase by my side, however that doesn’t make me any less grateful.” Tanner drew an elongated breath. “There is nothing I hold higher than being your brother. It’s an honour that I dreamed and came into fruition through the worst of circumstances, and yet I wouldn’t change this for the world. We are the last remaining heirs of the King bloodline, and we will live up to our name.”

Chapter 10Psycho

As predicted, Nurse Katsy didn’t wait long to claim her payment.

Self-loathing peppered my insides as her signature one-two knock sounded at my door; a vibrant beat that infected each and every cell in my body with disgust. In grumbling protest, I hauled the door open to a simpering, pathetic sight.

Nurse Katsy attacked me with lustful fervour, tearing at my clothes, sharp claws snatching at my flesh. Each time she came to visit, she was like a bitch in heat, frothing for my cock, begging for a taste.

I couldn’t stand the fucking sight of her…and I also couldn’t risk her opening her big mouth and telling the rest of the Terror Squad about my correspondence with G. So, if I had to fill that gaping jaw to stop the words spilling from her lips, then that’s what I’d do.

She attempted to kiss me.

Strike fucking one.

I roughly shoved her to the ground and slammed the door shut. “What the fuck are you doing? Anyone could have seen you! There are cameras in the corridor.”

Unperturbed, she rose to her knees and tore at my waistband. “I’ll delete the footage, as I always do,” she said, slanting her lips into what she imagined was a seductive pose. “There are no cameras in here, though. We can do what we want.”

In record time, she had unzipped my pants and pulled my trunks out of the way. Before she could grab my soft cock, I broke her advance, using a firm hand. “No further without a condom. You know the deal.” My tone was unrelenting. As if I wanted more of her touch than necessary. I’d take any barrier that I could get between us.

Katsy pouted, and I wanted to slap the expression off her face. “You aren’t even hard yet.”

I snatched the wrapper from her eager fingers and palmed myself, yielding with hard, punishing strokes. Closing my eyes, thoughts scattered through my skull, all of Micah.

I replayed the kiss we shared, the feel of her honeyed skin under my rough touch. A groan escaped my closing throat, my dick throbbing from the desperate need to have her as I slipped the condom on.

“Look at you, so hard for me. You missed me, didn’t you?” A female voice cut through my mind with the effect of a cold shower, my cock shrinking from the unwanted intrusion. I looked down at the woman kneeling at my feet and when she opened her mouth to provide more commentary, I shoved forward, filling her throat.

Strike fucking two.

Re-closing my eyes, I retreated back to the promised land. Blonde tresses transformed into glossy brunette strands and brown, dead orbs converted into blazing amber irises.

My eyes peeled open at a quiet click of the door. Katsy remained on her knees, eating my dick in long, uncoordinated strokes, consumed in her ministrations. That wasn’t even the most disturbing sight.

My favoured hallucination appeared in the flesh. Micah popped her head through the crack of the door, her eyes roaming over the scene laid out before her. I watched a flash of hurt flicker over her face before a blank mask came slamming down in its place. Without a word of farewell, she silently shut the door, as if she was never there to begin with.

My chest and dick completely deflated. I shoved Katsy away and launched for the exit, readjusting my pants at speed.

Strike fucking three.

I found Micah in the maintenance closet, the very same one where we shared our first kiss.

How fucking ironic.

Micah leant against the far wall, hands flat beside her, chest heaving, eyes closed. I’d never seen her that unbalanced.

I blindly flicked the lock and approached her with caution. “What’s the matter, babe? Jealous?” I tried to come off light-hearted, but instead the words grated like daggers.

She shoved me back, my step faltering. Her strength was surprising. Micah attempted to push past without coming into direct contact. She failed only because I blocked her exit with my broad frame.

“Why’d you come to my room?”

Her perfectly plump lips lifted into a sneer. “Fern told me to check on you. Said you requested to see me.”

That prick. He’d definitely caught Katsy sneaking around on surveillance. I shoved a hand through my hair. “He’s watching the cameras. Probably knows we’re in here right now. Fuck!”

“Then let me leave.” Micah tried to push past me again, but there was no way that shit was going to happen unless she wanted to throw down right then and there. From the look on her face, the last thing she wanted to do was touch me (or be anywhere near me, for that matter). Bitterness crept up from my gut at the revulsion in her eyes.