Chapter 13: Teague

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the academy library. Not because I was some big reader, but because it was quiet there. Private. So few people bothered to hang out there, and that’s how I liked it. I loved my brothers, but sometimes it was easier to breathe without the bickering and raised tension. It had been a long time since we’d fought like this and even longer since we’d laid hands on each other. And it was all for nothing. Well, I couldn’t say that. It was for a girl, and nothing more. A girl we barely knew, and yet somehow she had us all falling at her feet, begging for her attention.
What a fucking joke. The Rogues didn’t beg. No, women begged for us.
With a sigh, I leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath, using my fingers to rub my temples to ward off the incoming headache that threatened to take over. The medications Doctor Carter currently had me on seemed to work all right as far as bipolar meds went, but a not-so-fun side effect was the excruciating migraines that sometimes became debilitating when my stress was out of hand. It was a small price to pay to keep my moods stabilized, but sometimes it felt like there really was no winning. If the meds helped one thing, then they managed to fuck up something else. Then again, I’d take the headaches over being swallowed up into a black hole of depression and anxiety every time something got me down.
Mostly, anyway. On occasion, I wondered if it was easier to just say fuck it and let my bipolar run away with me. That’s when I felt most myself when the little pills weren’t telling me how to act and behave. Just because other people might not like it didn’t matter in the least to me. When I wasn’t taking my medications, I didn’t fucking care. I didn’t stress out because my mind didn’t allow me to see anything as a hindrance. I had a fuck you attitude when it came to anything and everything, and that’s how I liked it.
But of course, I’d promised Keane and Beau ages ago that I wouldn’t let my bipolar run away with me if I could help it. Keane threatened to do the same if I did, and if Keane went off his skitzo meds, well, then, that would be a nightmare for not just him and us, but everyone on this shitty fucking island. See, Keane was dangerous when he wasn’t on his meds. I could be, too, sure—but not like my brother. Not like Keane. He was the type of dude who would set the world on fire and dance in the ashes.
Some people just wanted to watch the world burn.
A few minutes later, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to check it. Technically, we weren’t supposed to have cell phones at Blackwood, but Keane, Beau, and I were the exception. Not because it was okay for us, but because nobody had the balls to tell us otherwise.
On the outside looking in, Blackwood seemed like a well-rounded place for parents to send their troubled kids for help. But on the inside, that couldn’t be further from the truth. No staff member was truly in charge. They showed up, pretended to work, and then at the end of their twenty-four-hour shifts they went home, and only a small handful of them ever bothered to return. There was no rhyme or reason here, but the parents of these kids had no idea. They didn’t care to know, honestly. Lots of the patients here were dropped off by their rich parents and hardly saw them again. For many of them, it was just an easy way for their parents to get rid of their difficult children. As Keane liked to say, there was one way in and no way out of Blackwood. Unless you wanted to risk swimming in the frigid water to escape, there was no leaving. It wasn’t a school. It wasn’t even an academy. It was a fucking asylum, hardly better than a prison cell. So, we made the best of it. If we were stuck here for all eternity, might as well take charge, right?
I glanced at the text on my phone. It was from Keane.
Where did you go, asshole?
I realized I’d been in the library for hours now, and outside the single window, the darkness consumed the island. I shoved my phone back into my pocket without answering and rolled my neck, popping out the kinks before standing up and stretching. It was late now, but I wasn’t tired. I was rarely tired, especially when my mania was acting up. In a manic phase, my body refused to sleep. Often, I could be awake for days and not feel any different.
As I headed for the library door to find something else to do, it opened, and Kasey stepped in, book bag over one shoulder. She spotted me at once and stopped in the doorway, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
“Teague,” she said, trying to sound brave. “S—sorry. I didn’t know anyone would be here.”
It was strange seeing her without Eve by her side. They’d become close in the days since Eve had arrived.
“Where’s your friend?” I asked, crossing the floor towards her. Kasey flinched like I was going to tackle her to the ground or something, but to her credit, she didn’t move away.
“Bed,” she said. “It’s almost ten.”
I smiled, and Kasey visibly shivered. I had nothing against the girl—she was hardly a blip on my radar. But now that she and Eve were so close, that might just change whether she liked it or not.
“Enjoy,” I said, stepping to the side to let her pass. “The room is all yours.”
She squared her shoulders and walked past me, and I smiled to myself as I stepped out the door, leaving her in peace. I knew where I was headed next thanks to her.
As I walked to Eve’s dorm room, a few people were out and about, but not many. That’s how I liked it. I loved the silence of a late night, the haunting quiet that consumed my mind, body, and soul. It relaxed me and settled my nerves.
As I arrived at Eve’s door, I didn’t even bother to stop and check my surroundings. It’s not like anyone was brave enough to stop me from entering even if they did see me, and the staff around here tended to look the other way when it came to us. No one would say shit.
I rapped lightly on the door and held my breath. If Eve was still awake, I didn’t want to just barge in and scare her. But when no one answered, I turned the handle and stepped inside, closing the door softly behind me as darkness consumed me. Just as Kasey had promised, Eve was sound asleep in her bed. A tiny night light next to her head basked the top of her bed in a soft, glowing light, but Eve was asleep, snoring softly with the blanket pulled up to her chin. Seeing her there, vulnerable and beautiful, my body reacted, and heat traveled through my limbs.
“Hello, beautiful,” I whispered, licking my lips. I stayed where I was near the door for a moment, tilting my head to the side to take her in. Her beauty and innocence was overwhelming, especially now, as she lay under the covers like a child, unaware of the danger in the room. I wanted to cross the floor and take her in my arms and hold her, squeeze her against me, kiss her skin until she moaned and begged for me, eyelids fluttering, tired body responding to me in ways that I could only fantasize about.
Instead, I took a small step forward and then another, careful not to destroy the peace in the room. She stayed asleep, clearly exhausted, hardly moving as I moved to the foot of her bed to watch her. While the soft snoring had subsided, her breathing was steady, if not a bit heavy. Wherever she was in her dreams, I couldn’t tell if it was a good place to be or a bad one.
Gently, I sat down at the foot of her bed, smiling to myself as my eyes roamed over her face, taking her in. She shifted, eyelids fluttering, but didn’t wake as I reached for the edge of the blanket and gently pulled it down, slowly revealing the soft curves of her body hidden by the white gown she wore. Her skin was milky white and pale under the soft glow of the nightlight over her head, and she moaned as the cool air brushed over her now bare skin.
“Sleep well, baby,” I whispered, wetting my lips again. My prick hardened as I watched goosebumps rise on her skin as she slept. I longed to reach out and touch her, to run my fingers over her soft skin, but I resisted, not wanting to shatter the moment. Eve moaned in her sleep, eyelids fluttering again as some sort of nightmare took hold of her. She squirmed beneath her night gown, and it took all I had in me not to reach out and touch her, quiet her internal screams.
“No,” she mumbled, her head turning from side to side. “Please don’t. Please don’t hurt me.”
I swallowed, my fists clenching automatically. I wanted to wake her, to pull her body into mine and hold her close until the nightmare faded into oblivion.
What in the hell had happened to this girl? Who had hurt her?
With a soft sigh, I took a chance and reached my hand out to touch her cheek with the back of my finger. Eve moaned again but didn’t wake. As I watched her, hoping my presence would put her at ease, I promised something to her and to myself.
Whoever had hurt this girl would have me to answer to.