Chapter 12 A SECRET IS REVEALED.
LUCIEN'S POINT OF VIEW.
I walk towards my private locker room, where I know my friends are waiting.
The smell of sweat and fresh ice clings to the air as I push open the door to the locker room. The roar of the rink fades behind me and is replaced by the low, rumbling laughter of my guys.
The Horsemen. My Horsemen.
Theo’s shirtless self leans against his locker like he owns the damn place—because, in the fucker's head, he does. No one knows it yet, but his ancestors are a part of the founding pillars of this school. The fucker's father owned the world's largest architecture company spanning centuries behind him.
His knuckles are split from the fight he picked with one of the opposing team’s forwards, but he barely notices the pain as he grins at his phone, probably chatting with one of his many gurls. Kai was sprawled out on the bench, with wet hair dripping from the shower, and scrolling through his phone like he was hunting for someone’s social security number to ruin. Cassian's got a protein bar hanging from his mouth, with boots still on, and taping his hockey stick even though the game’s over.
The fucker's always loved fighting, which was why he secretly fought in illegal boxing rings where the cover of his parents' wealth wouldn't follow behind him.
They all look up when I walk in.
I don’t have to say a word. They feel me coming before I even speak—like fellow predators sensing their kin as he approaches.
“You took your time in the rink,” Theo says, smirking. “Let me guess. You have that look in your eye, for the first time in a long while; Roxanne cornered you again? Please tell me you told her to go to hell.”
“Worse,” I say, tossing my gloves into my cubby. “I promised her she’d get exactly what she wanted.”
Theo barks out a laugh. “Which is?”
I sit on the bench, elbows on my knees, grinning slowly. “To be remembered.” She might not have heard me word it that way, but she would get what's coming to her.
There’s a pause in the room—and then the smirk spreads across all their faces like wildfire as their eyes flash with recognition. They know exactly what that means.
Damian leans forward. “You’re gonna burn her, aren’t you?”
“I already lit the match,” I said. “She just doesn’t smell the smoke yet.”
Kai chuckles, a spark shining in his eyes at the thought of her downfall. He hates her the most, especially after she filled his girlfriend's water bottle with pineapple juice, something she's allergic to. “God, I love it when you get like this.”
The thing about my guys? They’re just as bad as I am. With them, there are no lines, no rules, absolutely no holds barred. We’ve been raised in this world where you either set the fire or choke on someone else’s smoke.
You either hold the reins or be someone else's bitch.
Theo tosses a towel over his shoulder. “So, we're talking humiliation? Public? Private?” He asked, but I knew what he was driving at; he knew just the type of person I became when I decided revenge was my next choice of options."
“Public,” I say immediately, and the fucker smirks with a sadistic joy in his eyes. “The kind of public that’ll have her crying in the bathroom before first period on Monday.”
Damian tilts his head. “You’re going to need the right weapon for that.”
I shrug. “Already got one. I’ve been holding onto it since last year.” A card she thought I'd buried, but I never buried information I could use on my possible enemies; and she was one I'd seen coming."
Theo whistles. “You’re sick.”
“You’re welcome, it's gonna be an entertaining show. You should get popcorn.” I stand, start peeling off my gear piece by piece, letting the anticipation build. “And speaking of sick, did you see Matt out there? Still pretending he’s not terrified of me. It's almost cute.”
Kai chuckles, shaking his head. “He’s like a stray dog that keeps wandering into the wrong yard.”
“I’m thinking about breaking him,” I say casually, like we’re talking about the weather. “Not physically, not yet, but just… watching him fall apart piece by piece.”
Theo grins. “You mean the way you did to that transfer kid in sophomore year?”
I smirk. “Exactly.”
Damian leans back, folding his arms. “This Sloane thing—”
I cut him a look sharp enough to slice through bone. “What Sloane thing?”
He raises a brow, unbothered. “The fake dating. The ‘let’s ruin the ex-best friend and his little plastic girlfriend’ thing.”
My jaw flexes. “That’s not what it is.”
“Sure,” Damian says, grinning like the bastard he is.
Cassian leans forward with his arms folded, "Are you going to tell her about how you feel soon, how you've felt all these years?"
They all know I don’t talk about her. She lives in the darkest recesses of my mind, her blonde hair slowly as the only source of light there.
I don't speak about her, not here, not with them, especially. If they knew too much, it would be disastrous for me. But the way Theo’s watching me tells me he’s noticed the way I’ve been watching her lately.
'Like you haven't been watching her for two years in a row.' My subconscious whispers to me, but I ignore it.
“You like her,” Theo says flatly. Only he knew me better than the rest, and the fact that he's said it to them as well means I won't live this down.
I pull my shirt over my head, my voice low. “I don’t like anyone. I use people. She’s just useful right now.”
“Useful,” Kai echoes with a smirk. “Right.”
"So you wouldn't mind it if I used her for a revenge plot against someone else when you're done?" Cassian asked, and before I knew it, I pinned him with a death glare.
I toss my stick at him with a force hard enough to make him flinch. It hits him in the left arm, the very one an opponent hit at practice today. He groans and chuckles as he lies on the cushion.
“I mean it,” I say. “This is war. No one talks about Sloane around me, matter of fact, no one even speaks to her when I'm not there. And I’m not losing to Roxanne, Matt, or anyone else in this goddamn school.”
"But she's not yours," Cassian says, goading me to give him an ass whopping.
"Yet." My response is curt, as I take off my clothes before getting into the huge private shower designed for me alone.
Theo chuckles, shaking his head. “You’re insane.”
“Better insane than weak,” I yell over the sound of the running shower. “Now, get cleaned up. Monday's gonna be fun.”
Damian grins like a wolf. “What’s the plan?”
"Need help?" Theo adds.
I glance over my shoulder, smiling slowly. “Simple. We ruin them before they even know the game started. And I'll let you know when to come in.”