“Do we have to sit on this? Have you used it for, you know?” Kinslee shone her phone torch onto the wool hesitantly, then glanced over to Cassius, who was crouched over what the boys had told me was a fire pit.
“Have I fucked anyone on it, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
“Yep.” He grinned, looking far too pleased with himself.
“Ugh!” I jumped up, brushing off my jeans, as Kinslee pretended to vomit.
He rolled his eyes at us both. “You two have no sense of humour. Of course I haven’t. West’s sitting on that one.”
“Cheers, Cass.” Weston pulled a face.
“It’s been washed, calm down.”
“It better have.”
Cassius shook his head and went back to building a fire. It was basically a small circular area in the courtyard of Alstone Castle, ringed with stones. Once he was finished, and he had a little fire going at the base of the pile, he leapt to his feet. “Chuck me the lighter fluid, will ya?” He pointed to a black plastic bottle near my feet, and I threw it to him. He sloshed a load of it over the logs.
“Burn, baby, burn!” he shouted, standing back and striking a match, throwing it into the midst of the pile.
There was a loud whoosh and a huge flame shot into the air, the sudden rush of heat making us all scramble backwards as quickly as we could.
“Fucking hell, Cass, how much lighter fluid did you put on that?” Weston stared at him in disbelief.
“Dunno.” He shrugged, unconcerned, collapsing next to Weston on the large stone next to the one me and Kinslee were sitting on. We watched in silence as the flames licked greedily at the logs, burning through the lighter fluid and dying down to what I would call a “normal” fire. I basked in the warm glow, my numb face gradually regaining some feeling.
“Let’s talk.” Weston spoke softly. “Cass? You wanna tell us what you’re thinking?”
Cassius nodded, then turned to look at me, his eyes glimmering in the firelight. “First, though. I need you to tell me what happened with Granville. And don’t leave anything out.”
I hadn’t actually spoken to the Four about what had happened in any detail. I’d wanted to speak to Caiden, but when I’d realised he didn’t trust me, there was no point. Kinslee was the only one who knew all the details.
Reliving the moment only served to make me angry all over again. I spoke through gritted teeth as I recalled James forcing his lips onto mine, then his vaguely threatening words to me: “You and Cavendish deserve each other. I think I’m going to enjoy this, after all.” As I described how he’d left, bumping fists with Joseph, Joseph grasping a phone in his hand, a strange expression stole across Cassius’ face.
“Fuck. No. No. No.” He shook his head. “Why now?”
“Surely he wouldn’t be that stupid, would he?” The worry was clear in Weston’s voice, as he and Cassius exchanged glances.
“As if we didn’t have enough shit to deal with. This is the fucking icing on the cake,” Cassius growled.
“We’re gonna have to tell Z.”
“What if it sends him over the edge?”
“Fuck.” Weston buried his face in his hands.
“Uh…would someone mind telling me what’s going on?” I stared between them both, my heart racing, apprehension filling me.
They both turned to look at me, then silently communicating with their eyes, they both shook their heads.
“Listen, Winter.” Cassius stood and came to sit down next to me. “It’s not my secret to tell. We’ve had…run-ins with Joseph Hyde and his lemmings before. That’s a big part of why we have so much security.” He sighed heavily. “Granville may be a slimy fucker, but until now, he’s stayed out of it.”
“Mostly,” Weston interjected with an eye roll.
“Yeah. Anyway, if they’re starting shit again, we’ll be ready.” He slid his arm around me, gentling his voice. “I don’t want you to worry about this, okay?” Peering around me, he met Kinslee’s eyes. “That goes for you, too. We can handle it. Just…concentrate on getting to the bottom of, y’know, the stuff that we’re already dealing with.”
I frowned at Cassius. “Thanks for enlightening me. That literally tells me nothing. Can you at least tell me who or what I need to be watching out for?”