“Did they send you to discipline me?”
“You do have a lot to learn.” I lean back on my elbows. “Up.”
She stands.
“Straddle me. I want to feel the heat of your cunt on my cock.”
The knock on the door throws me out of my headspace—the only one I want to be in.
“What?” I shout.
“It’s me.” Noah’s voice passes through the wood.
“Shit.” I spent the better part of my day in Birmingham collecting drug money and enforcing agreements whenever necessary. I haven’t had time to track him down and try to make him see my side.
“Who?” Delilah raises her eyebrows in question.
“Noah.”
“Noah.” Her voice hardens, and she stands, snatching her dress from the bed and throwing it over her head.
“What are you—”
She bolts to the door, opens it, and launches herself at him.
I rush after her.
Noah has her by the wrists, but she isn’t giving up, screaming and doing her damndest to break free.
“Hey!” I grab her around the waist and wrench her back, but it’s like trying to hold a greased pig.
She flails and manages to scratch Noah’s face before I subdue her and drag her back into her room.
“What the fuck is going on?” My yell overcomes even her shrieks.
“He did it. He—” She lunges again, but I have her tightly in my grip.
“What did you do to her?” I lock eyes with him, but he looks perplexed as he touches the scratches on his cheek.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head. “What the fuck is wrong with her?”
“I know what you did!” She’s still wild, doing her best to get to him.
Her violence and noise has dormitory doors flying open, Protectors in various states of undress walking out as their Maidens peer from behind them.
“Noah, get in here.” I drag Delilah backwards until we’re in her bathroom.
Noah closes the hall door and follows, but he eyes her warily.
“I need you to calm down for just a minute and let me sort this out. Can you do that?” I talk in her ear.
She doesn’t respond, her body still tense.
“Delilah, please.” I release my hold just a bit, giving her room to breathe.
“Fine,” she bites out.
“In here?” Noah peeks into the bathroom. “No way. She’ll rip my face off.”
I reach over and flip on the shower, then open the sink faucets so the room fills with the sound of running water.
Delilah doesn’t move and lets me hold her again.
“Come in. She’s calm.”
Noah doesn’t look convinced and runs a hand through his hair before following my instructions and walking in, shutting the door behind them and then leaning against it, as far from her as possible.
“What the hell is going on?” I keep my voice even with the noise of the water. “Delilah?”
“Nothing.”
I spin her around and force her gaze up to mine with a tilt of her chin. “Trust, little lamb. Not lies. Now tell me what is wrong.”
Her eyes are gray marble, hard and unflinching. “He knows what he did.”
I meet Noah’s gaze over her crown. He throws his hands up and shakes his head, then mouths I didn’t do shit.
“Okay, but I don’t know what he did.” I refocus on her. “So you’ll have to tell me.”
“No.”
“Delilah.” I glower. “You need to tell me. I can’t fix it if I don’t—”
The outer door swings open so hard it slams into the wall, and then someone’s beating on the bathroom door.
“Get out here. Prophet wants to see you and Noah. Now!” It’s Gray, followed by some unintelligible squawking from Grace.
“Shit.” I stare at my obstinate Maiden as Noah keeps shaking his head.
“I said now!” Gray bangs on the door.
“We’ll continue this later. For the moment, Noah, open the door.” I push Delilah behind me, pinning her between the toilet and the wall.
Noah swings the door open and steps outside. Gray is red in the face, and a few other Protectors mill about in the main dormitory hall.
Gray reaches for my arm.
I glare at him. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
He drops his hand.
The crowd in the hall parts as I walk past and into the main Cloister corridor. Noah is at my back. We don’t speak until we’re out into the rainy night, the droplets pattering on the road and through the trees.
“You drive?” he asks.
I point to my car, and we both head for it. Questions pile up as I sit and start the engine, but I don’t ask him anything. He already made his choice last night. Maybe I was a fool to think I could change his mind earlier. Then again, he did come to Delilah’s room—presumably to speak to me.
He turns the radio up and clears his throat as I aim the car toward the main house.
“Look, I know you want to save her, okay?” He holds a hand out, palm up, as if reiterating that he’s saying something utterly reasonable. “I can see why. And I know she’s different for you. The way she looks at you. The way you’ve been acting ever since she got here. I get it. She’s different. I know what that feels like.”