•Rayan's POV•
"Momma, can I ask you something?" I whisper to my mom as we lay in her bed. Dad is at work and my brothers are with him. Elyse fell asleep early so it's just me and momma.
"Anything you want mio caro," she says softly. Even though she was born in Wales, and has a strong English accent that I love, she can speak fluent Italian, hence her calling me 'my darling' in her second tongue.
"What's it like, falling in love?"
She quiet for a moment, as if choosing her words with delicacy. Then she looks into my eyes and says something I'll always carry with me.
"It's a lot like being saved."
****
"Baby, you gotta open your eyes for me."
There's so many voice I can't place, mostly because of the ringing in my ears.
"Her pulse is getting stronger," another voice says.
"Please, Rayan, open your damn eyes!"
My head hurts so much. So does my ribs, and my stomach. Everything is in pain. There's so much pain.
"This is not the time to be stubborn, Rayan." The voice tries to be sharp but fails. Whoever it is must really be desperate.
All the blood is rushed to my head, but beneath me I feel something soft.
"Salem, you need to give her some space to breath, man."
"Don't tell me what to do, Casto. I call the shots around here."
"Are you going to call her brothers?" This voice I hear is different from the rest, more light and soft.
Why would they call my brothers?
Memories from when I was conscious flood back into my mind. I was running so fast. Then they got me.
I shoot my eyes open and jolt my body it a sitting position. I scan the room and see a lot of confused and worried face.
"What the hell..." I trail off because a crippling pain seethes through my ribs. I let out a cry of agony and lower myself onto my back. When I look up I see Salem's chestnut eyes. The green in them shining with worry.
"Where am I?" I demand and look around. I lay on a hospital bed, but this sure as hell isn't a hospital. The place is giant, definitely not any of our houses. The roof must be at least twenty feet high. The floors are a rough concrete and there isn't any windows that I can see. Couches and lounge chairs are spread around the room. In the back is a giant metal cabinet with three pad locks.
"Don't worry about that just tell me what happened," Salem says. I look back at him and see the desperation that's eating away. He's sitting next to me on a wooden chair.
"My brother and I had a fight, he forced me to stay in my room. After a few hours of being cooped up in there I couldn't take it anymore, so I snuck out. I was just going on a simple run to clear my head. On my way back I hear something behind me, and then I heard it again. I started to run fast, but they got me first," my voice breaks at the end.
All around the room I see the guys turn red with anger, even the girls are looking pissed. Salem has a mixture of rage and pain in his eyes as he looks over my body. I hadn't even noticed I was just in a sports bra and shorts. A bandage covers a small portion of my abdomen.
I prop myself on my elbows and look down at my body. Everywhere is bruised, cut, or scraped. I turn my body slightly to look at my ribs but the intense pain stops me.
"You have three broken ribs, a sprained ankle, and a lot of smaller damage. Also, there's..." he trails off which makes my eyes widen in worry.
"There's what?"
He gently grazes his fingers over the bandage on my stomach, then rips it off.
A gasp escaped my mouth when I look down. I feel sick. Carved into my abdomen is a K, three sloppy lines for the letter. It's stitched up, and from the looks of it the cuts are pretty deep.
"Did you do this to me?" I shakily ask, now trying to keep my distance from Salem. Surprise flashes in his eyes before it turns into anger.
"Never. But I know who did," he replies.
"Who?" I demand.
He takes a deep breath and stand up from his chair and paces the room. He runs his hand through his sandy brown hair and avoids eye contact, still not speaking.
"Salem, we need to tell her."
I snap my head over to the person who said that. Dante leans against a far wall and looks back at me. My eyes look around to all the guys and girls to catch their reactions.
My eyes see Hale first, he has his arm around Olympia and is whispering something in her ear. She nods and then looks over to Salem, whom probably knows what's going on because he nods too. Roman is standing at the foot of my bed, grief written all over him. I look over to Bobby next, who has his fists clenched and glares at the floor. Clayton and Elijah look at me and give me a small sympathetic smile. Blythe, who is sitting on a leather couch staring off into space, looks like she's been crying heavily. Petra doesn't meet my eyes but looks just as mad and upset as everyone else.
"Kai Scott did this to you. We don't know if the K stands for his name or Knights," Salem finally says, but he still doesn't look at me.
"Who is that? I heard you talk about him before, and when Talus and Simone mentioned him in the shop," I ask back. I cautiously sit in an upright position and brace my hand on my left side, holding my ribs.
I watch him pace for another three minutes, then he stops abruptly. He looks at every in the room except me. They nod one by one, silently giving their approval for something. He looks over to me and says the words I've been waiting for since I came here.
"We're going to tell you everything."
YOU ARE READING
King of Spades |Book 1|
Teen Fiction*ONGOING* BOOK #1 OF THE BLACKWOOD SERIES | All she wants is her life back. She wants her mom to hold her, and her father to tell her everything's okay. She wants her sister right by her side through thick and thin. That all was taken away. Rayan...
