Flock (The Ravenhood, #1)

by Kate Stewart

I stand, a beacon waiting for some sort of acknowledgment as they chatter

When the next song begins to play just as I step through the threshold, my fight for attention quickly shifts to my threatening nausea.

It’s then I know why Sean is keeping his eyes down. He doesn’t want to watch the dagger he’s s...

“Cecilia” by Simon and Garfunkel begins to play as the door slams behind me, securing my place in the trap.

Need to listen to this song right now

Every word of the song like a slap to the face. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.

Tears burn my eyes as I watch the two men I came for blatantly ignore me, as more heads begin to turn my way.

What the heck? Why!!! Poor Cecilia

The rest of the party huddles around the kegs, oblivious to the fucking knife slicing through me.

Dominic takes the shot, before finally, he looks directly at me, a smug smirk playing on his lips.

What a horrible feeling to be in!! Holly crap

that smirk brands me with the scarlet letter, turning all our dir...

Drowning in deceit, I sink further and further where I stand, fighting the bile climbing up my throat while dr...

That’s when I break, utterly humiliated and completely taken aback by the second faces of the men I’ve fallen so in love with.

Each lyric turns every beautiful moment we shared into one of my degradation.

Wow!! Omg NOOO

I’ve been played. I let them in. I let them use me. I convinced myself it was real. That they cared. I thought it was love. But I was a game to them. They set me up, lifted ...

They’d made me feel safe, accepted. I loved them wholly. I gave myself to them, and they let me…

I can’t breathe through this betrayal, through the ache in my heart, through the pain searing through me.

I’m that girl. The girl I swore I would never be. The fool I promised myself I’d never be again. But here I am, a goddamn fool.

No better than a hir...

Worse, I’d given my heart for nothing. To become nothing. I played with fire, and now I’m...

Sean takes a step toward me, and Dominic slams a hand to his chest, his lips pulling up, his eyes dancing with amusement.

I was their toy, and now I’m no longer worthy of their time and attention.

I fixate on Dominic, remembering the words he said to me days ago, the way he touched me beneath the stars. Worse than that, Sean had been ...

In their eyes, I’m nothing. Nothing. In their eyes, I’m just another one.

Two weeks. That’s what I asked my father for, and he’d granted them to me without an issue.

I’d allowed myself to be passed around like a party favor, all the while begging for more.

I’ve since spent my time taking long walks around Christy’s complex, trying to pinpoint where I went wrong, and all of it came back down to the beginning, accepting the invitation from Sean the day I met him. I’d been played up until the last second. Up until they’d shown me just how much.

I didn’t see myself picking one over the other, even if presented with the choice.

They tossed me aside like trash. And I’d asked for it. By pining for them both, by letting them between my legs, into my psyche, and my heart.

Seriously though, why!?!

Daily, I still crave their attention, their affection, their strong arms, their kisses, their quirks.

But it’s the fresh memory of those seconds I spent in that garage that keeps me outraged.

Something is building inside of me that overrules any of these foolish emotions, and it’s the need for retribution, revenge. And if given a chance, I’m determined to take it.

For whatever reason they decided to

cut ties, cut me, their affection was far too convincing to be c...

They’d confided in me, treated me with the utmost care. It couldn’t all be a lie. If so, I’ll truly be lost.

Something happened. Something had to have happened to make them carry out a plan so brutal. Even if Dominic is capable of that type of malice, of masking his feelings so well, which I know he is, Sean is not.

Time to kick, Cecelia.

But revenge is a dish best served cold.

“I believed them, you know? I thought they were enlightened. Thought they were some rare breed. What a fucking idiot.”

Time to kick, Cecelia.

My phone buzzes on the table in front of me and Christy’s eyes meet mine as NEVER ANSWER crosses my screen.

Sometimes the best revenge is piquing the curiosity of those that fucked you and moving on.

So, if Sean wants to be heard, my retribution for his betrayal will be to shut him out.

If they regret it, why did they take so many pains in making such a show of it? And not just in

front of locals, but other chapters of the hood.

It’s over. Whatever it was, it’s over.

my eyes landing on Dominic when he comes into view, waiting on the shoulder. Fuck. He watches me, intent from where he sits feet away. Snapping

our connection, I spring into motion, gunning my car past him where he’s parked before hauling ass down the road.

“Fuck you!” I roar as I race down the now-familiar roads, driving like a lunatic to evade my old

spellbinding captor.

I’m already out of my car charging toward him, and he barely makes it out of the driver’s seat when I deliver the first slap.

Yes!!!

“I’m sorry.”