Runaway (The Knight Society #1)

We spent the rest of the day taking turns reading those god-awful stories to one another and goofing around. Eventually Avery’s head lolled, and a couple of minutes after soft snores drifted from his mouth. Keeping my body as quiet as possible I softly placed the book next to me on the bed. Wrapping my hands around the chain I softly pulled it towards me and cringed at every clank. Reaching forward I searched with nimble fingers for the key around his neck. The tips of my fingers brushed around the metal of the key and I sucked in a breath. My hands began to shake as I pulled the cord over his ears. His breath whispered across my arms and the dark curls of his hair brushed against the tops of my hands making them itch.

The cord finally came free from his neck and I let out a huge sigh of relief. Not wanting to risk getting caught now I fell back on the bed and raised my ankle. I fumbled so much with the key I almost dropped it but somehow I managed to get it in the lock. Applying some pressure I turned the small metal key until I heard a click and the pressure around my ankle softened. Wasting a precious second to lean down and rub at the tender flesh I let out a sigh of relief as my cool fingers brushed the reddened skin. Avery mumbled something and readjusted his position in the chair, my breath caught in my throat and every muscle tightened. After another moment he settled down and I let out my breath in a long exhale.

Not wanting to waste another second I dropped to the ground, metal cuff in hand. Moving slowly I wrapped the metal cuff around Avery’s leg and pushed until I heard the snap of it locking back into place. Snatching the key from the lock I tucked it into my pocket, gathered all my things and made for the door. Closing it with a muffled thud I paused for a second but when silence could only be heard from the other side I pushed away from the door and strode down the hallway. I had my sword strapped to my side and stopped for a few seconds to tug on my boots. I had managed to grab another three vials of H-toxin after Drake’s attack and they were safely secured in one boot while the other held a small blade. Yesterday when I’d had nothing to do but sit there I had packed a small bag of essentials; water, food and such. It was slung over my shoulders, a reassuring weight. I was all ready to start hunting, but something held me back. I had one stop to make before I left.

Reaching my destination I paused before the wooden door. Taking a deep breath I reached down and seized the golden door knob. Giving it a firm twist I opened the door and quietly stepped inside. Drake lounged on his bed with his earphones blasting music, one hand was throwing a knife in the air and catching it repeatedly. I surveyed his room. It looked exactly the same as it had the last time I had been in there, very little furniture, dark upholstery and large old Western movie posters hanging on the walls. I had cracked up when I had first saw them.

I closed the door behind me and he looked up mid-throw, the knife spun in the air and plummeted back down to his hand. I opened my mouth to warn him but he easily snatched the knife out of the air, his eyes still fixed on me. His mouth curved into a crooked smile, with a sharp tug he pulled the buds free from his ears. He turned his attention back to the knife and began to once again lazily throw and catch it.

“About time you dropped by.” My lips formed a grin before I could stop them. Walking over I placed my bag on the ground and dropped next to him on the bed, leaning back against the wall so we sat shoulder to shoulder.

“Yeah, you might not have heard but I’ve been a little tied up the past couple of days.” Drake let out a snort and I let my eyes follow the motions of the knife. We sat in silence for a while, the only sound the knife hitting Drake’s hand as he caught it. He continued to throw, I continued to silently watch and it was as if for a second we could just stop and exist in the comfortable silence. But of course silence is meant to be broken and after a final throw Drake lowered the knife to the bed.

“Guess you’re skipping out then huh?” He said gesturing to the bag on the floor. With a sigh I closed my eyes.

“Not skipping out, I’m going hunting.” I corrected. I wasn’t running, not this time.

“It’s gonna suck a lot more without you around.” He grunted. I let out a short laugh but it contained very little humour.

“Yeah you may actually have to become friends with Avery.” He snorted a disbelieving laugh and I cracked open one eye to peek at him. He was looking straight ahead, his jaw locked tightly together and a deep frown creased his brow. The pain clear on his face tore at my heart and I nudged him lightly with my shoulder.

“Hey I’ll be back before you know it.” Even I could hear the forced lightness of my tone and I glanced at him to see his jaw tighten further. Not wanting to end things on a sour note I decided now seemed like the best time to bail. Standing up I smoothed out imaginary wrinkles in my clothes, slung my bag back over my shoulder and forced a bright smile onto my face before turning to face him. Ignoring the way my heart cracked slightly at the way he couldn’t quite look at my face I pushed as much cheer as possible into my voice.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you when I get back!” Turning quickly on my heel I all but ran towards the door feeling emotion start to clog my throat. My hand had just grabbed the door knob when Drake called out to me.

“Jack.” My gut told me to keep on going but I couldn’t seem to force myself to open the door. Knowing I would lose it the second I looked at him I leaned my forehead against the door.

“Yeah?” My voice was strained and the words burnt at my throat. The silence began to suffocate me so summoning all the resolve I had gathered over the past two years I forced a smile that felt more like I was bearing my teeth and turned around. His gaze was fixed on mine an unreadable expression on his face but I knew he saw through the smile but I kept it on anyway. His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits and his hands wrapped around the knife’s hilt so tightly his knuckles blanched. Through clenched teeth he ground out in a rough voice.

“You know you could be walking into a trap right?” My smile faltered slightly but I quickly patched up the damage and forced innocence into my tone.

“Yeah I know, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.” His eyes flashed in anger. He stabbed a finger in my direction.

“Well it’s not one the rest of us are willing to.” He snarled and I frowned, my smile slipping right off.

“It’s not up to you.” I bit out forcing my expression into a cool mask.

“I know.” Drake growls and begins to throw the knife again this time with a lot more force. “But I don’t think you see how much what you do effects those around you. You keep on doing this whole martyr crap, thinking that somehow if you go out there alone everything’s going to end up alright.” A spark of rage ignites inside me and I fight to supress it. Somehow I manage to make my voice come out in a cool tone.

“I’m not-“

“Bullshit.” Drake’s biting tone takes away some of my anger.

“Excuse me?” I asked, shocked.

A smile that was actually more of a snarl twisted his lips.

“You heard me. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit! You keep on trying to sacrifice yourself for the rest of us and you know it. Which by the way is the stupidest idea ever.” My jaw hung open and I tried to form words but could only stand there gaping at him like an idiot. He pushed harshly away from the bed and began to march over to me. “I don’t know what kind of books you read growing up but you trying to be some kind of tragic hero isn’t impressive.”

His words hit me like a physical blow and rage rushed through my blood stream, “I’m not trying to be a tragic hero!”

Drake let out a condescending snort and I glared at him. He stopped a few feet away from me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Could’ve fooled me. You know despite this whole sacrificial fetish thing you have going you are actually quite selfish.”

It took all my willpower to not reach out and shove him so instead, I curled my hands into fists and injected as much malice as possible into my tone, “How am I being selfish!?”

One of his eyebrows shot up in an ‘are you serious’ gesture that made me want to rip them right off his face.

“You are being selfish by forcing those who care about you to worry. And it sure as hell doesn’t help with tracking down this Arthur guy when you keep on running away and causing everyone to drop everything in order to track down your self-pitying arse. So you had a rough start to life, so did a lot of people at the Institute but you don’t see us running around crying about it do you?”

Stunned I simply stood there staring at Drake. Every one of his words was worse than a physical blow and left me scrambling to find the anger that had fled me.

Shoving me to the side he reached down and opened the door, grabbed me once again and shoved me out into the hallway.

“When you decide to stop feeling sorry for yourself and want to actually do something besides running away, find me.” With that, he slammed the door in my face leaving me alone in the hallway.

Blinking a couple of times I tried to snap out of it but his words echoed in my head on repeat. My feet began to move without me noticing but I was too preoccupied with my thoughts to care.

Selfish.

I’d been by myself for so long I hadn’t had to rely on anyone else since Thomas. Was I really being selfish? I thought about the worry in Uncle John’s eyes and the clenching pain in my chest answered the question.

The part of my brain that wasn’t fried from Drake’s outburst registered that I was now standing outside the door to my room once more. Inside the room, the clanging of chains and frustrated yells announced Avery had woken up and was about as happy as I was at being chained. Sucking in a deep breath I wrapped my hands around the doorknob, twisted and was greeted with the sight of Avery tugging fiercely at the chain in an attempt to break it.

Been there done that buddy, trust me it’s not going to work.

“Damn it.” He growled out in frustration. Throwing down the chain he strode over to the bed and punched the wooden bed post. “Damn it!”

I remained awkwardly standing in the doorway not sure if I should make my presence known before he broke something. Just as I was about to open my mouth to announce myself he spun back around causing the chain to fly around and marched back away from the bed. His eyes were trained on the ground and his brow was deeply creased as if he were deep in thought. I shifted nervously in the door frame causing me to put more weight than I had intended on the door. The extra pressure caused the door to move and a loud squeaking sound erupted into the silence. Avery looked up sharply and froze when he saw me. For a few moments, neither of us did anything but stare at each other. Confusion clouded his eyes and furrowed his brow.

“You came back?” Not exactly in the mood to rehash the verbal smack down I had just received I gave a non-committal shrug and closed the door.

Avery watched my movements with trained eyes as if he were expecting me to change my mind at any second and take off. Wanting to somehow reassure him I dropped my backpack on the ground flopped down on the bed. Avery remained where he was, his body rigid and his eyes peering at me as if he were trying to uncover my secrets.

“Is this some kind of trick?” He asked and I wanted to roll my eyes but the disbelief in his tone was warranted. Instead, I flopped onto my stomach and placed my chin on my hands.

“Nope.” His expression was filled with skepticism but he slowly made his way to the edge of the bed as if I were a cat and sudden movements would startle me. At that, I really did roll my eyes. “Seriously it’s not a trick,” I told him. A flicker of hope crossed his face and I was all too ready to fan the flames. “Look, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll even wear the damn chain if it will make you feel better.”

If the price of his trust was for that damn thing to be wrapped around my ankle I’d pay it. Even if it made me want to cut my own leg off. Avery studied me silently and I tried to make my face look a sincere as possible which given my lack of practice over the past two years probably made me look like I was glaring instead. Finally, with a sigh, he sat down on the edge of the bed forcing his back to me and dragged a hand through his hair.

“You don’t have to wear the chain again, just give me the key so I can get the stupid thing off already.”

I sent a grin at his back, sat up on the bed and crossed my legs.

“Are you sure, it matches your clothes so well?” I teased. Avery spun his head around, his blue eyes flashing with anger.

Alrighty then, apparently someone’s in a bad mood.

I quickly moved my hand to my pocket and dug around inside searching for the familiar metallic smoothness of the key. When my fingers could find nothing but lint I frowned.

“Hmmm, that’s odd.” Getting up off the bed I searched through the pocket again only to come up empty-handed once more. “I’m sure I put it in there…” Frowning I began to search my other pockets, scowling when they were also empty. Avery watched the process with a growing frown.

“Jack, please don’t tell me you lost the key.” I began the process of searching again but after the third attempt, I conceded that the key had well and truly disappeared. Glancing sheepishly up at Avery I winced slightly under his icy glare.

“Here’s the thing…”

Avery groaned and dropped his head into his hands, “How did you manage to lose the key?!” He shouted and I threw up my hands in defence.

“I don’t know! I know I put it in there.” He began massaging his temples as if I were giving him a terrible headache and his whole body seemed to sag with weariness.

The thought irked me more than it should and I felt my annoyance begin to grow. “Look why don’t you just crash here for the night and I’ll go find another free room to sleep in?”

There, a perfectly reasonable solution, he couldn’t possibly have any objections. He was up on his feet before I could even blink. He towered over me crossing his arms.

“Not happening.” So much for reasonable. I crossed my own arms, there was no way in hell I would let him push me around.

“Why not?”

A familiar annoying smug smile decided to make an appearance and I seethed.

“Because I was told to not let you leave this room and I already failed once tonight. It is definitely not going to happen a second time.”

I groaned, “God, you’re insufferable.”

He grinned, “One of my best qualities or so I’ve been told.”

I glared up at him and then began to massage my own temples. There wasn’t enough aspirin in the world to cure the headache’s Avery gave me.

“Then what do you suggest, because I’m exhausted and no offense you look like crap. When was the last time you had a decent night’s sleep?” I asked and he shrugged and used his hand to cover a perfectly timed yawn.

“Can’t remember… a day or two?” He mumbled. Stretching his arms like a cat, he walked past me and climbed onto the bed.

“What are you doing?” He grabbed one of the many pillows and began to punch it before setting it back down and lying his head on top of it.

“What does it look like? I’m sleeping.” He grumbled, his voice slightly muffled by the pillow.

“And where am I supposed to sleep?” Cracking open one of his eyes he lifted one hand and pointed to the empty space on the bed next to him. It was a fairly big bed by any standard but still, that was far too close for comfort.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” The look he gave me told me he very clearly wasn’t.

“It’s either that or the chair sweetheart. And let me tell you that chair is a bitch to sleep in.” I let the sweetheart comment slip by, but only because I was more focused on the sleeping situation. I glanced at the chair; it was made of wood and looked about as comfortable as a pile of bricks. With a defeated sigh I seized three pillows and built a wall between Avery and me before settling onto my side of the bed and closing my eyes.

“Cross that line and I’ll punch you in the throat.” I murmured softly.

“Mhmm” Came the mumbled reply and I let myself be dragged under by sleeps soft embrace.

I was woken by the sound of someone knocking on my bedroom door. I groggily willed my eyes open and peered out through the heavy lids. The bedroom was lit softly by the lights which we apparently forgot to turn off last night. The knock came again; more insistent this time and I grumbled my protests. Closing my eyes once more I nestled deeper into the soft embrace of the mattress hoping I would soon fall back asleep when the soft mumbling of someone else’s voice caused my every muscle to tighten immediately. I suddenly became aware that the softness beneath me wasn’t the usual cushiony mass I was used to and was in fact rather more like flesh.

I immediately cracked open my eyes and pushed up on my elbows and found myself looking down at Avery. Somehow in the middle of the night, the pillow barrier had been breached and we both had ended up in the middle of the bed with me sprawled on top of him. I hovered mere inches above him and I could feel the blush starting to colour my skin. I was seconds from leaping away from him when one blue eye opened and he stared up at me. An impish grin curved his lips and he shut his eye once again, in a slow unrushed movement he lifted his arms, placed them around my neck and tugged my body downwards. My arms buckled under the force and I crashed down on top of his chest once more. He turned his head, his lips brushing against my ear and in a sleep filled voice mumbled

“You know if you wanted to snuggle with me, you only had to ask.”

Oh. My. God. Of all the arrogant…

With a glare that could stop a bear in its tracks, I pushed away from him and hopped off the bed. Spinning around I found him watching me from the same position as before, bright blue eyes dancing with laughter. Pushing away the irritating fact that the cool air of the room felt a lot worse than his body heat I tried my best to school my expression into a collected mask of indifference I met his gaze.

“I’m not nearly desperate enough to want to snuggle with you, let alone ask to.” A single eyebrow rose on his stupidly handsome face.

“Are you sure, because you did chain me to the bed.” I opened my mouth to spout of a retort but was thankfully saved by the sound of a knock, which was more of a bang, on the door. An idea popped into my head and a grin fell onto my mouth. Glancing back at Avery whose attention was now fixed on the door, a frown plain on his face, I spoke.

“And won’t it be fun when everyone else finds out!” His head snapped back to me, his frown more pronounced.

“Jack.” He hissed, his tone full of warning, but I spun away from the bed grinning and quickly walked to the door.

“Jack!” He harshly whispered once more, but I paid him no attention and opened the door. Pierre and Drake stood on the other side. There was an obvious tension in the air that deflated when they both caught sight of me.

Adjusting the door so that I filled the frame and Avery remained hidden in time for the big reveal, I glanced between the two men outside, “Hey, guys, what’s up?”

Pierre stared at me intently whereas Drake grinned back at me. A wave of relief passed through me and I knew that despite the somewhat harsh but true words traded last night we were still alright. Pierre cleared his throat and glanced at Drake before turning his attention back to me.

“Drake informed me that the two of you talked last night. We were just coming to see if you…uh were alright.” I had a feeling he was going to say something more along the lines of ‘to see if you had done something stupid like go hunt down a madman’ but the implication was warranted so I let it slide. The faint sound of clanking chains behind me caused my grin to widen.

“Well as you can see, I’m absolutely fine!” I said with a cheery note to my voice that caused Pierre’s brow to furrow and Drake to peer down at me. I grinned back up at him and after a moment his expression cleared, understanding and amusement flashing in his eyes. He glanced behind me into the room and his grin took on a wicked edge.

“So, where’s Avery?” he asked in a tone that was begging for trouble.

Pierre’s eyes flashed in remembrance and he looked to me for an answer.

I cleared my throat and kept my eyes trained on Drake’s when I answered, “He’s a little tied up at the moment.”

It took every ounce of self-control to hold back my laughter and keep a straight face and I knew from the clenching of Drake’s jaw and the tightening of his lips he was having the same issue.

Pierre glanced between us with a bewildered expression that didn’t help contain the laughter threatening to break from my lips.

“What do you mean tied up? He was supposed to be guarding you.” Pierre said frowning.

More clanking sounds and soft cursing from behind caused my shoulders to begin to shake in silent laughter. Drake cleared his throat and attempted to speak to Pierre, his voice hoarse.

“I’m sure Avery is still guarding her, you know how he is, very dedicated. Practically chained to desk some would say.” I clutched desperately at the door, trying to stay upright as barely restrained laughter shook my entire body.

Drake braced himself against the wall and I could see the tremors shuddering through him. In my room, the clanking sounds grew louder, until there was a shout of surprise and a loud thud.

Pierre pushed the door open and out of my death grip to reveal Avery sprawled over a chair which had toppled over sideways. His body hung over it and the ankle that was clapped in iron hung in the air. Drake and I glanced at each other and what little restraint we had left evaporated. We burst into laughter clinging onto each other for balance. We laughed while Pierre rushed over and helped Avery up and all whilst he used the spare key to free Avery. We didn’t even stop when Avery chucked the chain across the room and glared at us in fact, that only made us laugh even harder.

Only after we were dissolved into a puddle of laughter and tears on the floor did the laughter die down. We lay side by side till I sat up and wiped the tears from my eyes. With my vision no longer blurry I could see Avery and Pierre frowning down at us. Their disapproval was plain as day but I the twitching of their mouths and the amusement in their eyes betrayed them. Rolling his eyes Avery offered me a hand up and I took it, whilst my other hand massaged my jaw, which now hurt from smiling too much. Once on my feet Avery dropped his head slightly and spoke in a low voice so only I would hear.

“I’m so getting you back for this you know.” I chuckled softly and murmured back

“Are you sure you’re up to it? After all, you did just take a rather big fall.” I placed a hand on his arm in a mocking gesture of steadying him.

He grinned down at me and I had a feeling I should have just kept my mouth shut. He brushed a finger across my cheek and my breath hitched. In the same slow murmur, he responded.

“You can bet on it.” He backed away, his eyes gleaming with the challenge.

I groaned. Definitely, should have kept my mouth shut. The sound of a throat clearing behind us brought my attention back to the other guests in my room and I fought the rising embarrassment. Spinning around, I cleared my own throat and ignored the raised eyebrows of Drake and Pierre.

My stomach growled loudly and heat flooded my cheeks, “So… What’s for breakfast?”

A round of deep male laughter echoed in the room and we began to make our way to the Common room. Avery and Pierre led the way with Drake and I keeping up the rear. We fell into a comfortable stroll and I strained my ears to hear the hushed conversation Avery and Pierre were having. I was in the process of leaning forward to get a better vantage point when Drake leaned down and whispered in my ear.

“Don’t think I didn’t realise that there was only one bed in the room.” Glancing up at him I batted my eyes with forced innocence.

“Whatever do you mean?” His response was a knowing grin but like hell, I was going to admit to sleeping in the same bed as Avery.

“I think you know exactly what I mean.” I gave him a pointed look that clearly said to drop the issue. He grinned and raised his hands in defeat. “Fine, fine. Deny it all you want but your bed head is proof enough.” My hands flew straight to my head and sure enough, it was a knotted mess.

Yanking a hair tie off my wrist I clumped it together the best I could and tied it into an extremely poofy ponytail. Glaring up at Drake who of course had a smug smile still on his face, biting down on a growl I whisper shouted at him.

“It’s not what you think. We only slept next to each other.” Drake raised a hand and placed over his heart, his expression that of mock shock.

“Why, I was going to suggest that he spent the night on the floor of your room!” His brow furrowed in a great imitation of a disappointed school instructor. “I think you two will need a chaperone from now on if that sort of behaviour is going to continue.”

Rather than answer back I lifted my fist and punched him in the arm with enough force to leave a bruise. He grunted in pain but a smile remained on his face. Clutching at his arm he leaned heavily on me and with all the drama of a B grade actor loudly proclaimed.

“Oh, how you wound me, Jack.” I couldn’t help but crack a smile at that.

He casually draped an arm over my shoulder, causing my body to squish tight against his. Usually I would have frozen at the closeness of the gesture and shoved his arm off but instead, I fought back the initial swell of panic and forced myself to relax. Avery glanced over his shoulder back at us and frowned. Drake huffed, tugged me closer to him and raised an eyebrow.

Oh boy, here we go.

“Problem golden boy?” Avery’s frown deepened his gaze flicking back and forth between Drake and me before settling on the arm around my shoulder.

He made a disapproving sound before turning back around and marching through the Commons Room door. Sliding Drake an unamused look we both slipped inside the door after him. The Commons Room was already alive, with everyone crowded around the tables digging in. We quickly grabbed some food and sat down,

Scooping up the fruit I had picked I began chomping down, savouring the bursts of flavour in my mouth. The chatting picked back up again and I settled into the comfortable feeling of belonging. Ed placed his cutlery down on his now empty plate and turned to me.

“I can’t help but notice you’ve lost your newest accessory.” His tone was loud enough to draw the attention of a few nearby people and I bit back a grin, instead settling for a pleasant smile.

“Oh yes, well Avery thought it suited him better so he decided to give it a try.” Ed sputtered into the glass of juice he was drinking from and quickly began to cough heavily.

When the hacking subsided he leaned in eyes insistent, “I’ve got to hear that story.”

I finally let my grin break through and glanced at Avery who was watching the two of us with a frown. Our eyes met and he gave me a look of warning. His words from earlier popped into my head.

I’m so getting you back for this you know.

I was already in trouble enough and everyone knows you’re not supposed to add fuel to the fire. Of course when was I ever one to follow the rules? Grin still in place I turned back to Ed and dug my own grave.

“Well, it all began last night when a certain someone decided he wanted to take a nap…” After I finished my recounting of the story, minus a few details here and there (i.e. the whole sleeping in the same bed thing).

I risked a glance at Avery, who coincidentally was the only person at the table not laughing at my description of him bent over the fallen chair. His gaze was so intense my breath caught in my throat and I was ensnared by the blue in his eyes. His expression clearly declared his intentions, shots had been fired and it was officially on. I swallowed, my now uncomfortably dry throat working to swallow the consequences of my actions. His lip quirked up at the corner and his eyes took on an almost predatory gaze. I worked my throat once more.

Yup, I’m officially screwed.

Never one to back down I pushed an eyebrow up and grinned back at him. My message clear: bring it on.