Canvas & Keys

6. How To Break Out From The Inside

Chapter 6

How To Break Out From The Inside

I didn't move a muscle until Vince and Ade Dibra had left the room. Even then, my jaw was clenched tight, rage burning through every vein in my body. I wanted to hit something, like Vince, or maybe even destroy something, like the computers that were the only things occupying the room besides myself.

But no, I couldn't. I was going to need them.

Turning on my heels, I strode from the room, bypassing all of the eyes that immediately found me when I exited. Without even a second glance, I pushed past them, heading into the one room I knew I would be safe for a little while, hearing the only person I could really trust on the other side.

"...not going to need a transfusion," Flannery had been saying when I entered. "All of the stitches, though..."

I slammed the door closed behind me, making her and Kenna jump and stare up at me with wide eyes.

"Looks like someone had a nice chat with Vince and Ade, huh?" Kenna asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Don't even get me started," I growled, stomping over to the side of the bed where Flannery was.

They had Beau stretched out on the bed in only a pair of shorts. The cuts and bruises were far worse than I'd thought, going along his legs, too. Flannery had an entire roll of gauze in her hand and three more piled on the bed, along with a needle and thread for stitches, a tube of antibiotic cream, and a glass vial of medication with a syringe beside it. She'd just started covering the shallower cuts on his legs when I sat down.

I grabbed Beau's hand, pushing his hair back from his sweaty forehead. "How's he doing?" I asked, looking over at her. "I knew it was bad, but..."

"But it's a lot worse than what you saw before," she nodded. "Trust me, I know. Once I get the cuts and gashes on his legs cleaned up and wrapped, I'm going to start stitching the deepest ones on his chest and back. Those are the ones that will more than likely scar. Luckily, they've stopped bleeding like they had been before."

"When do you think he'll wake up?"

"Don't know," she shrugged. "He's been in and out for a couple of days now. And any time he was conscious, he wouldn't say what Vince wanted him to...resulting in him getting the whip and the knife all over again. I tried to tell him to just keep quiet and stop pissing Vince off, but..."

She trailed off, but I knew exactly what she was implying. He had to play the tough guy, even when the man questioning him was the deadliest man the Brotherhood and the Knights had ever dealt with in recent centuries.

"Stupid idiot," I mumbled, kissing the back of his hand.

Flannery laughed slightly. "I called him that, too. He just told me to shut up."

"Well, I would have called him something that contained a few choice words," Kenna commented from the other side of the bed. "Who the hell is this guy anyway?"

Flannery nodded to me. "Her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? I could have sworn you were the girl our Drakey-poo couldn't stop talking about. Or are you dating this guy and finding fun somewhere...like in Drake's pants?"

"We broke up a few weeks ago," I corrected. "But he's still my best friend, just like we've been for most of our lives." My face was already on fire from that last question of hers. "And no to the second thing. Just no."

"Then why does Vince seem to think otherwise?" Flannery asked. "If you two aren't together..."

"Collateral," I sneered. "He's just using him as leverage against me to make sure I don't double cross him and the Order." I dropped my voice so low only they would be able to hear and not anyone who would have undoubtedly been posted at the door. "I've got a plan, though."