Page 24 of Crucible
SETH | EKEZ
Fuck, she’s perfect.
Thanatos, bless you, Savior.
Her gaze falls on Khalil first. No surprise there. He’s not just the biggest physically but also has the biggest presence.
Picture a live wire—untamed and exposed—with untapped frenetic energy and nowhere to go, so he charges the air and everyone around him until they’re as miserable as he is.
Khalil Poverly equals pretty plus an insufferable ass.
I try to see him through her eyes as if he isn’t Zeke’s best friend, and I haven’t suffered his company for far too long.
Khalil is Black with semi-dark brown skin, warm brown eyes, and shoulder-length hair braided into plaits. At the moment, the top half of his braids are pulled up in a ponytail, showing off the sharp angles of his cheekbones and jaw and letting his full beard steal the show. Inevitably, though, the girl notices that a pretty face isn’t all he’s packing.
His broad shoulders and massive pecs are straining against his gray thermal. Zeke told me once that Khalil went pro right after high school and retired early as an undefeated champion. He’d also spent some time working for his dad’s construction company. Needless to say, Khalil’s body has been honed into a lethal weapon of mass distraction.
Despite the fact that Khalil wants to fuck her, his game face is on as he scowls at her. That lasts until her attention shifts to his arms. I nearly face-palm when that narcissist notices and flexes a little.
The girl doesn’t seem intimidated by his brute strength. Instead, she nods once as if telling herself something or giving her approval.
Whoisthis girl?
She looks barely twenty but purports herself like a queen.
Fuck. Is she? Do I kneel? Call her majesty? Swear a vow of eternal knighthood?
When her gaze travels to Thorin, I panic a little, knowing I’m next. I chuckle under my breath when she looks Thor over and moves on, dismissing him a lot faster than she did Khalil.
Thor’s gaze narrows to slits, and despite the fact that he wants to murder her something bad, he’s jealous too.
It’s not that he isn’t hot.
He looks like a Nordic god, for fuck’s sake—flowing blond hair, blue eyes, a straight nose, high cheekbones, thin lips, pointed ears, and a prominent forehead. He’s also the tallest and almost as big as Khalil. Thor’s a real-life dreamboat with the personality of a wild boar.
Unlike the egomaniac, Thorin was a littletoosuccessful in scaring her. I can tell by the way her brown cheeks warm, and she subtly clutches her dress hem a little tighter.
I can’t stop myself from standing a little taller when our gazes finally connect. She’s everything to me, and I don’t even know her name. I want her to like me. We could have so much fun together. Thorin and Khalil are so boring.
What does she see when she looks at me?
Or rather, Zeke.
He has olive skin, courtesy of his Portuguese mother, dark-brown hair, and green eyes, courtesy of his Italian father. On hisright bicep is a tattoo of a skeleton hand holding a new moon between the pointer and thumb and two smaller half-moons on either side.
Zeke’s gained more muscle tone in the years since he defected, and as much as I don’t care for Thorin or Khalil, I can’t deny how much they care for him.
Despite my attempts to please the Savior, Zeke’s punishments came often, and Isaac’s favorite was starvation. Zeke had nearly withered away to nothing when Thorin and Khalil showed up and rescued him from the compound.
The memories of that place fade away when the sun speaks and I hear her voice for the first time.
“You’re here,” she says while tucking a loose curl behind her ear. “It’s about time. I’ve been waiting.”
If she’s a spy for Isaac, then she’s really bad at it. Khalil and Thor move closer to me while I move closer toher.
“Thanatos sent you?”
She gives me a slow, unimpressed blink. “Who?”
