Viola
He’s doing every one of my moves. Copying every one of my tactics. Following me around campus like a goddamn poisonous shadow.
Saskia, a few chairs down, stiffens. She’s spotted him too. The man who tried to kill her. Her fear is palatable, almost like a fine wine. I glance at her face and drink it in. Just seeing what Dante can do with one look has my heart racing. I’ve no idea what’s going to happen next. If I’m honest, I’m loving every second.
This is what I live for.
“Sas, are you alright?” Dino asks, his voice filled with apprehension.
“No, I’m fucking not. He’s here,” she says hoarsely.
Lorcan’s head jerks up “Who?” he says, coming out of studious mode and into big brother mode at the sound of Saskia’s distress.
“That fucking psycho who tried to kill me, and you,” she adds, answering her brother.
Dino turns around to see who Saskia is looking at. But it’s Jude who is almost out of his seat.
“Sit down. I’ll deal with it,” I say, getting to my feet.
Jude’s eyes look my way. “You need backup?”
I shake my head. “No, stay here.”
Dino’s baby blues darken and he stands up too. “Wait, Viola, what are you doing?” Are we all going to stand up now?
Lorcan hasn’t yet. He’s still glued to his chair, gaze flitting between me and Dante as he openly stalks us.
“I’m going to talk to him, that’s what I’m doing,” I say to Dino as I step over the bags blocking the exit from my corner seat.
“No, you’re not.” Lorcan cuts in, snatching at my arm. He grips me so hard, it hurts.
I switch my attention to the one person I thought had trust in me. “Since when have I taken orders from you, Duke,” I say quietly, but no less filled with hostility.
Lorcan’s green eyes pin me where I stand. “Oh yes, I forgot. You like to be forced.” No one says a word as they all look at me. “Do I need to spank you into doing as you are fucking told?” He carries on in that matter of fact way of his.
“Not if you want to be stabbed,” I say with a glare, shaking him off. He lets me go. I don’t look at the others. But in the back of my mind, I’m thinking…I’ve never been spanked. The thrill of the unknown trumps all.
I slip my blade out of it’s holder, sheathe it in my sleeve, and walk over to where Dante is waiting.
He’s standing between two bookshelves at the end of a long row. As I approach, he smiles and strolls around the corner, out of sight. I follow, floating on adrenaline and indignation, only steps behind.
When he stops, we’re in the thick of the unused book stacks. He leans against an unpopular historical poetry section, boyish good looks veiling the monster beneath. It takes a monster to know another one, after all.
“You’ve really let me down, V.”
I lean too, feigning a relaxed demeanour against a wall of books. “Why? Because I tried to kill you?” There’s a musty, earthy smell that comes with being surrounded by so much printed paper, and a hint of ash and gunpowder that I’ve come to associate with my mentor. He chuckles, eyes blank and unreadable.
“No, because you missed. And you’re still clinging to a role after a job has gone south. I taught you better than that. It’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes you.”
He means me staying put with Lorcan and the boys. It’s rule number two, always keep moving forward. “I liked the view,” I say.
“Seems you like breaking rule one too. Always clean your own kills, or at least find someone you trust. Do you really trust these boys, V?”
I don’t want to get into that with Dante, not here. Not in a public fucking library. “Why are you stalking me?”
“Why shouldn’t I, you’re a mark now. I could get a good price for your head wrapped up in a box with a pretty bow.”
I give a harsh laugh. “Then stop hesitating and finish it already.”