In the hallway before class,Dino grabs me and kisses me full on the lips. His tongue plunges inside, sending a surge of pleasure running though to my core. He smells edible, like cinnamon and citrus. I bite his lower lip, giving off a small moan. So my body hasn’t fully recovered from Saturday night.
When he lets me come back up for air, Lorcan raises a brow as his own lips curl into a smirk. I shoot him a look and he says absolutely nothing.
“You left without us, feisty girl,” Dino growls, openly groping my ass in front of everyone.
I continue to glare at Lorcan who just shrugs. “I think you woke the beast.”
Jude snorts, raising a brow. “Sin, did you finally get laid?”
“Ignore him, he’s a sore loser,” Dino says, annoying twinkle back in his eye.
“I’m not a prize to be won,” I say.
“You certainly scored the other night,” Dino teases.
“Twice,” Lorcan adds.
I lift my eyes heavenward and head into the classroom. The boys, Lorcan and Dino, flank me, each taking a side. I’m not oblivious to Jude laughing, patting Dino and Lorcan on the back as we take our seats.
During class, I can feel eyes on me, so I turn with a scowl to find Jude staring at me with languid orbs. My body, no doubt full of hormones after all the sex lately, reacts, making me squirm in my seat. He winks and flashes me a knowing smile. I give him a scornful one back. And then I spend the next fifty minutes ignoring him and the entire class, planning how to get Dante’s DNA without getting caught.
DNA fabrication is a thing. I know because Quinn has done it for me in the past. You need something with DNA on it first—hair, skin, spit, or even blood—and it takes the lab a few hours to copy the genetic strands, replicating them until you have enough to insert into a blood sample that already has the original DNA removed.
The easiest way is to get it directly. But I don’t trust being alone with him. To get hair or skin, I’d need Dante’s clothes. Maybe I could swipe his jacket while he’s teaching?
Blood isn’t an option. He’d kill me before I even got that close.
It has to be saliva.
Lorcan and I share the next class so he’s waiting for me as we filter out into the hallway. He falls into pace beside me. “So what’s the plan?”
“For Joseph?”
“Yes, and for dealing with your psycho ex.”
I shake my head. “He’s not my ex, and I’m not involving you with him. He’s my problem to sort out. Alone.” I’m not involving the boys with Dante. Killing people on the list is one thing, dealing with a highly trained assassin is another thing altogether.
He stops me with his hand on my arm. “And I told you not to fucking lie to me or cut me out,” he says, eyes cold, reaping me down where I stand. Not this again. “You need me.”
I narrow my eyes. “When I need you, I’ll let you know,” I say, taking his arm off me and walking off. I’ve lasted this long by myself.
Did you? Did you not rely on Dante before the boys came along?
I push that thought away and focus on getting to the next class, Lorcan doesn’t chase me and when we get there, he sits at the opposite end of the room. He doesn’t look at me for the next fifty minutes, and when the lunch bell goes, he leaves without me.
Honestly. Fucking schoolboys.
After putting my books away, I calmly walk into the cafeteria, grab a tray and some food, and then dump myself on the table we’ve come to call ours. Lorcan doesn’t arrive until I’m almost done. I’ve no idea where he was, or why he was late, but he sits next to me. Dino is already sitting himself down on my other side when Dante walks in with Miss Douglas.
Everything else falls away.
He’s wearing a dark gray blazer with jeans and shirt. His blond hair is neat and his blue eyes are sparkling like he has a fucking soul, and his lips are curved into a genuine smile.
I watch him grab a tray of food, and then walk to the teacher’s table deep in conversation with Miss Douglas, who seems thrilled at the attention he’s giving her.
She keeps touching his arm and looking into his eyes.
I snort and push my own food on my plate around in a circle. It always amazes me that normal people don’t see the monster hidden until it’s too late. Dante is a master at disguise, but he’s not faultless. Surely, she’s not completely dense to miss the way his laugh is always a couple of seconds too slow, his smile never quite reaches his eyes, and that he never talks about himself. His attention is solely on her, asking personal probing questions, and relaying anecdotes that put him in the best light. The only time he really opens his mouth is to flash his predator teeth.