JUDE
Viola is back, and it shows in the dynamic of the place. Before, there was no cohesion whatsoever. Everyone had an agenda. Especially that fucker Dante, who looked like he’d gut you with his toothbrush if you so much as looked at him funny.
“Oat skinny latte and a macchiato,” says Lore, handing Viola a steaming cup. I shoot him a look as if to say where’s mine? But he flips me a finger and stalks off back to the kitchen. We’re sitting in the main lounge room, waiting for Quinn to get her shit together and Saskia to finally emerge from her cocoon.
Dante—fuck knows where he is. I don’t trust him, despite what Lorcan has told me about him helping them find Rebecca. There’s just something off about him. The fact that he’s a murderer probably doesn’t help.
When Lor comes back with more coffees, the fucker hands me one. As I take it my hand decides to shake like a bitch. It doesn’t go unnoticed. Both Viola and Lorcan stare at me as I clench and unclench my fist to get it to work.
“Maybe you should lay off the beer, mate?” fucking Lor has the balls to throw at me with Viola in the damn room.
“How about you lay off being an absolute cunt?” I say back to him.
Viola rolls her eyes, and Lor frowns, creasing up his holier-than-thou brow like a goddamn prick as he takes his own coffee and sits on the other side of our girl. Fucking tosser.
Saskia walks in, looking like she raided a fashion house. She takes a mug of coffee from the tray her brother put on the table and then sits on one of the armchairs,
“What did I miss?” she asks, taking out a goddamn notebook, ready to take fucking notes.
“Nothing yet. We’re waiting for Quinn,” Viola says, sipping her drink. She looks better today. No one got up early, so we all had a long lie-in. After her mini-freak out in the bed, I got a text from Lorcan saying not to fucking try anything and let her sleep. Do you know how difficult it is to sleep with your dick pressed against Viola’s luscious fucking ass? I spent most of the night aware of her every movement until exhaustion kicked in.
Not that I’ve been able to sleep much since St Michael’s. Withdrawal has been a bitch. I really, really want a beer, but after Lorcan’s remark, I can’t just head over to the goddamn fridge, so I reach for Viola’s hand instead. When she lets me take it, the need for a drink subsides. Lorcan sees us and places his hand on her thigh, his fucking FOMO going off the charts.
And that’s how we are when Psycho Charlie walks in. His eyes take in me and Lor, either side of Viola, claiming in her for the world to see.
We’re like a bunch of fucking wolves, marking our territory.
I’m expecting him to react, but all he does is walk over and take a coffee and then head to a spot by the kitchen island to stand against it. He doesn’t bat a fucking eyelid at Viola sitting with us. Before I went into St Michael’s, Dante was trying to kill us all. And now he’s fucking drinking coffee with us, and we’re sleeping in his damn school.
Call me paranoid, but I don’t like it.
When Quinn arrives with her laptop and a bunch of notes, no one is talking. “Well, who tell me who died because it’s like a funeral home in here.”
“More like a pissing contest,” Saskia sighs. “Let me get you up to speed. They all want to fuck Viola but no one is willing to make the first move now she’s back for fear of hurting her, or not being allowed to share.”
Viola snorts into her coffee.
Dante frowns.
Lorcan grimaces.
“Nailed it.” I raise my mug to Sas, who rolls her eyes, but there’s a faint smirk on her lips.
“Can we just get on with the briefing?” Dante asks. “I’ve got things to do today.”
Viola’s brow furrows at that, but no one says anything else as Quinn sets up and hands out paper copies of what she wants to go over. It’s like being at fucking school. I don’t remember signing up for this. I care about Viola just as much as anyone else here, but this. What is this shit? I flip through it and then toss it onto the table and take a sip of my coffee. But it’s like drinking soil now it’s no longer hot.
Fuck, I need a proper drink.
The briefing was short,thank fuck. Quinn wanted to go over the security measures she’d put in place around the campus to protect the girls and keep everyone safe. Viola gave everyone her update on Byron and her father. There was some discussion on getting Bryon out, and Lor said he would handle it.
Lorcan and I gave everyone the shitty news—no one has any clue where Adrien is keeping Dino. After that, Dante fucked off as soon as it was over. Saskia announced she was going shopping to cope with the stress. And Lorcan took the hint and went with her since it was on the way to his lawyer’s office anyway.
Getting Viola alone is a luxury I don’t have anymore, so I volunteer to go with her to check over all the entrances and their locks.
“You don’t trust Dante?” she asks me outright when we get to the far entrance gate.
“I get it that he saved you and that he’s always been there for you. But he tried to kill Saskia and you, and now he’s strolling around acting like a right cunt.”