“Is that a no?”
I sigh. “It’s not a yes.”
She seems to contemplate this. “I don’t trust him either.”
I stop walking and look at her. “Then what the fuck are we doing here? Let’s just leave this place.”
She turns to me. “No, I need to see this through to the end.”
“The end of fucking what?” I stare at her.
“Adrien. I have to kill him. I need to get Dino back.”
I understand that. I get that. “You don’t need Dante for that. You’ve got me and Lor. And that hot Asian who knows fucking everything….”
She cocks her head, giving me an annoyed look. “That’s not your call to make. I decide if we need to keep him close or not.”
I glare at her, not getting her at all until I do. “You don’t want to give him up, do you? Even if he’s going to fuck us over one day, and he will. I know his type.”
“You know nothing about him.”
“Neither do you,” I scoff.
Our voices are raised at each other now as we stand in the woodland beside the long rear entrance driveway that leads to the school. There’s no one here, but anyone could be listening. Viola seems to check herself as she looks around.
After a pause before, she speaks again, in a more level tone. “Then help me, Jude. Get close to him.”
I scrub my hand over my face. “How do you expect me to do that?”
“Dante knows about addictions. How to manage them.”
I snort a laugh, shaking my head at her. “I was waiting for this talk.”
“No talk, just pretend you need help. Get him to open up. You’re the only one I trust to do this. And you owe me for your uncle.”
She’s got me there. I lift my hands up. “Fine, fine.” I don’t have my inheritance yet, and probably will never get it.
When we get back to the boarding house, Viola drags me upstairs. I sit and wait on her bed while she digs around in her things.
“You’ll need these,” she says, handing me something heavy wrapped in cloth. I know before unraveling it that it’s my brass knuckles.
“Fuck, look at that, “ I say, holding one up. They’ve been cleaned. I glance at Viola. I could kiss her right now for this one thing alone. “You found them?”
She shrugs. “They were in your car. Filthy, I might add.”
I slip one on. The weight I’ve lost means it doesn’t fit as well as it used to, but I don’t fucking care. “You know, there was a time I lived in these.”
She raises a brow. “I can imagine that.”
“You fucking beaut,” I say, kissing the cold metal.
“Shall I give you two some time alone?”
I grin at her. “Come here.” I pull her toward me, tangling my hand with the knuckle duster in her hair. She lets out a small moan as her lips find mine. “I’d rather have a threesome,” I tease in her ear.
She frowns “There’s no way that’s fitting inside me,” she says, making me chuckle. “And we can’t. I have something to tell Lorcan. I told him to meet us up here when he’s back.”
“Fine, I can wait,” I smirk at her.