Exposed

by Rachel Van Dyken

  For my safety.

  Because the unbelievable had happened.

  My parents no longer had the means to protect me.

  But the school did.

  The school would.

  Because blood would always be thicker than water, and even though I was the enemy, according to the five families, I was still blood.

  So protection I got.

  That didn’t mean I wasn’t petrified for my parents. Being back in Chicago was about as dangerous as walking the streets of New York without a bodyguard. So while they were in hiding.

  I was in college.

  In plain sight.

  God save me.

  A body stumbled into me. Out of habit, I jerked my messenger bag closer to my body then slipped my hand into the front pocket in search of my pepper spray.

  My thumb flipped open the cap, just as the voice belonging to the body spoke.

  “You won’t need that here.”

  I froze and stared up into warm honey’d eyes. They were rimmed with black, and I almost felt like if I didn’t tear my gaze away he was going to hypnotize me with their depths.

  I quickly dropped the pepper spray and folded my arms. I probably looked guilty — my face never was good at hiding my feelings. “Need what?”

  “Pepper spray.” He took a step toward me, towering over my body even though I wasn’t short by any means. His unruly, thick black hair fell across his forehead, giving the impression that he hadn’t had it cut in years — or maybe he just preferred to look like a dirty pirate.

  The look worked for him.

  He was muscular in all the right places, a little intimidatingly so. He mimicked my movements then licked his lips, a cruel grin spread across his face.

  I tried not to suck in a breath.

  Instead, I jerked my head away.

  I had to.

  He was… the kind of wicked crazy beautiful that shouldn’t exist in real life, with a sort of magnetism that told me he was a lifetime worth of bad choices wrapped up in one sexy package.

  “You speak?” His voice had a growl to it.

  “Of course I speak.” I frowned. “I just—”

  “Oh, I see.” His grin widened. “It’s okay, it happens a lot. It’s the Abandonato blood, you’ll get used to it. Besides…” He stepped closer then leaned over until his lips grazed my ear. “I don’t screw freshman.”

  I sucked in a breath as a sensation of warmth radiated from my ear to my cheeks then through the rest of me. “That’s… a bold assumption.”

  He pulled back and shrugged. “Not an assumption.” His hand moved to my chin, and he promptly closed my gaping mouth and winked. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”

  I looked around the empty sidewalks. How long had I been standing there? “Um, yeah, I just, I must have gotten turned around,” I pulled out my sheet of paper. He jerked it from my hands and nodded toward the building in front of us.

  “I’ll take you.”

  “That’s okay.” I tried reaching for the paper.

  He held it higher. “I insist.”

  I lacked the strength to fight him and running away seemed to be something that would encourage a guy like him. Defeated, I gave him a weak nod.

  “Excellent.” He wrapped a bulky arm around my body and pulled me toward the doors.

  I tried to hold my breath.

  Because I had a feeling he smelled just as beautiful as he looked.

  It was either pass out.

  Or breathe.

  I chose life.

  And inhaled.

  A spicy scent that wasn’t at all boyish.

  Manly.

  He smelled like he’d rolled around in just enough cologne to make a girl like me lean in.

  Because that’s exactly what I wanted to do, lean in, sniff, try to figure out where he’d sprayed it. Yeah, I was losing it. And it was only day one.

  We walked in silence. I tried not to let my body slam against his as my legs pumped out in front of me, but it was useless, he only held me tighter the more I fought.

  He stopped in front of a door reached the knob with his left hand, and walked in, still touching me, still claiming me like he’d discovered a lost dog and was returning it to its owner.

  “Mr. Abandonato.” The professor visibly paled. “To what do I owe this honor?”

  The guy shrugged. “This is my class.”

  “And yet you’re so rarely here, I feel the need to question your presence. I wonder why…” He eyed me up and down then held out his hand.

  I looked to the sexy stranger his eyebrow arched.

  “Your schedule, miss.” The professor barked while the room erupted in laughter. “I don’t have all day, unlike some people.”

  “He means me.” The guy winked again then released me and slowly walked down the few chairs spread around the room.

  And like I was in some sort of sick dream, the minute he walked by all laughter ceased.

  Guys nodded in his direction.

  Girls smiled and then looked down at their books.

  Students straightened in their chairs.

  The only way I could explain it was — respect. They respected him.

  But why?

  He was just a student.

  Like everyone else.

  “Now, if you’re done staring.” The professor said jerking my attention away from the guy, “Why don’t you find a seat, preferably not by Dom, he isn’t the best influence.”

  Nobody laughed.

  The teacher didn’t even smile like he was teasing.

  “Be a good girl,” Dom said from the back of the room, “And listen to the teacher, wouldn’t want me rubbing off on you.”

  A girl in the front row sighed and muttered, “I sure as hell would.”

  There weren’t any empty seats.

  Panicked, I looked from the professor back to the students, “Um, are we supposed to bring our own chairs?”

  The laughter happened again.

  Seriously? What kind of fresh hell was this?

  I felt my eyes burn. My cheeks heated.

  “I wasn’t expecting Dom to show up today, he so rarely does,” the professor grumbled. “I supposed you’ll just have to sit on the floor or fight him for his seat.”

  The class grew quiet.

  “What will it be, beautiful?” Dom grinned. “Fight me for the seat or sit on the floor?”

  I wanted to say fight.

  The guy would destroy me with one punch, one flinch.

  “I—” His eyes lit up briefly. He wanted me to challenge him. I knew it. But challenging him, doing anything would just show people who I really was — or worse, convince them that I was just as dangerous as my parents. So I shut down my pride and shrugged. “The floor looks… perfect.”

  I could have sworn I heard someone utter “Weak,” the minute my ass connected with the floor.

  And for some reason, I felt shame.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Dom

  The fact that she was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, should have been amusing. Instead, I had to clench my jaw so hard my teeth felt like they were going to shatter with the force.

  Students kept staring at her.

  The whispering grew louder.

  And the professor wasn’t even stopping it. He was just as guilty as everyone else, passing judgment on the new girl who had no family name, no bloodline, no money.

  The girl who had no protection but a small vial of pepper spray in a messenger bag that had seen better days.

  Eagle Elite didn’t let just anyone in.

  You could either afford it.

  Or one of the Five Families owed you a favor.

  And by the looks of her.

  It wasn’t money that got her in.

  It was a favor.

  A damn old one if you asked me.

  I clicked through the file Sergio had sent me on my phone.

  Everything, and I do mean everything, about her history had been wiped — and it
had been done well.

  Clean.

  He was working on finding any of the broken and trashed files, but it was going to take time.

  All we had was that she did have associates with a few families back in New York, which didn’t tell us shit.

  And that she was going to be a pain in my ass to protect.

  Because her enemies weren’t my enemies.

  “Shit,” I hissed under my breath.

  The professor raised his brows at me then continued lecturing while I clenched the phone in my hand and toyed with the idea of slamming it against the desk.

  It would be easy, of course, almost natural if she hated the Russians like I did, if she was here because she’d seen the wrong thing at the wrong time.

  But no.

  The only thing it said on her profile.

  The only thing Sergio could find.

  Was a big red Terminate at all costs.

  And the name of the crime family next to it.

  Tanit De Lange.

  “Welcome home, princess,” I muttered under my breath. “Hope you weren’t expecting a parade.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Tanit

  I wish I could say that classes got easier, professors got less weird, and I made at least five new friends.

  It would be a lie.

  I just wanted the day to be done.

  And for the beautiful stranger to stop following me. I swear every single time I turned around he was watching me.

  Always watching.

  Never smiling.

  He didn’t seem to be the kind of guy you got smiles from easily, and I wasn’t about to work my ass off just so he’d give me the time of day. Guys like that seemed to think that they owned the world, and I knew that only spelled trouble for someone trying to hide from the very world he wanted to be king of.

  I gritted my teeth and kept my head down, careful not to make eye contact with anyone as I walked to my dorm.

  A lot of the older students lived off campus.

  Not me.

  “As long as you stay within the walls, you’ll be safe.”

  I remembered my father’s words and repeated them over and over again in my head.

  At least I knew I was safe.

  From his enemies.

  From mine.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat, my legs heavy as I finally made it to my building and looked up.

  It was a daunting six-story brick monstrosity. Students milled around, and the buzz of ever-present conversation just made me feel that much more lonely.

  “Hey,” a familiar male voice said behind me.

  The buzzing of conversation went completely dead. Heads turned slowly in my direction.

  I was a few feet from the front door. I wouldn’t make it even if I ran.

  So I turned.

  My memory from this morning didn’t do him justice. How was it possible to get hotter throughout the day? Did they hand out sexy pills during lunch or something?

  His golden eyes raked over me like a sensual caress before he inclined his head and took a step forward, touching me like he had a right to.

  I let him; I was too paralyzed to do anything.

  He reached for my hand and gripped it. “Let’s go get coffee.”

  Someone gasped.

  More whispers.

  “Did he just ask her out?”

  “She’s not his usual.”

  “I don’t drink coffee,” I lied.

  He smirked like he was amused I’d reject him. “You’re in college. Everyone drinks coffee in college.”

  “Not me.”

  “Tea.” Dom’s eyes narrowed. “Juice, water, blood—” He shrugged, “Let’s just get this over with, I’m inviting you to coffee because I want to spend time with you, not because I’m afraid you’re suffering from severe dehydration. Coffee is an excuse, I have millions of reasons, justifications, excuses I could use to get you to come with me. Coffee…” He leaned in closer. “…just seemed the most innocent.” Then he shrugged. “But if you had something else in mind, I’m all ears.”

  I gulped. “Coffee’s fine.”

  “You sure?” His gaze heated. “Because I could always just follow you up to your room… help you—”

  I covered his mouth with my hand.

  He grinned behind it, then slid my hand down and whispered. “Unpack.”

  “That’s not what you were going to say.”

  “Know me so well already, huh?” Dom was already tugging me away from the dorm, “Then again, that’s what coffee dates are for, right? Get to know someone in a non-threatening environment? Find out their favorite colors, foods.” He paused. “I like black, and I hate any food that you can’t put ketchup on.”

  “Huh?”

  “Can’t trust food that tastes bad with ketchup.”

  I tried to pull free, but he just kept talking and pulling me toward the student union building. They had a small coffee shop inside along with a few restaurants.

  “Will I ever get a choice with you, or do you just force people to do whatever you want?” I grumbled.

  He stopped, and I nearly slammed into his back.

  Slowly, he turned, his eyes lethal, “I always get what I want. No matter the consequences. It would be wise to remember that.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Dom

  It seriously wouldn’t be a hardship.

  Seducing the hell out of her.

  Manipulating her emotions.

  Making her feel everything.

  While shutting off every emotion that I’ve been trained since birth to shut off when working for the mafia.

  But there was a problem.

  One problem.

  A dimple.

  It was hardly noticeable at first.

  If I was being completely honest, I’d at least admit I was concentrating too hard on her eyes to think about anything else, let alone a dimple.

  But there it was, peeking out at me when I least expected it to.

  I’d forced her into coffee.

  And she’d smirked.

  That dimple made an appearance.

  And a sick feeling washed over me.

  I knew my place in the world. I was the in-between guy. The guy who knew good and bad, and chose to do bad in order to make sure that good won out. The mafia, in my Family, always seemed more Robin Hood than the devil incarnate.

  I truly knew that in the end, we really did no harm — at least we didn’t do harm that wasn’t deserved.

  We focused on keeping our blood safe.

  And spilled it when necessary.

  I’d just never faced a possible enemy that had such pretty eyes, such an addictive smile, or a damn dimple.

  “So,” Tanit gave me that hellish side smile again, “You’ve forced me into having coffee with you, now what?”

  People stared. They always stared. They knew exactly who I was. And knew that if I was talking to her, she was either someone they needed to be afraid of… or someone they needed to dispose of. That was the law of the land. The law of Eagle Elite U.

  God, how I freaking hated it.

  “Dinner,” I blurted.

  Her brows furrowed. “But we’re having coffee, so…?”

  “Dinner.” I said it more decisively this time. “Have dinner with me. You’re new, staying on campus is complete bullshit, and I think you’d like my family.”

  Her right eyebrow arched before she took another loud sip from her iced coffee. She gulped then looked back toward the dorms. “They have a curfew.”

  “They,” I intentionally emphasized they, “won’t give a shit, trust me.”

  “What? You in with the dean?” she teased.

  I shrugged.

  Another frown. “Seriously?”

  “Let’s just say he owes me a favor.”

  “What kind of favor?”

  The life or death kind. I offered a dismissive half-shrug. “Don’t worry about it.”

  I held out my hand.

 
; And for some damn reason, she actually took it, like she wasn’t just terrified of me a few hours ago, like she hadn’t just been humiliated in class. Like she was so freaking desperate for a friend.

  For something.

  That she didn’t even see the wolf dressed up as a sheep and offer her an out.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Now?”

  I jerked her against me. “What? You thought I meant tomorrow? Yes, now. Why not now? You got other plans? Homework? Friends to make?”

  Tears filled her eyes before she looked down and licked her lips, “Are we, um, safe to leave now?”

  “Safe,” I repeated, my body going rigid with each beat my heart made against my chest. “No.”

  Wide eyes locked with mine. “Then I can’t.”

  “Nothing is ever safe or promised in this life, Tanit,” I brushed a thumb across her lower lip. “But I can tell you, you can trust me.” For now. For now, she could. But later? I wouldn’t hesitate. It wasn’t in my blood. It wasn’t my job to hesitate. My job was to kill, to destroy if necessary, and I told myself I would do the job asked of me no matter what.

  She beamed up at me with that damn dimple again and said, “Okay.”

  I froze.

  Dimples.

  Damn it.

  She was just like anyone else.

  Just like everyone else.

  I told myself this over and over again as we walked.

  And knew… I was lying the entire time.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Dom

  It was a horrible idea.

  I knew it.

  The world knew it.

  And honestly? Part of me thought Tanit knew it, and yet, she still said yes. Instead of relief, I felt… suspicion. Did she know about me? Who I was? What I did? What I would do?

  No idea.

  Instead, she was gripping my hand like she was afraid I’d let go.

  And for some messed up reason.

  I gripped hers.

  Right. Back.

  “So…” Her frail hands shook as she folded them over her lap, then as if she suddenly remembered seat belts existed, she jumped a foot, put on her seat belt, shoved it into the lock about seven times, finally getting it before facing me again, face pale, body language… odd.

  “You know…” I smirked. “It’s just dinner, not a proposal.” Not that she wouldn’t tempt anyone with those eyes. Seriously, with her bee stung lips and wide innocent eyes, damn she could even tempt the worst. Hell, she tempted even me. Innocence was my siren’s call, and she had it written all over her body.