by Rina Kent
He tilted his head to the side with a menacing smirk. “But you’re so fun to play with.”
I drew back with a frown. He’d said that as if we were well acquainted. “I think you’ve got me mixed up with someone else. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care. I just want Dax.”
He strode forward, his movements predatory and posture certain. I steeled my spine and forced myself not to retreat, drawing in a small breath when he got within a few inches of my chest. His intoxicating cologne seeped into my lungs and I was forced to tilt my head back so that I could see his face.
“You don’t who I am, but your body sure as fuck does.”
“What the--.”
“And you say you want Dax, but we both know that’s not true.”
I crossed my arms and finally took a step back, vigorously shaking my head. “Clearly, you’ve gotten your wires crossed somewhere. I don’t know what your beef is with my boyfriend, but I would always pick his side over yours.”
“Would?” The corner of his mouth tilted.
Shit. I held his gaze for as long as I could, feeling as if he were penetrating every layer of my soul. Judas Barron was the definition of intensity. And I’d never dealt with anything or anyone like him.
That left me feeling bereft and unarmored. I swallowed and took another step away from him, intending to go find Audrey so we could get the hell out of here.
He moved with me like we were doing a synchronized dance. When his arms wrapped around my body without warning, palms skimming down my back, leaving a chill in their wake, I attempted to break free.
“Get off me!”
“Almost done,” he soothed as if I were an insolent child, tightening his hold, smashing my chest to his. Feeling firm fingers along the top globe of my left ass-cheek, I stiffened. A second later something was tugged free.
My lower lip detached from the top when Judas stepped away with my cellphone in his hand.
“Thought I was trying to feel you up?” His knowing smirk said he knew that’s exactly what I thought. “I won’t ever force myself on you. I know you’d all too willingly let me touch every part of your body, principessa.”
“Like I did the other night?” I rebuffed, anger bleeding through my words.
“The other night was me doing you a favor, believe it or not. You should be thanking me. Don’t turn it into something it wasn’t. When I want you that way, I’ll have you.”
I laughed without humor. His ego was way too much. “A favor? So, you’re my hero now? My gallant white knight?”
“No.” His answer was firm, one word said with so much grit I didn’t question it.
“A hero is altruistic. They don’t expect things in return.”
“And you do?”
“Yeah.” His eyes drilled into mine. “You.”
I’d been being sarcastic. I had a feeling he wasn’t.
“Give me my phone back,” I snapped, ignoring the reaction he’d just caused inside me. I moved forward to grab it, just to be stiff armed by the guy he’d been talking to on the balcony the other night. He was too damn tall for his own good, indigo eyed with dirty blonde hair styled similarly to Judas’.
Did he not averagely attractive friends? You know, like me.
“Just a second, Kitten,” Blue eyes needled.
My nose screwed up involuntarily. I loathed pet names. “It’s, Rhiannon.”
“Nah. You remind me of a pissed off cat. So, it’s kitten.”
An image of my old tabby popped in my head. When he got mad at the other cats through our front window, he’d puff up like a cotton ball. I hoped to god I didn’t resemble that when I was upset.
I watched Judas’ fingers fly across my screen with a scowl on my face. “How did you unlock it? And what are you doing?”
“Here.” He held the slim device out for me, ignoring both my questions.
Asshole dropped his arm and let me move forward to retrieve it. I took the phone from him as delicately as I would a bomb.
Judas watched me with a hint of a smile on his face. He stepped away then, and his brainless minions moved with him, Brenda the second as I’d deemed her offering me a timid smile.
“I’ll see you in two weeks,” Judas tossed over his shoulder.
I stared at the retreating quad in confusion. What was happening in two weeks?
Chapter Seven
Judas
The verdict was in.
“I like her!” Brianna exclaimed. Her gaze trained on the space Rhiannon and Audrey had just vanished from.
“You know how I feel,” Owen chimed in, crossing his arms.
I did. He’d been my eyes and ears for some time now. From a distance. If I hadn’t stoked a claim on little Rhia two years ago, he would have done so himself.
“I always knew it would be this way.” Gavin shrugged nonchalantly.
“You think she’s gonna let Dax go?” Brianna asked, turning to face the rest of us.
Gavin released a sound between a laugh and a scoff, palming a few strands of blonde hair.
“That girl doesn’t like him like that,” Owen replied.
Brianna didn’t look convinced. She was somewhere between a realist and a hopeless romantic. If she’d been witness to the inner workings of their relationship as we were then she’d be on the realist side.
It did make me contemplative. I wondered if Rhia believed the lies, she told. We both knew Dax was nothing more than a way to pass time. A security blanket to seem normal, hide away all the dirty things about herself she wanted to keep secret.
If only she knew there was nothing wrong with being a little monstrous. Each and every single one of us had a darkness within ourselves. Most feared it, some fought it with light, others ignored it, and people like me? We fucking thrived in it.
If you’re thinking I’m some poor juvenile delinquent with a shitty backstory or that I’ve suffered a terrible tragedy, you’d be wrong.
I had two very capable parents that told me they loved me way too fucking much, cheered for my accomplishments and mourned my losses. I’d had a diamond encrusted spoon in my mouth since before I could comprehend what the fuck that was, and I’d been blessed with like-minded friends.
That first part means my famiglia never suppressed the real me. In our society, I was fucking perfect. I was taught to blend in and behave like any normal kid in my shoes would, and I did that well. Mostly.
The last part gave me the famiglia that wasn’t blood related. My best-friends. We’d been brought up together, all eventually expected to join rank in the adult world and continue building an empire.
An empire of what?
Well, that’s simple and rather cliché.
Money, sex, and power.
What people died, killed, lied, stole, and cheated for every single day. The three things that made the world go around.
We were a sick, savage, youth. The offspring of modernized and clandestine ‘crime’ families. Paragon assets, so to speak.
But for all the modernizations following the newer generations some things remained the same. Marriage and family values among them. Most of our parents, grandparents, and so on had their shit aligned by the time they were my age. Twenty at the oldest. For me that was just a few months away.
My parents were on board with my decision, ecstatic even now that they knew who I’d been watching. And they had every reason to be. There was sordid history between my family and Rhia’s. History my gorgeous girl knew nothing about.
I’d have to wreck her world to bring her into mine. Fortunately, I was a selfish fuck who was ready to do just that.
She’d love me anyways and always. That would be her one avocation. There was plenty of time to get that right. We were merely brutal adolescents, after all. These things would take time. For now, I was more interested in the acquisition. The game of predator and prey both of us craved to play.
We were a new aged Romeo and Juliet, but our curtain call would come with a much more satisfying end
ing and sinister twist.
Chapter Eight
Rhiannon
One week ago, Judas put his number in my phone. I never used it.
Eight days ago, my ex-boyfriend sent me a one worded text in a reply to my hundreds. I’d cursed him to the moon and back at this point.
Ten days ago, I attended a party and still wasn’t entirely sure what the hell had happened. But that was the catalyst for all this strangeness. And to think, my summer had been going so grand just the week before that.
On the plus side, it was almost over.
Taking mom’s advice, I was trying to move past all the happenings and focus on the upcoming year. My mother on the other hand wasn’t following what she preached…
“I don’t get it,” she shook her head, sprinkling some pepper onto her greens.
“You loved him. He was your--.” She cut herself off and shot Dad a look.
Thank god.
This was where I gouged my ears out. I took back the thing about her having a sixth sense. She was insane. I loved Dax like a brother. And despite what she obviously believed; he was not my first. A guy in a wolf mask was. In the shed behind a brownstone that had since been foreclosed on. I often went back with the crazy notion he’d be somehow.
I could say none of this out loud, both were disturbing on different levels. One, sounded gross and incestuous when I thought of all the non-brotherly and sisterly things Dax and I had done.
The other wasn’t exactly the romantic atmosphere or special moment they would have expected for me. The guy screwed my brains out while I laid on top of mulch bags.
Come to think of it, my wolf had a few similarities to a certain someone, from what I could remember. That concerning realization had me sitting back, brows furrowing in thought.
“There’s different kinds of love, Evie.” Dad’s voice forced me back to the present and out of my short-lived reverie.
“See, he gets it.” I gestured towards him, returning his smile after he winked. I wanted to give the man a medal and standing ovation.
“I get it too!” Mom rebuked, causing us both to laugh.
“This is nice,” Dad said after a minute, his fork waving around between the three of us. “Dinners in our new house, together.”
I nodded in agreement, reaching for my drink.
“Yeah, all these new starts and exciting changes.”
Sucking down some root-beer, I sent shifty-eyes between the two of the them. Mom had a cheesy smile on her face, which gave away the secret Dad was so successfully hiding.
I looked at him and grinned. “You know she told me all the things just now?”
He laughed and nodded, running a hand through his graying hair. “She has a tendency to do that.”
“She is right here,” Mom intoned. “And I’ve kept this secret for two weeks. Do you understand how hard that was when my baby-girl’s been so down?”
I scratched my temple and took sudden interest in the rest of my meatloaf. I hadn’t been down. She had. I was starting to think she loved Dax way more than I ever could.
“We’ve got a surprise for you.” Dad stood and left the dining room, returning a minute later with a colorful pamphlet.
Mom sat taller, looking quite proud of herself.
“Here.” Dad placed the brochure in front of me.
I stared down at the image of two girls and a guy wearing uniforms, smiling at one another in front of a large brick building.
Pesadilla Prep was written on the top of the pamphlet in large white letters.
I knew this school.
Audrey went here.
As did Judas, Dax, and half the rich-kid population in Crudele.
“Um?” I looked between them confused.
“You got in!” Mom cried.
“I wasn’t aware I’d applied…wait. How?” There was no way this was possible. I’d seen copies of their placement tests online. I would never embarrass myself so severely by attempting to take one. Not to mention the cost of attending somewhere like this.
“Friends at work,” Dad chimed in.
“You’re a roofer through a union.” That was my way of saying bullshit. No one was spotting a friend that kind of cash so their kid could go to school with the upper class.
“And roofers sometimes have connections,” he insisted.
“We thought you’d be excited,” Mom cut in.
A few weeks ago, I would have been. Now? Hell no! This was my senior year. I liked my school and the ‘friends’ that went there. The only people I knew at Pesadilla was Audrey and Dax. He didn’t count anymore so really, I only knew Audrey. I wasn’t bothered by being the new kid. I was likeable enough, but I didn’t have any desire to run into Judas again.
“You start when school does,” Dad continued, oblivious to my internal struggles.
“Do I have to? Go here, I mean. There’s nothing wrong with my old school.”
“Of course, there isn’t, Rhia. We just want the very best for you. I know its last minute, but this would open so many doors college wise. Maybe even Ivy-league.”
I laughed—hard.
“We all know I am not getting into an Ivy-league school. I can barely do geometry and physics.”
Dad chuckled, cutting it short when Mom shot him a death glare. At least we were on the same page on that front.
He cleared his throat and came in with the serious parent approach. “It’s only for the year, sweetheart. I don’t—we--don’t expect you to get into Harvard or Yale.”
“And you told me you met Judas Barron. So, you must have some friends already.”
I peered at Mom through lowered lashes. Way too much excitement hung in that statement.
“Like, Audrey?”
“See.” She nodded.
That one tiny movement sealed my fate.
Chapter Nine
Rhiannon
This uniform was a nightmare waiting to happen.
A white bowknot blouse, the bow being black, and a black strap skirt with white trim. The problem with wearing something that was one solid piece, was the inability to pull it lower when your thunderous ass cheeks wanted to make an appearance.
The other option had been a plain white jacket over a white blouse and a skirt of the same style. All I saw was a disaster. Spilled milk, ketchup, any freaking speck of dirt. It would be a beacon for attention.
I’d gone for option one, the wisest choice. My long locks were tamed into a half-up half down style, doing the whole two bun thing, on either side of my head.
Light layer of make-up was on, as was lotion so the dreaded ashy knee couldn’t sneak up on me.
All in all, I didn’t look too bad. The get-up was cute, even. A horn honked, and then Dad’s voice was calling up the stairs to let me know Audrey was out front.
Because I didn’t have a parking permit yet, I was riding with her. This was a blessing in disguise, in my humble opinion. I grabbed my leather satchel, affixed with another giant bow, and headed down.
Mom and Dad were waiting at the bottom of the steps. He’d purposely decided to go in late today so he could be here, like I hadn’t had a first day of school for the past twelve years now. It secretly warmed my heart, though.
“Oh, stop right there!” Mom commanded, holding her cell up for a photo.
I withheld a sigh and flashed her a bright smile, hearing the cellphone camera flutter repetitiously.
Did she really need twenty photos of me in the same pose?
If you asked her, yes.
“You’re so beautiful, Rhiannon. Isn’t she beautiful, Marcus?”
“Yes, just like her mother.”
Mom shot him a look I couldn’t decipher. Maybe she thought he was full of shit, but he wasn’t lying. It was blaringly obvious she and I were as different as night and day. She was Tinkerbelle and I was Jasmine. But mom was still drop dead gorgeous.
“Yeah, the girls certainly don’t look like you these days,” she muttered, snapping one last picture even though my s
mile had faded.
“What does that mean?” I walked the rest of the way down the steps.
“She meant people don’t make babies as beautiful as you,” Dad replied.
My entire face screwed up. “That gave me so many unneeded visuals of you guys. Ew!”
They laughed me off. I gave them both a quick hug, and then finally slipped out the door, inhaling a deep breath of fresh air as soon as they were shut away behind me.
Audrey went through a security check point, showing an ID card and explaining my situation before we were waved through.
Various other students drove in behind and in front of us, majority of their cars costing more than my parents made in a year.
A few were on the level of my Soul, which really didn’t make me feel better or worse. I wasn’t a chick who swooned over shiny new things. I preferred sexy muscle cars and classics.
The main building looked as it did on the school’s pamphlet, minus a couple thousand square feet. I lifted the Campus Map Key my mother had given me and skimmed over it again. There were four brown buildings, all ridiculously large and far apart, all housing different things. Wide, smooth stretches of sparkling concrete ran between them, fluffy grass on either side.
“This is insane,” I repeated for the third time since I’d gotten in the car. I was sure the whole damn town could have fit back here.
“Oh, hush. You’ll be used to it in no time. And I’m so fucking glad you’re here!” Audrey squealed, doing a little jig in her seat. She, of course, had gone for the white jacket look.
“I’m supposed to go to the Malvagio building for the attendance office.”
She nodded, slowing so a group of girls could cross in front of the car. “I’ll drop you at the pathway so I can go claim a spot. These people are savages when it comes to parking in the front.”
“Okay.”
“You just go through the doors, around the lion thing-y, and it’s on the left. You can’t miss it.”
“Okay,” I repeated, unbuckling my seatbelt.
