Claire shrugged. “Do you really think they’re going to come in here armed and ready to start a war?”
“Yes!” we all said in unison.
Claire just laughed. “Maybe ten years ago that’s how things went down, but warfare isn’t done in the light—it’s done in the dark now, through social media, cat phishing, pretending, it’s not as easy to see your enemy as you think.”
Something about the way she said it made me pause. “Claire—”
“Serena,” Ash interrupted me. “We’ve been over this. Claire’s proved herself, drop it.”
Claire sucked in her bottom lip, her eyes filled with worry. “I’m sorry I was just trying to help.”
“You did well,” Ash whispered, standing and walking over to give her an unnecessary kiss on the head like she was his pet.
I gagged and then set my phone back down just as the door opened again, Z let another twenty students in.
One by one, they walked by us, paid their respects by way of a head nod, and then went over to the alcohol.
“I think we need a secret handshake next year,” Breaker piped up. “The head nod feels weird.”
“Because it is weird.” Junior sounded bored. “And what makes us think they’re just going to waltz right into here and—”
“Well then…” Ash chuckled as Z let in five more students that were very much not ours.
The guy was tall, not one of the ones in the picture, but he was with the two that we’d just seen on our phones.
“Safety in numbers.” I cursed under my breath, and then I stood.
The music stopped.
Students approached us and waited.
“Who wants to party up here with us?” I asked in a sultry voice.
Everyone shouted.
“Aw,” I shrugged. “I can only pick five; you guys know the rules.”
Hands shot up, compliments followed, shouting.
Junior stood and moved next to me. “What the hell are you doing? We always wait for an hour.”
“I’m bored,” I lied. “And I want intel, don’t you?”
“Shit, you’re gonna get us killed.”
“Do they look threatening?” I hissed under my breath. “If that girl’s not named Karen, I really don’t know anything anymore.”
Junior smirked and then turned so that his back was to the crowd, his mouth near my ear. “What’s your play then?”
“Seduction.” He was far too close.
“Mmmm, them or us?”
“Both,” I said before I could stop myself. Any excuse to touch him, to make him want, to distract them, and to show them how good it feels—the power.
Junior’s eyes flashed as his fingers gripped my wrist. “I’m not… I can’t be…” He licked his lips and repeated what he always did when we had to perform, when we had to do our jobs. “I won’t be gentle with you.”
Our foreheads touched, my chest heaved with exertion like it was hard to breathe when he was so near, but really it was the promise that killed me, a promise that he wouldn’t enjoy touching me ever again, that I was more curse than cure, and yet, I knew it was all we would ever get, these fleeting moments where we did our job too well. “Then make it hurt, baby.” My voice cracked. “Make it hurt.”
His lips parted in a groan as he spun me into his arms and crushed his mouth to mine. It was part pain, part pleasure as he pulled my hair then slid a hand up my shirt like nobody was watching when everyone was.
We broke apart, mouths swollen, my lower lip was bleeding.
A reminder for both of us—this was no cease-fire, this wasn’t real, it was all a carefully constructed show.
“Mmmmm…” I smirked. “Looks like Junior’s not playing around tonight, ladies.”
Screams went up as Junior grabbed my ass and squeezed so hard, I knew I would bruise later. He roughly pulled me against his chest and nipped at my neck.
I told my body it didn’t feel good.
I told my heart we were safe.
And I forced myself to believe the lie every single time we touched.
Because to do otherwise—would destroy me.
We broke apart again.
Junior’s eyes were wild.
I wanted to capture that look in his depths, keep it all for myself, unleash it on my person with wicked abandon.
But he wasn’t mine to keep—he never had been.
“All right,” I called out. “Let’s see, who needs to get laid the most?”
Chuckles erupted.
And then I pointed at headband girl. “You, you’re new.”
She lifted her chin a bit. “I’m a nursing student at the campus across the fence.”
“Nursing… perfect.” My smile was so fake it hurt. “Think you can nurse poor Junior back to health?”
She gulped, looked back at her friends, and nodded her head.
Breaker helped her up the stairs.
And Junior gripped her by the hand. “Like what you see?”
“Y-yes.”
“What about…” He pressed her hand to the button of his jeans. “…what you don’t see?”
She straight-up paled but still nodded.
“Strip poker it is then,” he announced, earning cheers from everyone around us. Tables from the sides of the building were moved toward the middle, and our game of the evening was ready to begin.
“Now for our Queen,” Junior announced. “Who’s going to get stung tonight?”
I wanted to throttle him.
Instead, I smiled and pointed at the harmless looking guy who’d walked in with headband girl. We didn’t have his picture, but he was with her, which meant he knew her.
“Name?” Junior asked.
The guy leered at me like I was half price steak. “Mitchell.”
“Well, hope you brought a cup, Mitchell. Let him in, Breaker.”
Ash and Claire took our positions and picked the remaining two; each of us played our part brilliantly as they joined us at the main table.
The one with all the alcohol you could possibly want and the company people would kill to be around.
Mafia. Fucking. Royalty.
“Texas Hold ’Em?” I asked the group, already shuffling.
“Brat.” Ash huffed. “Are you really still pissed about last year?”
“I had to walk pantless in stilettos back to the car!” I punched my cousin in the arm while he rubbed it as if it actually hurt.
“Dad was so pissed.” Ash grinned. “Worth it.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re lucky you’re my favorite.”
“Hey, what about me?” Junior teased.
“Kissing cousins does kind of have a ring to it,” Claire said under her breath, making me nearly drop the cards in my lap.
It was a low blow.
One that made me want to launch myself across the table.
Instead, I started to deal.
“So…” Mitchell rubbed his hands together. Great, a talker. “Are you guys for real, like in the mafia?”
“Yes,” we all said in bored unison.
I could practically feel them deflate around us.
Junior mumbled, “killjoy” under his breath.
I caught it, just like I caught the gaze he gave me before looking back at his cards.
Let the games truly begin.
“Ugh, it’s hot.” I started fanning myself, Mitchell’s eyes immediately shot below my neck then stopped at my mouth. “Y-yeah.”
“Drink?” I offered him my cup.
Idiot took it and drank with wild abandon.
Sigh.
If he was De Lange, he got all the stupid.
“And what’s your name?” Claire tilted her head and shot a flirty glance at the other guy we’d invited.
“Tank.” His voice was low; he was wearing a black beanie and a tight black shirt. He had a full sleeve on his right arm, and his left was bare except for a Rolex.
Money. But the De Langes were fresh out of that unless they found som
eone else to partner with, which would be impossible since most the adults were dead.
The kids might as well be poor orphans trying to survive in the wild.
But that didn’t explain the school next door.
Or the marketing with our pictures.
“Cool name, bro.” Junior nodded. “Does it mean anything?”
Another grunt.
“I’m gonna say that was a no, Junior,” I teased, earning a smirk from Tank who seemed to examine me with absolutely zero interest.
“And headband girl,” I reached for the red monstrosity and gently pulled it off. “That’s better. Your name?”
“Annie.” She beamed.
“Of course.” I smiled back at her. “A perfect name.”
The final girl was silent.
With jet black hair that went past her shoulders, a black turtleneck, and jeans that molded to her body.
If anyone was a De Lange, it was that girl right there.
“You’re awful quiet,” Ash pointed out.
Her eyes shot up and then narrowed like she was trying to figure him out. She looked at him like she was taking inventory, and then she jerked her head to the right and locked eyes with Junior.
He couldn’t see it, because he wasn’t sitting where I was.
But I did.
I saw the resemblance right down to my core.
She wasn’t just De Lange.
She was related.
And everything that Andrei had said at dinner came crashing down into my reality as I reached for my knife and struck.
The silver blade cut into her neck as I held it there, still. “You’re familiar, aren’t you?”
Her nostrils flared with hatred. “I’m just a student.”
“Try again,” I said politely.
Everyone around the table had gone silent.
Our new friends looked ready to shit themselves.
“I’m a student.” She said it mockingly, with a smile, and then reached for something behind her back.
I didn’t think, I just reacted.
Because Junior… she was going to hurt Junior.
And I couldn’t bear the thought of him having more scars, more nightmares. It was like his life, his sins flashed before my eyes as I kicked the tip of my boot under the table and hit her in the shin, the hidden needle went into her skin seamlessly. She slumped forward as if she was drunk.
But the Family knew the truth, as they stared at me in shock.
She was dead.
And I, Serena Abandonato, had just had my first kill.
I… had just been made.
Chapter Six
Junior
I tried to keep my expression calm—hell, I was born to keep my expression blank, wasn’t I?
But I knew exactly what had just happened even if our new visitors had no clue.
“Wow,” I joked. “Must have been one hell of a pre-party before she came over here, huh?”
Serena shrugged a shoulder. “We’ll help her home later. You guys know where she lives?”
Tank’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits. “Not really, she just saw us head over and said she was coming with us since most the school was invited.”
“Right,” Ash said carefully, leaning back in his chair. “But only a select few are invited in.”
“Why is that?” Annie asked in her innocent voice that was one hundred percent real. The girl’s eyes were even this constant wide expression like the world was so big she was having trouble drinking it all in.
I looked over at the dead body.
They had to know… had to have noticed that her chest wasn’t moving, right?
Serena had seen her as a threat, but never in my life have I seen Serena act so impulsively without having any of the facts.
And we were going to have hell to pay when we got home and let all the bosses know exactly what went down.
“I need another drink,” I stood. “Serena, come with?”
“Whatever.” She stood and followed me over to the makeshift bar that was located in the far corner of the stage we were all currently on.
I grabbed a bottle of Gray Goose and tipped it back then handed it to her, my expression calm. “We need to call this in.”
“Yeah.” Her voice cracked, and then she blinked up at me, her eyes filled with tears. “I just—reacted. She seemed like she was going to hurt you, or us, or—”
“Hey.” I tilted her chin toward up with one hand. “Never apologize for protecting Family.”
She shuddered under my touch.
We were too close.
I could smell the mixture of vodka and soda on her breath, feel the warmth of her skin beneath my fingertips.
It was all too much.
When wasn’t it?
“But there is something you can apologize for…” I said with a teasing grin.
She frowned. “What?”
I slid my hand down the front of her shirt and tugged her body hard against mine, then leaned down until my lips touched her ear. “Apologize for being a fucking tease. Yeah, apologize.” I slid my hand beneath her arm and flicked the side of her breast. “For this.”
She sighed heavily, her breathing erratic. “Never.”
“Mm… thought so.” I pulled back and grabbed the Gray Goose from her hand. “It was worth a shot.”
She winked. “All’s fair in war, Junior, you know this.”
“Too damn well,” I agreed. “For what it’s worth…” I hesitated and then, “I like you better without all of it.”
She rolled her eyes. “You would like me better naked.”
“Did I say naked?” I tilted my head. “I meant this… without the mask. I like you better when you’re just you.”
She lifted her chin. “I haven’t been me in a very long time, and all you have to do is look in the mirror to know the reason.”
“Don’t,” I hissed. “Don’t make this about me when it was always about us.”
“You had a choice. You made it. You don’t get to live with regrets, Junior. You get to live with pain.” Tears flooded her eyes, and she shoved me away. And then she was gone.
And the line was drawn once again in the sand.
Enemies forced to work together.
Die for each other.
That was if we don’t kill one another first.
Cheers.
I made my way back to the table. Breaker was already peeling off his shirt.
“Losing already?” I joked.
Serena was staring a hole into the table.
“Nah man, we call this winning, right, Annie.” He winked at her, causing her cheeks to go bright red before she averted her gaze to Claire as if she was safer.
“So…” Claire leaned forward. “You guys enjoying this semester?”
Annie’s face lit up, and suddenly we were all punished with the knowledge of too many scientific facts about the extinct wolf than I ever cared to repeat. Ever. Even in my worst nightmares.
You know it’s bad when Ash starts to fade out, and he could act his way toward an Oscar if you asked him to.
Even Mitchell had left our little table in search for more fun, leaving us with just Tank, Annie, and a dead body.
“Yeah.” Serena stood twenty minutes later, saving us from what I was sure was an interesting theory on breeding in the wild. “So, I just got a text from Dad. They need us at the house.”
“That’s too bad.” Tank apparently could use full sentences, good for him. “This was fun.”
“Yeah!” Annie grinned. “Let’s exchange numbers.”
I felt my entire body recoil while the rest of us mentally drew straws. Please, God, don’t let me have the short one.
“Why not?” Claire was the first to speak, though I could have sworn Ash muttered a prayer under his breath as his girlfriend got down their info and said we’d hang out later or let them know when the next party was.
“Thanks.” Annie grinned. “This was by far the most rebellious thing I’ve ev
er done in my entire life.”
I frowned. “Then why take the risk?”
“Oh.” Her eyes flickered down and then back up, which was when I noticed that they weren’t brown, they were blue, a trick of the dark lights and my attention being on the dead body still at our table. “Actually, both my parents died when I was young, I was adopted a few years ago by a really nice family, and they were just really protective of me. I was sick a lot as a kid, and I don’t know for whatever reason this just feels like a second chance.”
“Wow.” I nodded. “And what about you, Tank? Similar story or were you just born bench pressing five hundred?”
He actually laughed. “I have a mom. She’s overbearing. And Annie and I met on the first day of orientation, end of story.”
He seemed like he was telling the truth.
Hmm, maybe we were wrong.
And just being extremely paranoid.
“So!” Annie clapped her hands together. “Do you guys like go home now and torture people or—”
“Yeah, we’re just gonna go.” Tank was already steering her away as she tried to fight back and ask more questions.
“I would die,” Ash said once they were finally gone. “Actually, die in my seat if I had to sit through class with a girl like that. Even her questions had questions.”
Claire laughed. “She was cute.”
“A puppy’s cute.” Ash snorted. “She was more… I don’t even know…”
“What’s the most annoying animal on the planet?” Breaker asked out loud. “A parrot? Yeah, she’s a parrot. Don’t worry, I got you, bro.”
He and Asher bumped fists while Serena grabbed her cell and dialed her dad, I knew her like the back of my hand. Of course, she’d call him for cleanup.
He would do it without blinking.
Anyone else would ask questions, wouldn’t they?
Even my dad.
They’d want to know why.
And Nixon, wouldn’t care about the why; he’d just care that we were safe.
“Hey.” Her eyes locked on mine while she spoke. “Yeah, we do need cleanup for one. I saw the threat and—” She was quiet. “Yes, it was me—but Daddy—” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I understand. Okay. Yes.”
“So?” I asked once she was off the phone.
“We’re headed back to my place, Dante’s on his way to do cleanup, so get everyone out of here.”
“Who wants to do the honors?” Breaker asked the group.
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