I stare out the window at the snowflakes slowly falling. I can almost feel the cold right through the glass, the shivers reminding me of that night in the alley. When we ravaged that girl I can’t fucking stop thinking about. I haven’t heard from Lana in a couple of days, and it’s starting to make me antsy. In the middle of class, I pull out my phone and text her.
Me: Have you been up to some bad stuff again?
It takes her a while to respond.
Lana: What kind of stuff are you thinking of?
Me: Sex … murder. Maybe both at the same time.
Lana: Wow. OTT.
Me: Not when it comes to you.
Lana: True.
Me: So you admit you’re a kinky li’l kitty. I like it.
Lana: Why are you texting me?
Me: I told you … when I call, you come.
Lana: So you want me to come now? Like a dog?
Me: Not like a dog, but if you want to get on all 4s for me, I won’t deny you the opportunity.
I smirk at the thought of watching her crawl to me. Good God, the hard-on I already have. I should definitely not be doing this in the middle of class, but I’m bored, so why the hell not.
Lana: Ur just like your friends.
Me: Y?
Lana: All you do is use and destroy.
I frown, confused. Where is this coming from?
Me: Did something happen that I’m not aware of?
Lana: Ask your fucking friends.
Okay, now I really need to know more, so I open my conversation with Nathan.
Me: Did you talk with Lana?
It takes him a while to respond.
Nathan: Talk is a big word.
My hand tightens around the phone.
Me: WDYD?
Nathan: Milo and I had some fun with her.
Me: Without me?
Nathan: She’s ours too.
Me: Would’ve been nice of you to tell me.
Since when does he keep shit from me?
Nathan: Now u know.
Me: She’s angry. Why?
Nathan: Bcuz I told her I wasn’t planning on sending those photos to her brother.
I sigh out loud and rub my face.
God-fucking-dammit.
If he said that straight to her face, she’s gonna go ballistic.
I get up from my seat and storm out in the middle of class.
“Excuse me, Mr. Torres, where are you going?” the teacher asks, but I ignore him. “Mr. Torres?”
I don’t care that I’ll miss important information. I need to find her. Now.
I bolt out of the building and call her on my phone.
“Where are you?”
The snooty voice on the other end makes me seethe. “Why do you care?”
“Don’t play coy with me now, kitty,” I growl. “Give me a location.”
She makes a tsk sound. “I’m busy.”
“With what?”
“Friends. You know what those are?”
God, I fucking hate when she’s being difficult and icy because it makes me so goddamn hard, and I can’t be hard in public. At least not when no one knows she belongs to me. Yet.
“You tell me where you are at right now, or I swear to God, I will tear down the entire fucking campus until I find you,” I growl as I march across campus through the snow.
“Okay, okay, chill, I’m in the rose garden.”
I frown, clutching my phone tightly. “The rose garden? No one takes their friends there. That’s a make-out spot.” Okay, now I’m really getting fucked up. “Lana, who the fuck is there with you?”
She just laughs and ends the call, so I pick up the pace as I head straight toward the garden in a small courtyard behind the school. It’s more like a giant maze than an actual garden, surrounded by many trees and bushes large enough to overshadow the area and allow for plenty of privacy. Privacy to do things you shouldn’t be doing when someone has already staked their claim on you.
And fuck me, if I find someone, anyone, touching my girl, the entire fucking earth will not be a safe place to hide from me.
Lana
God, I love riling those fuckers up.
I mean, they kind of deserve it after what they keep putting me through.
I’m not here with anyone except myself, trying to get my work done in peace. But he doesn’t need to know that. Let him fucking fume.
They can play me, but I can play them just as well …
I adjust in my seat underneath this big tree, which protects me from most of the snowfall. It’s beautiful out here, and the serenity allows me to focus on my homework.
Suddenly, the bushes behind me rustle, and I look up, my heart racing, thinking it’s Kai. But when Jason walks into the garden, my heart immediately sinks into my shoes.
“What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing. Expecting someone?”
I throw my books down on my bag and get up. “What the hell do you want?”
“I think we need to talk.” He rubs his nose. “You’ve been avoiding me ever since that dinner.”
“Yeah. I think I was clear enough, right?” I say.
He approaches, and I don’t like it one bit. “Look, I fucked up. I get that, okay? Can’t we talk?”
“No,” I say.
“You won’t even let me apologize?”
I fold my arms. “Not interested.”
He comes even closer, holding out his hand. “C’mon, Lana, I just want one chance. I know now what I did wrong.”
I step back, away from his grip. “Don’t. Don’t even fucking try after what you did.”
“It was just a bunch of pictures,” he says. “I get that now.”
“No, I don’t think you do,” I say, shaking my head. “You tried to blame me.”
“I don’t want anyone to look at you like that. Please, Lana, you have to know I care.” He attempts to grab my hand, but I jerk away. When he gets too close, I push him away.
“Ew, get off me.”
“Why would you say that? I’m trying to make things right with you.”
“I don’t want you anymore,” I say, my voice becoming unhinged.
“Not now, but maybe in the future. I’ll wait for you,” he says, gripping my arm. “Just tell me who they were.”
“What?” I push him away and try to jerk my arm free, but he won’t let me go. “No, let me go.”
“Goddammit, Lana, you have to trust me!”
When I finally manage to wring free, I run off into the snowed-under maze to try to get away from him. Even though my knife pokes into my thigh from my pocket, I don’t want to pull it on him. I don’t want to hurt him.
But I can hear his footsteps behind me, cracking through the snow, and it strikes fear into my heart.
Not because I’m afraid of him, but afraid of what I’ll have to do if he won’t let me go.
“Leave me the fuck alone, Jason!” I yell, bumping into some snowed-under rose bushes on my way through the maze.
Thorny roses push into my skin, but I try to ignore it as I keep running.
“I need you to be safe, Lana! Please! Stop and talk to me!”
I come to a full stop in front of a dead-end.
Shit.
I turn around, and he’s right there in the only exit out of this part of the maze.
Fuck.
I don’t want to fight him.
Jason used to be here when I needed him. When I needed to lull that part inside me that screamed to be let out.
But now it’s too late. Too late to put the genie back into the bottle.
“Stop,” I tell him as he walks closer. “I cannot give you what you want.”
“I’m just asking you to tell me who took those pictures,” he says, approaching fast. “I want to protect you.”
“Too late. I gave you a chance to help me, and you didn’t take it,” I say, tears welling up in my eyes. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”
His face contorts. He’s mere inches away from me. “You’re my girlfriend. I won’t allow that. I need you.”
My heart’s beating in my throat when someone jumps out of the rose bush, skin cuts and snow all over, and thrusts a knife right to Jason’s face.
Kai.
“One more inch. One touch. And your eye meets my blade.”
I’m frozen to the ground.
His whole body is covered in an aura of violence, like a silent killer ready to strike. And the mere sight of him even makes Jason’s knees weak.
“I’m …”
“I know who you are,” Kai says, an air of calm and collectedness surrounding him, like a ghost before it’s about to haunt its victim’s soul. “Jason Foley from the Skull & Serpent Society.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Jason growls back.
“Kai,” he hisses, tilting his head.
Jason’s eyes widen. “Torres.”
“So you do know me,” Kai muses, smiling.
“Lana …” Jason’s eyes skitter between Kai and me like he’s trying to warn me.
“Didn’t you hear? She doesn’t want you,” Kai says, his voice low, commanding.
Jason looks over Kai’s shoulder at me. “You know this dude?”
But Kai raises his knife again, pushing it into his forehead so deeply a bloodied mark appears. “Don’t talk to her. Talk to me.”
Wow. I’ve never been guarded like this.
It almost makes me feel … protected.
Jason’s lip quivers. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You. I’ve got a problem with you trying to touch my girl.”
“Your girl?” Jason’s brows furrow.
Oh fuck no. Now he’s gone and done it.
“No, no, she’s my—”
“Girlfriend?” Kai mocks. “The girlfriend you can’t even please?”
Jason’s stammering. “Wha—”
“The girlfriend I gave the most amazing orgasms to when you couldn’t even bother to look at her and see what she truly craved?”
Jason’s eyes turn murderous. “You … You’re the one who’s been toying with her?”
“Kai,” I mutter, but he pushes me behind him.
“You’re the one who took those fucking pictures of her?” Jason growls.
“I didn’t do shit. But you sure as hell won’t take one step closer,” Kai warns. “She’s not yours. She never was.”
“Lana, if this is the guy you needed help from, tell me now or—”
“Or what? You want to fight me?” Kai pushes the knife even farther between Jason’s eyes.
A droplet of blood rolls down his nose.
“Are you sure about that? There is a reason I lost one eye, and it wasn’t an accident. Choose your battles carefully, Foley. I have very little to lose.”
I swallow the lump in my throat while Jason’s whole body quakes.
Kai leans in to whisper, “She belongs to me.”
“Phantom scum,” Jason says, making a fist. “You’ll pay for this.”
A wicked smile forms on Kai’s face. “Bring. It.”
Jason takes a step back, and he homes in on Lana. “You want this fucker?”
I don’t answer, not because I don’t want to but because I can’t.
I don’t even know what I want anymore.
But judging from the way Kai’s protecting me, he’s already chosen for me. And I don’t think I have the will in me to resist.
“You’re making a big mistake, Lana,” Jason says.
“Speak one word to her brother about this, and I will put your head on a stake outside the Skull & Serpent Society,” Kai warns.
Jason’s face turns white as snow.
Kai tilts his head. “Now are we good?” He brings the knife to his lips and licks the blade, along with the droplets of blood. “Or do you need some convincing?”
Jason swiftly shakes his head and promptly runs off.
“Come talk to her again, and I’ll be waiting to rip out your tongue,” Kai yells after him.
When Jason’s finally gone, I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Is that the friend you were talking to?” Kai grits, his back still toward me, probably to make sure Jason doesn’t come back.
“No … I was actually alone,” I admit. “I just lied to you.”
He throws me a glance over his shoulder. “Why?”
“Because I was angry.”
“He was following you … And you had a knife,” Kai states, turning to face me. “Why didn’t you use it?”
“I …” I avert my eyes. I almost feel ashamed that I didn’t. “I didn’t want to hurt him. I couldn’t, he’s my brother’s friend,” I say as tears well up in my eyes. “But now he knows everything.”
“Hey.” He pulls me into his embrace, and I’m smashed against his chest, completely stunned. “I’m here. I will always be here.”
I’m overwhelmed by the sudden affection and don’t know what to do or say.
“I won’t let him hurt you.”
I push him away. “But you’re the one who caused it.” I point at his chest. “If you and your friends hadn’t stalked and used me, he wouldn’t have known a thing. You just told him everything.”
“He won’t tell your brother,” he says, as his tongue darts out to wet his lips. “Unless he has a kink for dying.”
“What if he does? Then what?” I’m panicking, pacing around to calm myself, but it’s not working. “This is everything I wanted to avoid. If people find out we’re fucking, I’ll be ruined.”
“You won’t be.”
“You’re a Phantom,” I shout. “I’m the sister of the goddamn leader of the Skull & Serpent Society. You two are literal enemies.”
“I don’t care,” he says.
“Don’t you understand?” I say. “My brother will kill me.”
“You think I’d let him?” he scoffs. “He won’t come anywhere near you, and neither will Jason.” He grabs my arm and forces me to stop. “Lana. Look at me.” When I don’t, he cups my chin. “I’m not afraid to fight for you.”
I swallow, the glimmer in his white eye drawing me in, making me feel things I’m not supposed to feel for my stalker, a killer.
“Now tell me how he knew about the pictures.”
I sigh. So he heard. “At my father’s dinner, he stole my phone and saw the picture Nathan tried to threaten me with.” I frown at the memory. “But he tried to blame me for it. Said he couldn’t support me so I told him to fuck off.”
His eyes narrow and his hand tightens around his blade. “Do you want me to kill him?”
My eyes widen. “What?”
His jaw clenches. “That useless son of a bitch wasn’t there when you needed him. I knew I should’ve just executed him.”
I suck in a breath but no amount of breathing can ever draw in enough oxygen. “You’d kill him for me?”
He cups my face, caressing my cheek as tiny specks of snow fall all around us. “I would kill every goddamn fucking human on this fucking planet for you.”
Why is it suddenly so hard to breathe?
His lips are so close to mine I can feel his breath on my chin. “No one’s ever done that for me …”
“All you have to do is point this knife at someone.” He slips his knife into my hand. “And I will end them.”
I rub my lips together, thinking about the idea of Jason dying at Kai’s hands. Even though I’d love nothing more than for him to pay for not supporting me and scaring the shit out of me just now, it still wouldn’t feel right to literally end his life.
“No. Let him live,” I mutter.
“Fine, I won’t kill him.” He leans in to whisper, “But I will take great pleasure in knowing he could never pleasure you the way I can.”
He smashes his lips onto mine, claiming my mouth with fervor. Even as cold snow showers down upon us, the heat in his kisses could scorch the entire sky dry. The kiss is intoxicating, completely overtaking every inch of doubt in my soul.
“What the … oh my God.”
I drag my lips away from Kai’s as we both look in the direction of the voice…
Only to come face-to-face with Crystal, who literally drops her books onto the ground when she sees us. “Him too?”
Oh fuck.
