Days later
After everything that went down inside the Phantom Society building, Nathan decided it would be a good idea to bring Rory back to her aunt, just for safety reasons. I agreed and helped him drive her back. He could’ve done it by himself, but the emotional toll it took on him was too much, so I hugged him tight and drove us back after we dropped her off.
But my first class is starting soon, so I can’t dwell on difficult decisions. Even though I know Ro’s home is a temporary one and we’ll need to find a permanent solution.
I grab my bag off the table and open the front door of the sorority building, but I come to a full stop the second I lay eyes on all three boys standing outside with a wide smile on their faces.
“Um, what’s going on here?” I ask.
“Starting your first class for the day?” Kai asks.
“Yeah …” I reply with furrowed brows. “How’d you know?”
“I keep track of your class schedule,” he says like it’s the most normal thing on earth.
“Hey, Lana!” Milo says with a cheery voice, waving at me from behind both of them.
“Hey, you’re here,” I mutter. “You feeling better yet?”
“Yeah, the stitches don’t hurt as much anymore, and the wound is healing quite nicely,” he replies with a big smile. “So I figured, why not go to school?”
“So what are you all doing here?” I ask.
“We’re taking you to school,” Milo says, running his fingers through his red hair.
Nathan smacks him in the arm. “You were not supposed to say that out loud.”
“Wow, wow, wow, absolutely not.” I fold my arms, staring them down.
“Why else would we come here?” Nathan says.
“Yeah, why?”
“To protect you,” Kai replies. “In case those Bones Brotherhood fuckers show up on the campus grounds.”
I snort. “You think they would?”
“Definitely,” Nathan answers, showing off his knives before tucking them into his pocket. “It’s better if you’re not alone.”
“I’m not letting you go to class by yourself,” Kai says, gripping the doorjamb.
I don’t think I’ll win an argument against these guys, let alone a fight. They’ve already made that point clear.
I roll my eyes. “Fine.”
“Yay.” Milo jumps forward and steals my bag, stuffing an extra mystery box inside.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Food. You need more; I got it.” He winks. “Sushi.”
“Thanks, I guess?”
“If you tell me your favorite, I’ll make it for you every day,” he muses, handing me back my bag.
Now it’s really hard to say no to all this pampering.
Behind me, two girls gasp in shock, and when I look over my shoulder, both Irina and Brooke are giggling their asses off like they’re seeing celebrities.
I sigh out loud and march out the front door. “All right, fine. Let’s go.”
They follow me around campus as I head to my first class, hovering behind me like some kind of bodyguards, scaring away anyone who even dares to throw a glance at me, and it kind of freaks me out.
So I stop midway there and spin on my heels. “Stop.”
Nathan’s brow rises. “What?”
“Stop glaring at everyone I pass. I’m not trying to make more enemies.”
“They might be,” Nathan retorts.
“Not everyone is out there to get us,” I say.
“He’s just protective.” Kai interjects.
“Oh, so another clone of you,” I spit, throwing him a narrowed-eye glare.
Which he throws right back at me.
“Lana. Be nice.”
That motherfucker … using my own words against me?
I lift my top lip, showing off my teeth like a goddamn hissy cat.
But all it does is make him smile in such a deadly way, and I mean the heart-murdering kind. “You’re cute when you’re angry.”
“And after throwing me my words, you should be happy I let you keep your dick.”
He smiles even harder. “Wouldn’t be of much use to you if it wasn’t on me, now would it?”
“I could make a mold out of it and turn it into a nice dildo,” I retort, getting up in his face.
He grabs my chin a little too tightly as he leans in to whisper, “You could, but it would be no different from the simple fuck Jason offered you. And it would never satisfy you like I do.”
He presses his lips onto mine, stealing my breath away with a deep, sensual kiss.
Right in front of everyone.
“Everyone can see us,” I whisper when his lips unlatch.
“Good. I need them to know you’re mine so they don’t get any ideas.”
Why does that make me bite my lip and smile like a crazy girl?
“Now are you happy to let us escort you?” he murmurs.
“If you behave and don’t scare away everyone who walks by,” I reply.
He smiles against my lips. “Deal.”
“We’ll be good fucking boys,” Milo muses, throwing his arm around Nathan.
Kai throws his arm around my shoulders as the other two come to walk beside me too. “Let’s get you to class. You’re almost late.”
“You don’t have to escort me,” I mutter.
“Yeah, we do,” Nathan says. “Those Bonesmen are still out there.”
“You think they already infiltrated Spine Ridge?” Milo asks, tilting his head.
“They could,” Kai answers, tightening his grip around my shoulders. “But we’ll be ready if they show their faces.”
People are still looking at us, even when they’re not eye-killing everyone in sight, and I just know they’re all wondering “what is a Rivera girl doing with the Phantoms?” And the truth is, I don’t know either. All I know is that I can’t say no anymore.
So I let them escort me into the school building while we bump into a couple of Skull & Serpent Society guys on the way, and the looks they exchange are anything but pleasant.
“Fuck. My brother is going to kill me for this when he finds out,” I mutter under my breath.
“I doubt it,” Nathan says. “You made your choice. He doesn’t control you.”
“No, but he’s my brother. I don’t want him to be mad at me.”
When we get to class, Nathan stops me and pushes me against the wall near the door. “Listen to me. He’s your brother. If he loves you as much as you say he does, he has to let you do what you want.” He tips up my chin. “He won’t get in our way.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m a big brother too. I know how it feels,” he says with a smug grin. “But I’m not gonna let that stop me.”
He grabs my face and smashes his lips onto mine in the middle of the hallway while people are walking past us, some of which I saw outside too.
Fuck, now everyone knows I’m not just involved with one of them but multiple Phantoms.
When his lips unlatch from mine, I’m dizzy with lust.
“The point is, your heart should matter too,” Milo adds, leaning in too so he can place a tiny kiss onto my cheek so soft it melts my heart. “And if he can’t see that, that’s his problem, not yours.”
“What if he never wants to talk to me again?” I say.
“That’s his choice,” Kai says, folding his arms.
“It’s not that simple.”
“He’s your brother,” Kai retorts. “It is simple.”
“You know our history,” I say, and they all rub their lips together like it’s hard to talk about. “If I don’t have my brother, everything we’ve been through, everything I did, will have been for nothing.”
Milo gently caresses my cheek with his thumb. “I’ll talk to him if you want.”
“Do you think he’d listen to you?”
“Well, he’s the least angry with me.” He shrugs. “It’s worth a shot.”
I sigh. “I don’t know.”
“Hey, worst-case scenario, he hurts me, I enjoy it, the end.”
“Hey,” Nathan barks. “No enjoying torture without me giving it to you.”
“I’m just saying, I doubt he’ll kill me,” Milo says.
“That would be an all-out war,” Kai points out.
I bury my face in my hands. “Fuck. What have I done?”
Kai grabs my wrist so my hand yields away from my face, and he forces me to look at him. “Listen to me. It’s going to be fine. We’ll make it work.”
“And what if it doesn’t? What if both sides try to kill each other?”
“I won’t let that happen,” Kai says. “And if I have to choose between having you and my life … you already know which one I’m going to pick.”
I swallow at the intensity he looks at me with when he says those words.
“I already told you I’m not afraid of anything, and that includes him,” Kai says.
“Neither am I,” Nathan says, tilting his head.
“You already know nothing terrifies me,” Milo muses, casually putting his hands behind his head as he winks. “Except maybe you.”
I snort, but it swiftly turns into laughter. “You should be.”
“Hey, Lana.” Brooke casually bumps into me from behind. “I see you’ve kept yourself busy.”
“Oh yeah, we definitely keep her busy, all right.” Milo winks.
A blush manages to creep onto my cheeks.
“Wow, I did not peg you to be the three-on-one type, but you go girl,” Brooke says, and she grabs my hand and high-fives herself before she heads into the same room I’m supposed to be in.
“Your class is starting,” Nathan says as he peeks into the room.
Kai gives me a gentle push. “Go on.”
They’re in the door opening, and everyone’s glaring at them, but none of the boys seem to care about it. “They’re definitely looking at all of us,” I mutter.
“Good. Tell them the sex is wicked.” Kai winks before he shuts the door behind me.
