Page 20 of Crave You

“It really grinds my gears that they leech off us like this,” I say. “I am so sick of it. They deserve a lesson.” I stand up.

“Let it go, Zan,” Shawn says. “We don’t need a full-on war with The Hawks.”

“Wake up!” I snap. “We’re already in one.”

“Are you sure about that?” Tilly says to Shawn at the same time. “Because your sister is over there, too.”

His face darkens.

“Now can we go?” I ask.

Shawn has the decency not to say any more. He just gets up and follows me. The twins are only a step behind us, and I hear Damien telling Tilly to move — she’s not staying in the house alone. She can either come with us or go home.

* * *

The second we enter Hawk House, I spot Leona. She’s sitting on a small couch chatting to Matthew. The two of them are laughing and I feel a surge of red-hot anger come over me. I bite it back. I need to be coherent and keep my wits about me here, otherwise I will do something that I, or Valens, might end up regretting.

I suppose the advantage of spending years forcing myself not to let my emotions control me help with self-control. Yes, I want to rip Matthew’s head off and fuck Leona in his still warm blood. But I won’t. Not now, anyway.

We walk through the crowd and head towards the kitchen to get a drink. This is Damien’s idea — he rightfully points out that if we just come in and kick off because of the girls being there, it will make Matthew think he has got one over on us. I pretend not to notice that people are surprised by our presence and are staring and nudging each other.

We pick up some drinks and head back to the main party, where Matthew comes to meet us. He smiles — a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Good evening gentlemen,” he says. “And what brings you here tonight?”

“Well, after you extended the hand of friendship by coming to our party last night, and by obviously wanting everyone to come to yours, we thought we would join them,” I say carefully. “Is that a problem?”

“Of course not. Welcome to our humble abode,” Matthew says.

I nod at him, and he moves away. We move towards the area Matthew has vacated where Leona, Erin and Laurel are still sitting. Before I even get the chance to speak, Shawn glares at Erin and lets rip.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he snaps. He keeps his voice low enough that no one around us would realize there is a scene unfolding, but I can hear the anger bubbling away beneath the surface. It’s an anger that would scare anyone on campus — except me and Erin, of course, and she just rolls her eyes at him.

“Well, until about two minutes ago, I was having a good time,” she says.

Shawn takes a breath and then shakes his head. “And you really couldn’t find anywhere better to do that than here?” he says. “You should know better Erin. And you.”

The second part is aimed at Laurel, who shrinks back in her seat. Leona looks at Laurel and then frowns at Shawn. OK, maybe there’s someone else who isn’t afraid of Shawn’s temper, but I have to assume that’s because she’s never seen him kick off.

“It was my idea to come here,” Leona says. “Obviously my friends weren’t going to let me come alone. What’s the big deal, anyway?”

I decide that’s my cue and I sit down in the empty space beside Leona. I can still feel the heat from when Matthew was sitting there, and I feel a flash of anger which I swallow back. I won’t give Matthew the satisfaction of thinking he has bothered me.

“Matthew and his little henchmen can be dangerous,” I say. “You’re best off staying well away from them.”

“He seems OK,” Leona says.

“You think that now because you’ve only seen the nice side of him. Trust me, there’s another side, a side that comes out if anyone crosses him,” I say.

Leona smiles and looks down at her drink.

“What?”

She shakes her head, but she looks back up at me. “I was told something very similar about you,” she says. “And I gave you the benefit of the doubt, remember.”

“Yeah, you probably should have listened to whoever warned you about me and run for the hills, but you didn’t. So now you have to listen to me. Valens and The Hawks are long standing enemies and now Matthew thinks you’ve picked a side. He will allow you to get close, he’ll have a laugh with you and let you think you are his friend. Then, one day, he will need something from one of us at Valens and he will use you to get it,” I say.

“Spoken like someone with lots of experience in using people,” Leona says.

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