Page 48 of Dirty Little Saint

Panic rises in my chest. The last thing I need is to drag her into all of this. “Stop. Professor Crane is not sending me these texts. He’s not like that.”

Atlas knocks back a vial of poison as he shakes his head. “Yeah? How can you be so sure?”

“Villette adores him. I trust her judgment. She wouldn’t be so happy to see him if he was some kind of predator.” I have to believe that anyway. My friendship with her means too much to me to risk it over a possible hunch. And we can’t just break down her door and accuse a brand-new professor of sending lewd texts to a student without any provocation. Not yet anyway.

“We’re all predators,” Riot snickers. “The only difference is that you are our prey—not his or anyone else’s.”

Val pulls me into his arms, hugging me to his chest. “Stop being stubborn and come back with us willingly. We just want to take care of you.”

Riot towers over us. “I will drag you back to Nocturnus House kicking and screaming if I have to.” His blue eyes are glowing; his expression demonic.

“Don’t be a dick, Riot,” I hiss. He’s close to crossing a line.

“Don’t fucking provoke me, Maur.” His fingers twitch as a rush of energy spikes between us. The sigil on my thigh flares, burning my skin like I’m lying on hot coals.

I push back, using my own power to counteract his, but he’s stronger. “Calm down,” I plead.

Atlas places his hand on Riot’s shoulder. “Relax, brother. Let her be.”

He releases me from his grip, and I draw in a deep breath as the pain in my leg subsides. “Are you scared for my life, or are you just pissed that someone else wants to play with your toy?”

Riot charges toward me and wraps his hand around my throat. “You know how I feel about you. And I fucking hate it. It makes me weak. Vulnerable. And it paints a target on my back. The blood pumping through your veins has brought me nothing but trouble. And yet, I can’t ever let you go. So I’ll be damned if I let someone else get their hands around your throat like this.”

“Fine. I’ll go with you tonight. But I’m not moving in. Not until we’re done with school. I have to have some sort of normalcy, Riot,” I wheeze,

He tightens his grip for a second before letting go. “We’ll see about that, Firecracker.”

Atlas

Nocturnus House is so quiet you can hear a pin drop. With only a few new recruits, there’s a strong absence of the chatter and movement from before when the house was full. It used to annoy me, but now I kind of miss all the noise.

But we have to ensure that these new initiates fall in line. Part of that is tracking down this motherfucker who’s threatening my pretty girl. I plan to put him on full display so everyone can see what happens when you fuck with our firecracker. When you betray Nocturnus. I thought sending the others to Absentia Asylum would have been warning enough.

The air is cold as fuck this morning. Spring is coming, but winter is still hanging on by a thread. Just like the ravens. One squawks at me as I make my way past the graveyard toward campus. I pull my hood up around my head and ignore them. They don’t come to my window anymore. Not since we initiated Maureen. I pick up my stride, wanting to get today over with as fast as possible.

By the time I get to the faculty café, I’ve downed three vials of nightshade. I’m high as fuck and ready to flay someone. Just thinking about the things I’m going to do to this asshole gets my adrenaline racing.

It’s not just about protecting her. She’s more than capable of handling herself. No. It’s about principle. Maureen Blackwell is ours. Mine. And anyone who thinks they can send my girl disgusting text messages is soon going to wish they were never even born.

I storm into the café and smirk when I spot my target. Professor Harker. I slap him on the back, making him spill his coffee. “Morning.”

He glares at me from behind his wiry glasses. “What do you want, Thorn?” Dorian Harker isn’t much older than me, but he dresses like an old man with his tweed suits and distinct side-part.

“A word.” I motion for him to sit down at a corner table, far away from the curious stares and prying ears of the other faculty members. Miss Tempest has been stirring her tea for three minutes straight, pretending not to pay attention to us. And that new fucker, the one who gets off on watching us fuck our girl, is lurking at the condiment station, taking way too fucking long to put milk and sugar in his coffee.

Professor Harker rolls his eyes before taking a seat. “Cut the dramatics, Atlas. I’ve paid my debts to your father. I’m done with all that.”

I smile tightly, my lips pursed. “I don’t care about your little poison habit, Dorian. I’m here about a stalker.”

He chuckles. “Oh, poor, handsome rich boy has a stalker. Shocking. I’m surprised you didn’t think that one of your indiscretions wouldn’t come back to bite you in the dick someday.”

I slap his hand like he’s a fucking child. “It’s not my stalker, you fucking imbecile. Don’t worry about who. Anyway, I know you have access to records here. You’re going to find out who’s number this is.” I hold up the screenshot from Maureen’s phone.

He swallows down his pride, his frustration, his fucking balls. His cheeks burn bright red as he struggles with the fact that my family fucking owns him. We know things that could ruin his entire fucking life. But I’m still a student, and the fact that I hold any power over him… it must drive him insane.

He takes a small bite of his scone and washes it down with a sip of coffee. I can’t help but notice the way his fingers tremble around the mug. “I can’t just give you confidential records, Atlas. I could lose my fucking job.”

I snicker. “You will lose your fucking job if you don’t, Dorian. Or did you forget about what happened last summer after the garden party at my father’s house?” He got so hopped up on poison that we found him having an orgy with three of my classmates in the pool house. I sure as fuck took a video of that shit.

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