Page 43 of The Villain

He chokes on a laugh and his shoulders drop in surprise. “You aren’t pissed?”

“I like this game,” I shrug and start walking again. “Now that you’ve caught up you can play with me for real.”

“Let’s get coffee tomorrow, too,” he says slyly without looking at me.

“On a weekend? First the schedule toss, now this? Anarchy. Of course, I’ll be there. I want to witness these changes as they happen.”

The bright grin he gets doesn’t fade away until we get closer to the coffee shop. We haven’t reached the doors yet, but his face has closed down tight. I take the change in his demeanor in stride and keep going.

When we get to the doorway he slides closer until our arms are brushing. The simple gesture seems to affect me more than him. No one but Tera walks that close to me. The fact that a man I could throw down on the floor and fuck right now is doing it is taking a toll.

I understand the move better as soon as we step inside. The pleasant hum of the slight affection washes away in an instant.

All four assholes are here, along with a brunette woman. I feel like I should know who she is but I’m not sure why. They’re standing by the counter, waiting for drinks.

Shade’s hand brushes across the back of mine. I take it as the silent request it is and take his hand in mine. He’s quick to intertwine our fingers and hold tight.

I don’t fight it. Even if it’s fake I’m enjoying this too much to stop.

Felix spots him first and gives him a taunting wave. “Hey, Shade.”

As if everything is right in their world. It probably is. They’re too dumb for the reality of life to be a concern. They were pissed last night and now they’re friendly. I suppose knowing I’m the one who hacked apart all of their belongings has cleared up the anger at Shade.

They watch us get into the line to order.

“We got you one, Shade. You don’t need to wait in line,” Blaze says and waves him over.

If they remove me from the situation they can treat him however they want. I don’t want that to happen but I’ll accept however he chooses to play this one.

Shade ignores them and steps forward at my side. He doesn’t even look in their direction.

I squeeze his hand, proud of his complete lack of reaction. It might just be his mask but the effect is still the same. They’re starting to get irritated.

After a whispered conversation that reminds me of bullies in high school, the brunette breaks away from the group and approaches us.

“Hi,” she extends a hand for me to shake. “I’m Melissa. I heard your name is Van?”

That name is going to haunt my dreams.

I ignore the hand and move forward again. I don’t care about this woman any more now than I did ten seconds ago. She might as well introduce herself to the woman in front of me instead. The name though. It’s familiar too.

“The silent treatment?” She laughs lightly. The sound is low, husky, and erotic. It helps that her top is cut low enough to see the upper portion of her breasts. Her heels are working for her too.

“Seems a little immature at this point,” Felix joins us.

“You know us all a little too well for that, Shade,” she leans forward, showing off her cleavage for him.

When he doesn’t give them a response the two exchange a speaking glance.

“Don’t want your new girlfriend to know about us? Is that it?” Melissa taunts.

Should I know about her? I tilt my head as I think back to the things Tera has told me about the group’s dynamic. It wasn’t much so I know there’s a secret there. Maybe she’s the secret?

Shade’s fingers begin to squeeze mine relentlessly. She’s getting to him. Why?

It comes to me as I begin to frown. This is the woman they cheated on him with. Shade caught them.

They’re flaunting her presence with them to punish him for last night. No wonder they seem happy.

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