Page 14 of Snitches and Serpents

Then she shuts the door behind me.

Mortification crashes over me, and I have to briefly close my eyes against the violent nausea that rolls through me. Then I remember that Tristan is standing right next to me, and the emotion is quickly replaced by anger. I whirl around to face him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I snap.

I get an overwhelming urge to shove him back in rage. But one look at his muscled body reminds me that getting into a physical altercation with someone who could snap me in half with one hand is a really bad idea. So instead, I just squeeze my hands into fists and glare up at him.

His stupid mouth curves into a grin. And now that Brandi is gone, his smile is full of mockery.

“Walking you to school,” he replies, his eyes glinting in the pale morning sunlight.

“I didn’t ask you to do that.”

He takes an abrupt step forward and twists so that he is standing next to me, and then drapes his arm over my shoulders. It’s such a casually intimate gesture that my heart jerks in my chest.

“Are you sure?” he mocks.

Sucking in a quick breath, I try to get my brain to start working again. Then I quickly slip out from underneath his arm and give him that shove that I wanted to give him earlier. It does absolutely nothing to push him away from me. Instead, he just raises his eyebrows in a show of surprise.

Something dangerously close to a snarl escapes my lips. Whipping around, I stalk down from the porch and stride towards the street, leaving the infuriating devil behind.

Even though he only placed an arm over my shoulders, it feels as if my entire outfit is rumpled. While I hurry down the road, I straighten my dress and check the buttons on my collar before running a hand down my braid as well.

Tristan’s footsteps come from behind me, closing in on me quickly.

My pulse thrums. Even though it was only for a few seconds, I can still feel the weight and heat of his arm around my shoulders.

I give my head a quick shake and pick up the pace.

“I thought I told you not to make me chase you,” Tristan warns.

A jolt shoots through me. Both at the dark threats in his tone and at the memory of what he did the last time he chased me down. The memory of his lethal body straddling me on the ground and pinning my hands above my head.

I cast a quick look over my shoulder.

Tristan’s mouth tilts in a smile that says that he is thinking about the same thing.

My heart flutters.

If he did something similar here, right in the middle of the residential area, it would cause such a scene that my reputation would never be able to recover from it. And I cannot afford to be anything less than perfect. So instead of trying to escape, I pause for a few seconds and let him catch up to me.

A satisfied smirk plays over his lips as we continue walking side by side.

I ignore it and instead focus on the road ahead.

Morning mist clings to the lawns on either side of the road, but it is quickly being burnt off by the rising sun. It’s not even eight o’clock yet but the air is already warm, which means that today is going to be scorching hot. I glance down at the dress I’m wearing. It ends at my mid-thighs, and it’s sleeveless, but the collar is buttoned all the way up to my throat. And practically the entire dress is also black. Perhaps I should’ve picked something else.

My skin prickles, and I suddenly remember that Tristan is walking beside me. Snapping my gaze to him, I find him studying me with those intense eyes of his. My stomach lurches. I whip my gaze back to the street ahead.

Worry flits through my chest.

The last time I was alone with him, he took me out into the woods and told me that he was going to ruin my life.

What’s his plan? What is he doing here now?

I keep stealing nervous glances at him while we make our way towards the main campus area.

But Tristan says nothing. Does nothing. Only walks there beside me in silence.

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