Page 106 of Devious Gambit

“You haven’t exactly made it easy for me dressed like that, I’m telling you now.” I held up a finger. “Lesson one in love. Don’t fuck the girl you love straight away. Let it steep for a while like a fine wine.”

That dreamy expression that drove me wild appeared on her face. “Love,” she repeated so sweetly my heart melted.

After dinner, I went back to her place and we kissed and cuddled, before I had to leave.

“I love you, Rhys Gallagher,” I whispered into her ear before kissing her forehead, both cheeks and lips.

“I love you, too, Jace. Stay the night with me? Please.”

“Okay,” I answered without hesitation. “No sex.” I groaned, knowing how hard that will be.

“Deal. Just cuddling,” she exclaimed. “Hurry up and come back to me.”

“I promise,” I whispered, kissing her cute nose again.

The smile vanished from her face. “I don’t like it when people promise things,” she said. “It’s too hard for them to follow through.”

FORTY THREE

Jace

“Can you see anyone?”

Five minutes to 11pm on a Saturday night and all I wanted was to be cuddled up in bed with Rhys. It was a clear night, a blanket of stars graced the sky, and it was freezing cold. I wasn’t wearing enough clothes and I had to shove my free hand in my armpit to keep warm. All the night lamps were glowing golden on University Square, highlighting the buildings entrances, small trees and the statue of the founder of the university erected exactly in the middle. I could see the odd person inside the library with nothing better to do on a Saturday night. I think it was open until midnight, but I wasn’t completely sure since I rarely go in there.

“Nah,” Cody answered when I rang him. He was standing in the shadows around the corner of the Athenaeum, reasonably close to me, but not obviously so. “I’m freezing my tits off here.”

“I’ll give them until five past eleven,” I told him, “then we’ll scarper. Hold up...” A group of people walked between the library and the university’s main admin building, coming out onto the square. As they drew nearer, I saw that they were a bunch of couples, guys with their arms around girls going for a lazy nighttime stroll. Ironically, they all looked at me as if I was a shifty dude, standing there alone at the stone steps of the Benedictus Athenaeum.

“You got something?” Cody asked.

“Nah. Stay on the line, man, in case trouble comes.”The clock on the library struck eleven and I examined the vicinity for the mysterious person, as the chimes echoed through the night air. Shivers snaked down my spine, not just from the cold, but also from the whole creepy event.

When the clock was on its ninth chime, I said to Cody, “Fuck it, let’s go.” He didn’t answer and I couldn’t hear his breath down the line. “Cody?”

I stepped out from the glowing security lights of the square into a slice of black shadow along the side of the Athenaeum. “Cody!” I called out. He was supposed to be standing right there, leaning against the stonewall only a few feet away. “Cody!” My own voice bounced back at me. Cody’s phone was lying on the ground still on. Not good. I searched for the big dude in the dark, coming up with nothing. After disconnecting the call, I slipped his cell into my pocket and walked along the dark side of the Athenaeum with my phone light on.

Once I was at the back of the building, I could hear distant laughter and noticed the fire exit into the Athenaeum was wide open. “Cody!” I whisper shouted. “Jeez, fuck.”

My phone beeped.

Rhys: Hurry up and come back to me.

Me: I will, babe.

I heard the sound of someone smacking their lips and whirled around. Four guys stood before me, dressed head to toe in black. Two to them were big, the other two average sized. “Where the fuck’s Cody?” I stood tall making out I was unafraid when I was actually shitting myself.

They said nothing like a bunch of halfwits. “Got the goods?” I asked, assuming they were the deliverers of the information. “I see you’ve dressed up for the occasion.”

One of the average sized guys, pulled a black velvet bag from his pocket that I suspected was to be placed over my head. I clenched my fists. Four against one, looked like the odds were in my favor.

I wasn’t going down without a fight.

FORTY FOUR

Rhys

I had the timeline worked out in my head.

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