Page 24 of Marked By Night

Elian’s chest rumbles; it’s a deep, dangerous warning sound. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he says. His eyes flicker to me and his lips curl like I’m the gum he suddenly discovers on the bottom of his shoe. “Come find me when you assholes get bored with your newtoy.” Then he stalks away without so much as a backward glance.

New toy? Oh, hell no.

But, sadly by the time I take a step forward to confront him, he’s already gone and I refuse to chase after any man. I guess it’s a good thing I know how to bide my time.

Instead, I spin around and spear Dante and Kaos with an inquisitive glance. “What crawled up his ass and died?”

“I don’t know. He’s not normally such an asshole,” Dante says.

I scoff. People always say that about the assholes in their lives. They’re not always like that. Yeah, and I’m not always short.

“Whatever. I’ve dealt with worse.”

“I gathered that,” Kaos adds dryly.

My phone vibrates in my back pocket, distracting me from the snarky reply wanting to burst from my lips. I unlock the screen with my thumbprint and smile when I see the text.

Red: How’s the concert going, Love?

A brief pang of guilt smacks me in the chest when I think about my company for the night, but I shove it away. I’m not obligated to anyone.

Single pringle right here.

Me: It’s amazing! Hope you’re having a great night also! :)

Red: I’d much rather be there enjoying the music and your company.

I don’t know what else to say, so I send back a frowny face and slip my phone into my back pocket. Or I try to, but someone yanks it away from me.

“Oh, juicy. Who’s Red?” Dante rumbles right next to my ear.

“Fuck, when did you get so close? You almost gave me a heart attack!” I smack his side.

Little good that does, probably hurts my hand more than it does him.

He chuckles, booping my nose. I’m not sure if it’s cute or if it annoys me. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“He’s just a friend. Don’t worry about it.”

“A friend, eh? So, friends call friends Love now?” He reads the messages back to me then shrugs. “Don’t worry, I agree with Red. Does that make us friends as well?”

I roll my eyes. “Sure. Now give it back.” I lunge for my device hoping to catch him off guard, but it doesn’t work. He holds it out of my reach with a devious grin.

“Well, in that case, here’s my number.” He quickly types it into my contacts and I hear his phone ring for a split second. I give him a questioning look. “That way I’ll have your number too,” he says while slipping it back into my pocket.

I open my mouth to give him a snarky retort when a familiar face catches my attention. My muscles tense and I freeze. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Again?”

Both Ben and Tyler stand a few feet from us, watching me like a cougar might watch a wild hare it’s stalking. Unfortunately for them, this girl has teeth and claws and she’s not afraid to use them either.

“What’s wrong?” Dante and Kaos ask in unison. Their hands hover above their crotches while their eyes scan our surroundings simultaneously. It’s kind of freaky how in sync they are. But those fucking crotch-knives. Why are they so sexy?

Kaos’s nostrils flare when he spots them and Dante loses his carefree smirk, reaching over to give my shoulder a squeeze. My skin lights up under his touch and I bite back the groan that wants to tumble from my lips.

“Come on, let’s see if we can lose them,” he says.

Begrudgingly, I agree. Usually, I’m not one to back down from a fight, but there’s no winning with men like Tyler Maynard and Benjamin Crawley.

What’s that saying about not poking the bear?

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