Page 24 of Guarded Rebellion

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I’m used to seeing him with you.”

“Even if he’s not paying attention to me.” I rolled my eyes, peeved about how often he was on his phone and grumpier with his distracted mood.

“Ah…” Kelly teased in a sing-song voice. “So you do want him to notice you.”

I wisely didn’t reply. “Well, he doesn’t need to be focusing his attention on that redhead who thinks colliding into men is a way to get close.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Eva Baranov. You’re jealous.”

Again, I wisely kept my mouth shut. She hadn’t been giving me too much shit about this “crush” that she claimed I was developing for my bodyguard, and I didn’t want to fan the flames of that theory.

Why should I waste the time getting my hopes up high for a sexy beast of a man like Lev when my fate would remain the same? I wouldn’t be allowed to marry him. I’d be bartered off to someone for a power play. Coming here to college was bittersweet enough. I was chasing a dream I couldn’t even see finishing. If I were to let myself get carried away lusting after Lev, I’d only be disappointed to never get what I wanted where he was concerned, either.

Spotting Marcus in the distance, I walked with Kelly among the mob of people leaving. “I have a replacement, anyway. My uncle wouldn’t let me be completely unsupervised.”

“Supervised? I’ll volunteer to ‘supervise’ you,” Bryce said as he inserted himself between me and Kelly. She sidestepped clumsily from how forcefully he came close, but he didn’t notice her scowl.

Not again…

He slung his arm around my shoulders, and I couldn’t hide the deep sigh of exasperation that left me. I hoped I did a better job of masking my irritation, though. Locking my face into the usual neutral expression that Kelly called my resting bitch face, one that she envied, I acknowledged him. “Hey, Bryce.”

Ever since Lev showed me the difference of what it felt like to havehisbody up close and personal against mine, I had no interest in Bryce.

Or… any of the men on campus. They were my age. They were supposed to be my peers. But could only “understand” or relate to Lev and the other soldiers. All the young men here as students were innocents, random strangers who existed outside the sphere of organized crime, and that distinction wasn’t an easy one to cross.

“What are you ladies talking about?” he asked. Smiling at Kelly, he tried to sling his arm around her shoulders, but she shouldered him off. I bit back a smile, not having the energy to do the same. The sooner he said his piece, the sooner he’d walk away.

“Nothing,” I replied. “Just wondering about the study group at the library later.”

“You going?” he asked. “I might.”

I arched my brows, smiling. “You?”

“Hey, why do you act so surprised?” He mocked an injury to his chest. “I study.”

I rolled my eyes, playing along. “You do not. You either nap in class or skip them half the time.”

“What can I say? Life is short.”

“Then why would you go to a study group at the library?” Kelly asked.

“To get hooked up, of course.” He winked at me. “One of my… friends will be there later.”

“Ah.” I didn’t see any need to comment any further. I was no stranger to drugs. My uncle had deep reaches into the drug trade. All the Mafia families did, as well as the Cartels, mobs, and gangs. I never used anything myself, but I was all too aware and informed of how drugs made the world go round, just like money. Because at the end of the day, drugsweremoney.

Here and there, I’d overheard many students asking about where to get the “good shit”. I also saw plenty of students sneaking a line in the library or smoking who knew what. Kellyconfided in me about finding needles and other bits of drug paraphernalia in the communal bathrooms at the dorms. On that note, I was grateful that I didn’t have to live in the dormitory—not that I would ever thank Lev for his decision to dictate where I’d live.

“I heard that one of the football players OD’d last night,” Kelly said.

“Damn,” Bryce said sarcastically. “He must have had thereallygood stuff.”

I rolled my eyes, but before I could think of a way to ease out of a topic I wanted no part in, I saw Lev’s furious face as he cut through the crowd. The entire hall’s worth of students were walkingout. We moved as a long line with several across, trudging up the auditorium to leave, but Lev strode against the grain. Students moved to the sides as he wove through, his stern gaze locked on me.

“Not that fucker again,” Bryce said. “Who is he, Eva? Some pissed-off ex?”

“He’s—” I didn’t have to scramble for an explanation of who Lev was. It still wasn’t something I was used to having to do, explain that I had security around me. Being here at college was probably the only time I’d be able to experience living a “normal” life, and as soon as I was done, I’d be right back where I supposedly belonged, among the soldiers and Mafia family I was born into.

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