Page 53 of His To Claim

“Touché,” she replies, and we both laugh trying to lighten the mood. “Are we not going to tell anyone?”

“What’s the point, Jade? He’s an ex-cop, probably has the entire department in his pocket. It’s not worth the trouble.” She frowns, but I know she knows I’m right. “Wesley Servite is untouchable, hell all the Servite men are. So are the Horsemen. It’s best we learn that,” I say, closing my eyes.

It’s time I come to realize I’m just a sheep amid all these wolves. An innocent soul among the ruthless demons of Servite.

And worst of all, I think I just made a deal with the devil.

Eighteen

SCARLETT

Monday morning comes around signaling another meaningless day of class. Drake asked to walk me to class today and although I am reluctant to accept, I’m afraid I avoided him for too long. I ignored his calls and texts all day yesterday not wanting to face him after what happened with Ace on Saturday. I was physically and mentally drained from my meeting with Agent Servite, his threats still ringing fresh in my mind. I still don’t understand why he wants to find Lilith since he wouldn’t share that vital piece of information with me. Maybe he’s just some rogue detective who went crazy and won’t give up until he solves the case, but I have a feeling it’s something much bigger than that. I could ask Ace, but it seems he didn’t even know his uncle knew my mother to begin with.

And of course, how could I forget what happened with Ace. That he kissed me so passionately, so fiercely, and so angrily all together. The words he spoke to me were like nothing I ever thought he’d say. They were raw, real, and full of emotion. It allonly adds to the confusion. To the feelings I’m fighting every time I see him. The rapid beating of my heart, the increased speed of my breathing, and the rush of heat to my core.How can someone I just met, who instills so much anger and frustration in me, be the only thing I can think about? How can I explain that to Drake?

But even after our heart to heart, I still get this eerie feeling that Ace knows more than he’s letting on. He hides something dark within those glistening blue eyes. Behind his gaze, lies a reluctance to open up to me. But for my own reasons, for my sanity, I have to get to the bottom of this. And I’m going to use him just for that.

I walk out of my room after getting ready and find the girls waiting for me in the living room, Stella and Jade sitting lazily on the couch while Ruby paces around anxiously.

“There she is,” says Stella, grabbing her bag from beside her.

“Finally, can we leave now?” Ruby asks, heading to the door, Stella quickly moving behind her. Jade comes up next to me smiling before following them out. Jade and I spent all day yesterday talking about everything that happened at the beach house, and everything that’s happened with Ace since we arrived.

We agreed we wouldn’t tell anyone, for our safety and theirs, and she’d help me with Drake. I can’t let him find out about Agent Servite or Ace. He would flip out and I can’t risk him doing something out of retaliation. I can’t take lightly the threats Agent Servite made. Drake doesn’t deserve to be punished because of me. But the more I think about it, just being close to me is dangerous. I should have never suggested we get together, because now he’ll become their target.

As we’re about to walk into the dining hall to grab some breakfast before class, we’re almost knocked down by the doors being roughly pushed open. Suddenly I crash into a rock-hard chest, a hand reaching out to stop my fall. The hand squeezes as it grabs me at my waist. I look up and find ocean blues gazing into mine.

Ace. I hear a grunt and look to the right where I see Bass, Alek,and Beck. At the abrupt stop, Stella drops the books she was carrying as she crashes into Jade, the books falling right at Jade’s feet, but nobody moves to pick them up.

After a moment that feels like an eternity, Bass bends down to pick them up, his eyes slowly coming up Jade’s legs before landing on her face. I turn to their interaction and see Bass’s eyes are intently gazing into hers. Without speaking or even looking at Stella he reaches his hand out and Stella quickly grabs the books mumbling a quick thanks.

My eyes turn back to the body in front of me whose hand is still wrapped around my waist. Ace’s eyes burn into mine as he licks his lips slowly. At his movements, my body heats, and memories of the other night come crashing back. My brows crease, a deep scowl now on my face. I can tell he sees it as he releases my body and steps back.

Without so much as a word he turns to his boys and walks away with them on his tail. I exhale a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding in, while I turn to Jade who looks just as flustered as me. Stella peeks her head from behind Jade and looks at me, a look of utter shock on her face.

“What the fuck was that about?” Ruby asks, raising a curious brow at me.

I know what she’s thinking.Why the fuck was Ace’s arm wrapped around me, gazing into my eyes like he was about to kiss me?Why did I allow him to put his hands on me when I’m dating her fucking brother?

Not wanting to deal with the twenty-question inquisition, I ignore her and step inside the dining hall, instantly spotting the guys sitting at our table, an array of breakfast pastries already in front of them. Before heading over to them, I grab a chocolate croissant and a bottled iced coffee from the bakery.

We walk over to the table and I sit in between Drake and Kai while Stella sits on the other side of Kai. Jade and Ruby walk over to sit beside Jax as Drake turns his attention to me.

“Are you feeling better now?” he asks, and I sit confused for a moment. He raises a brow, his deep green eyes looking for answers in mine.

“What?” I ask, not understanding what he’s asking.

“You said you weren’t feeling good after the party and yesterday.”

I turn when Jade clears her throat. She raises her brows at me, pointing toward Drake. Oh fuck, I forgot Ace told Drake that I wasn’t feeling well when he cancelled on him, and Jade confirmed I was.

“Oh yeah, it was just a crazy headache but I’m good now.”

“So, are we just gonna pretend that the stand-off didn’t just happen?” Stella blurts out, thankfully interrupting my conversation with Drake. But fuck little Silver, did you have to say something?

“What stand-off are you talking about?” Kai asks, glaring toward Stella.

“Outside, before we walked in here, Scar and Jade ran into the Horsemen. Like literally.”

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