“Okay, first… I don’t actually know how it happened. It just did. Second, yes, Vin De Bellis. And third, I didn’t tell you because, like I said, it just happened,” I explain.
“Don’t look now, but lover boy is coming your way,” Elena hisses.
Of course, I turn around and look. Thankfully, this time, it’s Vin who’s making his way towards me with determination on his face and his two friends flanking his sides.
He sits right next to me, leans in, and whispers into my ear, “Ask me.”
I pivot in my seat and whisper back into his ear. “Vin, kiss me as if it’s the first and last time you ever will.”
“Oh, babe, it’s never going to be the last time,” he says right before his lips slam down onto mine.
Everything drifts away. The noise of the students, the sounds of the chairs scraping across the tiled floor. Everything except him. It all dies away when his lips are on mine. By the time we break apart, I’m breathless and horny as all hell. But let’s not focus on that right now.
I turn to the very open stares of everyone at the table. “Well, this is new,” Dash says, pointing from me to Vin.
“Not really. Our boy’s been pining over this one forever,” Marcus adds.
“This one has a name,” Vin growls—yes, literally growls.
“Sorry, Cammi,” Marcus directs to me. “Let me know if the animal gives you any trouble. I’ll be sure to put him back in his cage.”
“I’d likely jump in the cage with him if you did,” I tell Marcus with a smile. And I mean every word.
Chapter Seven
Today has been fucking great. The more time I spend with Cammi, touching her, talking to her, the more I feel at peace. My head isn’t weighed down by the nightmares. I don’t even feel the urge to light up.
That good feeling dissipates when I get a text message from my brother Gabe, asking me to meet him at the front of the school. Whatever he’s here for, it’s nothing good. He nevercomes to school. None of my brothers come here just for the hell of it.
Walking towards the vehicle Gabe is perched against, I notice mine isn’t where it should be. “Where’s my car?” I ask my brother.
“I had Jimmy take it home. Get in,” Gabe says, walking around to the driver’s side of his blacked-out SUV.
I’m not stupid. There’s no point standing in the parking lot arguing with my brother. If he’s telling me I need to get in the fucking car, then I need to get in the fucking car. I don’t have to be happy about it, though. And I make it clear that I’m not as I throw my bag into the back before climbing into the passenger seat.
“Did someone die?” It’s the only reason I can think of that would have him collecting me from school.
“No. Well, not to my knowledge.” He shrugs.
I turn and stare at him as he pulls out of the car park. “Then why are you here?”
“I went to that house,” Gabe says before clarifying, “The address you handed over to Gio.”
I school my features. I knew what would happen. I knew what they’d find, and I knew they’d have questions. Still, I did it because I thought maybe they’d also find what they needed. After my father died, we discovered he’d left three million dollars to an unnamed beneficiary. My brothers have been looking for that person ever since, trying to piece together the reason behind the giant payout.
I guess there was also a part of me that wanted to get the burden off my shoulders. Not that I want them to know what happened to me, just that the house existed. I always planned to go back, to exact my revenge. For the past three years, I’ve been plotting, planning, and not acting.
I knew I couldn’t do anything while my father was alive. He’d kill me sooner than he’d let me interfere with his business. With his money.
But now Gabe knows… Because I can tell he knows. My pinkie finger taps along my leg, the only part of my body that moves.
“How did you know about that place?” he asks.
I focus on breathing evenly. I will not allow the memories to invade my mind right now. I lift a single shoulder. “Dad took me there a few times.”
“Why?” Gabe presses.
“Why did that fucking asshole do anything he did?” I snap.