Page 185 of Ruthless Kings of Havoc

How is beyond me.

Despite all that, I want to take therapy. I want to do a lot of things suddenly.

Never should I be defenseless like I was again.

“You will be the ringleader of their demise. Anyone who messes with you will enjoy the havoc that ensues.”

There are the voices again.

Deep within my mind, they whisper to me when I get too lost in my thoughts. It makes me feel the urge to distract myself. To do anything but get stuck in my head for too long. That’s tricky when we’re on a five-hour car ride, but I’ve already lasted three hours.

What’s another two?

“Evangeline.”

I blink and slowly look at the review mirror to meet Matteo’s gaze.

“Hmm?” I pretend to make my eyes droop, feigning exhaustion.

He stares at me for a long minute, which is probably dangerous since he is driving. We are going on a one-way road to who knows where, so the chances of us hitting anyone right now are small.

“Are you tired?” Matteo asks before tugging his eyes away briefly to ensure we’re still on the road. “We’ve been calling you.”

“Oh… yeah, sorry.” I pout my lips and try to look happier, but I’m sure it doesn’t do much, if anything. “I could use a nap.”

“Say less, Dolcezza,” Zander notes and abandons my hand so he can snake his arm along my shoulder and pull me over so I can rest against him. “My shoulder is yours to lie on.” He says it so gallantly, I giggle.

“You sound stupid.”

“Stupid in love is an acceptable title,” he assures me. “You hungry?”

“No,” I reply. “Lunch was more than enough. That will hold me over until dinner.”

“What about dessert?”

“Dessert?” I think about it. “What kind of dessert?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. What do you like the most? Cake? Ice cream?”

I take a chance to think about it.

“Cupcake,” I declare with a smirk. “Those colorful ones. Well, colorful frosting. I like chocolate as the base,” I reveal. “I used to have those as a kid. Always been my favorite. Little Wimp always brought me some when I got mad at him. So dumb, but what girl can say no to chocolate cupcakes?”

“Little Wimp?” Zander asks. “You never talked about them before.”

“Was she a best friend or something?” Ares asks as he glances over his shoulder from the passenger seat to look my way. “Thought you didn’t have many girlfriends.”

“I didn’t,” I emphasize, but suddenly, I don’t recall if Little Wimp was a boy or a girl. “To be honest… I’m not sure what gender they were. Thinking of it logically, I would assume you’d give the nickname Wimp to a boy because that would mean they were weak as fuck.”

“You had guy friends?” Zander ponders.

“You sound jealous,” I acknowledge.

“Thinking little Timmy got to be friends with my girl when she was small annoys me.”

“Little Timmy?” I laugh a little too hard at that one. “You’re delusional. Timmy is a good wimp name. William, too. That dude was a nerd.”

“William, huh?” Matteo notes.

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