Page 38 of Soulless Rivalry

“Of course I will. How could I say no? Arsen has always been loyal to our family, dad would’ve been disappointed if I’d refused.”

“You’re taking that kiss-ass attitude a little too far,” Mikhail deadpanned, earning himself the middle finger from brother dearest.

“Sorry I’m not an irresponsible man-child like yourself.”

Khail stayed quiet out of respect for our older brother but I saw him grit his teeth to keep from answering. I never quite understood why he always took it personally when we called out his inability to be responsible. After all, he’d carefully crafted it throughout the years, it wasn’t like it wasn’t earned.

“Guess congratulations are in order then?” Asher broke the tension, clearing his throat and patting Dom’s shoulder. “Have you seen her yet? What does she look like?”

“No idea. All I know is she’s twenty-four and has a degree in business, like me,” he shrugged, clearly not entranced by the idea of his future wife.

“You don’t even have her name?” Mikhail inquired.

Dom frowned, his gaze looking lost in the distance all of a sudden.

“Zahar. Her name is Zahar.”

When the doubledoors of the dining hall came into view, I felt almost giddy. Like a five-year-old boy on Christmas Eve, I was fucking excited to see Elyssa and get another batch of her brownies.

It was pathetic, yes, but I was past caring.

Nobody would guess what was going on inside my head by looking at me.

After trying to ignore her for over a week, following her around when she thought nobody saw her, I was done. I was just coming back from the Church on the night she decided to defy me and go to the kitchens despite my instructions. I followed her from afar and she didn’t even notice, which only fueled my anger towards her.

If she didn’t notice me, then anyone could have gotten to her. Her irresponsibility irked me because it put her own life in jeopardy. I was having too much fun toying with her this year to let her get herself killed.

Entering the hall, I noticed her immediately, talking and laughing with her friends. Her hair was swept up in a ponytail, leaving her golden hoops open to my gaze. She rarely put her hair up but I had to admit, it suited her.

“What are you doing?” Royal asked from beside me when he noticed I wasn’t walking towards our usual table.

“Getting dessert. I’ll be right back.”

Advancing towards her table, she noticed me almost immediately. Her eyes widened and her hands tensed around the container she was discreetly trying to sneak out of her bag.

I smirked, secretly enjoying how nervous she was.

Once I arrived next to her, I extended my hand and waited. The room was busy but I saw some people looking at us in curiosity, whispering among themselves.

Elyssa gritted her teeth. “I hate you.”

My smirk grew. “I can live with that.”

I forcefully pried the container out of her hands, pleasantly noticing it was slightly heavier than yesterday. Putting one hand on her table and leaning down until my mouth was right next to her face, I whispered only for her to hear, “Next time, don’t disobey me.”

I knew the use of that word,disobey, would set her alight with anger and it didn’t miss. As soon as I pulled away, she glared at me with all her might. I desperately wanted to smile because I fucking loved the look of fury on her, but I kept myself from doing so.

I trudged back to my place and sat down, Royal, Mikhail, and Rhodes all staring at me in question.

Not caring enough to answer their obvious confusion, I immediately lifted the lid off the container, intending to start with dessert. But what I saw inside the box cut me in my tracks.

Where there should have been a few squares of gooey sweetness, was instead enough weed to get an entire football team high. Before I could do anything about it, or even comprehend why the hell it was in my hands, the doors to the dining hall swung open. Several guards along with their drug dogs swept in, Dean Taylor in tow.

My whole body tensed.

They were doing a drug sweep and I had enough weed on me to open a fucking business.

My head whipped towards Elyssa, just in time to see her lift a single piece of brownie to her mouth and smile cunningly.

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