Page 9 of Soulless Rivalry

“That’s great, Lyssa.” Her hand grabbed mine and she smiled genuinely but I went for a change of subject nonetheless.

“I’m actually excited for this year.”

Briar’s eyes widened in excitement and she was back to hugging me. “Girl, me too! It’s gonna be a great year, I can feel it.”

I smiled, but something churned in my gut at her words. I wanted her to be right, so much.

But I couldn’t help thinking about some blue-eyed devil fucking it all up for me because of a mistake I made two months ago.

KONSTANTIN

Candles lit up the great room, highlighting all the plants and crawling ivy that had taken over the place. It was beautiful to see: Nature taking back what had forcefully been taken from her.

I looked up at the vaulted ceilings of the old chapel, closing my eyes and putting my racing thoughts to sleep.

Or, well, I wished I could.

Not for the first time, either.

“Man, I’m ready for this school year to be over already.”

My eyes snapped open as Royal, the closest thing I had to a best friend, spoke up. He took a long puff of his cigarette before exhaling the smoke up in the air, his head tipped back on the old couch we had brought back here during freshman year.

The Church, which is what everyone called the abandoned and desacralized old chapel on school grounds, was where my brothers and I went to when we needed peace—kind of like headquarters. Over the years, we all brought friends we knew were loyal to us to hang here. Dominik was the first one to make it somehow liveable when he started his studies and he and his friend Damian did most of the job. Then came Mikhail, and that dumbass didn’t do shit because he was too lazy. I joined in thenand was allowed to bring Royal since I’d known him for years. His cousin, Rhodes, and his best friend Asher came a little after. This year was Roman’s second year at the Academy, but so far he hadn’t shown any interest in hanging out here with us.

The whole place was pretty run down and covered in dust, nothing like the luxurious houses and commodities we were used to in our everyday lives, but none of us cared.

The pews were almost all broken or taken over by ivy, a tree was growing in the corner of the main room, and the altar was where we had moved the four saints statues that decorated the place. They weren’t that big, came to around the middle of my chest, but they were fucking creepy, so we covered them with a white sheet.

Rhodes snickered at Royal’s statement, “Already? Dude, classes haven’t even started yet.”

His cousin was a man of few words and didn’t say much else, simply groaned and took another whiff of his cigarette. I hated the smell, but since he was sitting on the windowsill and the smoke was escaping through the broken glass, I let it slide.

“Well, I can’t wait for tomorrow.” Mikhail smirked, taking a swig of the bottle of vodka he’d brought with him.

My brother was all about playing into Russian stereotypes.

“No wonder why,” Royal snorted before looking back through the window at the dark woods surrounding the property.

Asher went on. “Found your first prey of the year yet?”

“Nope, but there are a lot of new faces this year. Lots to choose from.”

“Especially when you swing both ways.” Asher smirked.

My eyes went straight to Rhodes who in turn was staring at his lap. He took a swig of his beer, his mood souring seemingly out of nowhere.

“Jealous?” my brother goaded Asher.

“Fuck no. I love pussy too much. Pussy is enough for me.”

Rhodes took another swig.

Neither Mikhail nor Royal seemed to notice the tension growing between our friends, but I did. And it had everything to do with me walking in on them last year, while Rhodes was on his knees sucking Asher’s dick.

Ash was careful not to meet my gaze and Rhodes suddenly was more interested in his phone than whatever was going on in the room.

It wasn’t a secret for anyone that Rhodes was bi, but Asher? I didn’t think evenheknew that about himself.

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