Page 46 of Bad for You

She looks like a drowned cat, but as the full moon comes out of hiding, I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight.

We will always be joined in one way or another, and I will fight for her safety and her humanity even when she doesn’t want me to.

“I hate you,” she says once again, but the way she is looking at me, how a girl looks at a boy, we both know that’s not true.

But I won’t touch her that way.

Not until she asks me. And not until she’s a woman who can make choices that are hers alone.

“No,tesoro mio, you hate yourself that you don’t.”

A furious scream has me grinning from ear to ear as I leave her alone to lick her wounds.

Iwatch.

Like I do most nights.

Hoping that he will come.

But like most nights, he never does.

But tonight is different.

Tonight is different because I will make him come to me.

I slink into my hoodie as I adjust it around my face. Now is a time when I don’t want to stand out in the crowd. Well, not for my looks anyhow.

This deserted factory once manufactured chocolate. Now, nothing sweet is made here. This place is so far off the beaten path that the cops don’t even bother coming out here anymore. The brave assholes who call this place home are their own authorities and pass judgment how they deem fit, which is why I need to watch my ass.

Here, I am the underdog.

Not the alpha.

But I need to run with this pack.

So I have to play nice.

Roll over.

Sit.

Whatever they say, I have to do.

I don’t make eye contact with anyone, but I swear to fuck, the dregs of society call this place their home. It’s a cesspool of filth. But I need to use these fuckers to show Aldo that I’m different.

And that’s why I’m here.

I’ve gone back to ignoring Valentina. It’s fair to say that her hatred for me has grown. But my plan worked. I see that her focus has changed in the way she trains with Franklin. She doesn’t fight in haste. She watches and strategizes.

Gianna has been quiet since the night of the party. I know that’s because she is up to something. What, however, I don’t know.

Which is why I’m here.

I wanted to prove my loyalty to Aldo another way. But time is running out.

I can’t go to Aldo and spill Gianna’s secrets because I’ll be seen as disloyal. I’ll be seen as a rat. And if I could betray the woman who “raised” me, why wouldn’t I betray a man I don’t know? He will assume Gianna sent me.

I don’t need to draw a diagram of how that scenario ends—me without my head.

---