Page 20 of Prince of Malice

7

DOMINIC

My fist clenches tightly around my pen in a completely unusable hold around the plastic casing. Its tip stabs harshly into the paper sheet of my notebook, the black ink bleeding slowly onto its surface.

If I ever see him again…

Merely the thought of all the ways I want to hurt him makes my rage overload, and I can’t even piece together an end to the thought.

Staring a thousand yards forward at the front of the lecture hall, I glare down at Professor Bressler but not taking in a single thing the man says or does.

“Seriously, what is wrong with you?” Angelo asks as he sits by my side.

His words cut through the cloud of hate that blinded me to my surroundings. “What do you mean?” “You’re kidding?” He laughs. “You’ve gone all cold-blooded killer all of a sudden. What’s happened now?”

“It’s nothing,” I say through gritted teeth. “Just a dumb party last night.”

“You went to a party? Where the hell was my invite?”

“Iwasn’t even invited.”

“Is that what this is about? You didn’t get invited, and now you’re all pouty about it?”

“No. I crashed it.”

“Now I’m even more mad that you didn’t invite me! That would’ve been so fun.” “Can you just let me talk?” I hiss to shut him up. “He was there…”

“Who? Oh! Him, him? Your, uh, cousin, right?”

“He’s my stepbrother,” I correct.

“That’s not important. What did he do to get you all like this?” Angelo presses.

“He just…pissed me off, that’s it.”

Angelo kicks back in his seat and looks me up and down. “Right. I know what youneed. You, my friend, need to run with a different kind of crowd. These college parties are too dull. You need to blow off some real steam. Get that blood pumping, you know?”

“How?”

“I have the perfect thing! Just what you need…” He pauses, purely for dramatic effect. “I’m getting you into a street race!”

I roll my eyes at him. “Great idea, but with what car?”

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Angelo flashes his own car keys at me. “Just don’t scratch her, okay?” He winks and tosses the keys at me.

I just barely manage to catch them with a soft rattle as they land in my palm. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m deadly serious. Trust me,” Angelo assures. “If you must know, I was getting myself ready for a race tonight, but I can clearly see that you need this more than me. So I’ll be a good friend and let you take my spot.”

“Alright, where is this race?” I ask. I must admit, the idea of it is tempting.

“Downtown at midnight. I’ll take you there, and then you can take the wheel.” Hesmirks and blows a tuft of his dark brown hair from his eyes.

I take a moment to think it over, feeling the weight of the keys in my hand. I like driving. I like speed. I like racing.

“Fine, I’m in.”

Back in my dorm, I grab what I need for tonight. I pull my jacket on, feeling the cool leather ripple over my shoulders as I pull it together and zip it up. I peek through the window out toward the parking lot, waiting for Angelo to pick me up in whatever car I’ll be pushing to its limits tonight. Nothing yet.

---