Page 40 of Prince of Malice

I need to see him again. I need us to figure out what exactly we are.

Oh my god.

Never before have I worried about what I was to another person like this. I’ve never really cared about labels or exclusivity or even taking a relationship seriously before, but for some reason, I want to with Luca. For some reason, I need to make all of this even more complicated than it already is.

Suddenly I am not interested in even fucking anyone else, male or female.

Luca is already my enemy. He’s already my stepbrother. He’s already the person I have casual hookups with. Why do I want to make it messier? Why do I feel like I need to?

Shooting myself up on my feet, I fight off my dizziness and struggle to find my balance. Snatching at the odd sets of clothes dispersed around my room, I slowly piece together an outfit from a recentlyworn shirt, old pair of jeans, and my usual jacket.

I grab my watch and phone from my side desk and stuff the phone into my tight pocket then wrap the cold metal of the watch around my wrist. Looking down at it, I see the time. It’s well past eleven, closer to midday than morning.

My first class is probably getting out soon… Luca’s probably is too.

Striding toward the door, any thoughts of making it to any of my classes today have already vacated my head and been replaced with the idea of finding Luca and getting a straight conversation out of him.

Marching my way across campus, I head directly toward where I typically see him going to and from his classes at this time of day: the law building.

I can’t say I’m surprised that he’s studying such a subject; he’s always seen the type for it. I wouldn’t be shocked if I found out he’s taking law for the same reason I am taking business—our families are making usso we can use what we learn to exploit the system. It’s not like either of us need a college degree to get a job once we graduate; we’ve both been bred into a family business. It’s just the culture we’ve been raised in.

Thinking about everything now, I realize that our families aren’t really that different. I mean, sure, we go about our work in different ways—the Valentis take things slowly and seem overly anxious to get themselves into anything too quickly, while us Rossis tackle a problem head-on and get the job done quickly—however, we both care about our families and take our business seriously.

I think that similarity is what draws me to Luca like this and might be the same reason a relationship between any Valenti and Rossi will have a lot of bumps before it smooths out.

That’s why I want to talk to him, here and now. We’re confronting this all face-first and smashing through these roadblocks. We’re not going to get anywhere if we just stop the car and wait for some shortcut to turn up out of nowhere.

This time, when we catch each other’s eyes from across the square, neither of us isgoing to get to duck off and avoid a conversation. I’ll chase him down if I have to. Actually, that kind of sounds like fun.

I find the perfect spot to wait for Luca to get out of class. I don’t want to ambush him the second the doors open; even I know that wouldn’t be the right start to this chat. I want to give him the chance to talk to me on his own.

The hands on my watch reach their peak, all of them ticking into place and landing on twelve. Only seconds later, the doors to the lecture hall open and the stream of students come filing out. The large crowd begins to blur into one blob of students, each of them becoming seemingly indistinguishable from the last.

I bob my head around, trying my best to see over and around the front lines of the marching army for any sign of Luca coming out.

Where the hell is he?

Just as I begin to question coming here inthe first place, my feet slowly shuffling back away from the oncoming swarm, I see him.

Luca, walking as one with the crowd, acting like he’s no different from any of the other students he is surrounded by. But he is. Seeing him so graceful amongst all of the others is like a single star in an empty night sky. Standing out like no one else could even hope to do.

I force myself to act casual and try not to look as if I came all of this way just to see him, even though I’m well aware there’s no other reason for me to be here.

Eventually, I catch his eye. Our stares cross from across the way, and the rest of the students fade from my peripheral and leave only Luca. I see his eyes dart around his surroundings, looking around for someone or something else near him that I could be waiting for. In real time, I watch as the realization grows across his face that there’s only him for me.

Cutting his way through the crowd, Luca pushes past everyone in his way to get to me. I stand in place off to the side of the horde’s path, waiting for him to get to me.

“What are you doing here?” Luca asks in a hushed tone as he steps toward me.

“Well, I—” I pause, noticing him scanning all around us. It takes me a moment to understand why. Even though we’re stepbrothers and are forced to coexist at family gatherings and other such events, it hasn’t even been a week since we hated each other’s guts and would start fights on sight. So the two of us choosing to socialize in public would catch the attention of the wrong crowd. “I wanted to talk.” I lower my voice.

“Is everything okay?” he asks, a slight panic underlining his words.

“Yes, everything’s okay…” I hesitate, feeling embarrassed about what I’m about to say. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh,” Luca pulls back in surprise. “Sure, but we should probably go somewhere quieter,” he says as he scans around again. “Is my dorm okay?”

I give him a nod before he walks past me and makes a beeline toward his building, almost leaving me behind as if to act like we’re not together. It’s a smart move, but it still digs deep into my pride.

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