Page 77 of The Vipers' Vow

I’m not a crying man, but my eyes burn with unshed tears. Fucking Angelica. I hate her more than ever. Why the hell hasn’t Jarl kept his promise? I want the girl gone from my sight, from the college, and I don’t care if she’s gone from this earth. Jarl needs to step things up.

I think he needs to be reminded of our deal.

30

VANI

Ican’t face class, even though I know I’m skirting close to being in deep shit with the dean. I’m broken inside, and I feel sick to my stomach. I hide in my room and curl up on my bed where I cry myself into a daze.

I think I must fall into a doze. I dream of people shouting and being chased, and I cry in my sleep. How deep my grief must be for it to find me even when I’m supposed to be resting.

My phone buzzes, filtering through to my subconscious. I’d prefer to sleep, so I ignore it, but it buzzes again, and then a few minutes later, a third time. I glance at it, expecting it to be Saint, but it’s from Lex. He’s sent me a series of texts, one after the other.

I sniff and wipe tears from my face. His messages have an urgent vibe to them. I sigh and nibble at my nail, biting on the skin surrounding it hard enough to hurt. Saint is bound to have told his brother what’s happened, and I’m sure Lex is going to beg me to forgive his twin. I’m not sure I want to see any of them, but then I remember Zane crossing his arms over his chest, and what that means. Zane saving my life, twice. And Lex, breaking his thumb to get back to us … to me. Telling me he loved me. They shouldn’t have to pay for Saint and his sick ways.

Dragging my weary body from the bed, I head into the bathroom and try to make myself look halfway decent. My eyes are tinged red, my skin tight from my salty tears, and my face looks puffy. I still have my pride despite everything that’s happened. I keep thinking back to what Angelica said about Saint calling me fat, and that really hurts. He’s always seemed to love my body as it is, and the idea he laughed about it with someone like Angelica, a girl with the sort of body fashion deems we should all have, hurts even more.

It must be past lunchtime by now, and I haven’t eaten today. I know I need to, but my stomach is a tight knot. There’s no way I can hold anything down.

After brushing my teeth and running my fingers through my hair, I apply some concealer, lip gloss, and a coat of mascara, and step out of my dorm. I take the back way again, not wanting to see Angelica or anyone else. I hit the outside, and the fresh air is like a slap to the face, waking me up. My heart picks up speed as I near the mansion. I’m going to have to tell Zane and Lex what Angelica told me Saint did. What if they don’t believe me? Or worse, they side with him? I have an image of them shrugging and laughing at me…Oh, you thought we were exclusive, Vani? Silly you…

No,I tell myself,they love me. They’ve said so. Still, I can’t deny I fear that will be their reaction when I get there.

I knock on the door, instead of simply walking in. It opens, and I step inside, my heart in my throat and my stomach in knots.

The door slams shut behind me, and I jump and spin around. Jarena stands blocking the door, and, to my horror, she’s holding a knife.What the fuck?

“Glad you could join us,” Angelica calls from where she’s sitting on the couch.

I look around, praying for Zane or Lex to be here, but they’re not.

“What’s going on?” I keep my voice calm. “Where’s Lex? He messaged me.”

Angelica laughs. “I’m afraid he didn’t message you, babe. I did.” She holds up a phone. “Lex likes to go to the gym to work out, so I followed him in there, and he was distracted. Idiot was bench pressing his own body weight, with music blaring, and I sneaked up on him and grabbed his phone from the bench beside him. I left the music playing until I got far enough away from him. He’s probably still wondering where it is and what happened.”

Of course, those messages hadn’t been sent the same way Lex texts. He puts everything in one and doesn’t hit return every time he finishes a sentence the way those texts were written. How stupid of me not to notice.

“He’s not very bright,” Jarena says condescendingly.

I turn to her, shocked. Jarena always seemed like she lived in Angelica’s shadow. She certainly didn’t seem the sort of girl to say that about someone. Then I recall what she’d said about Zane. She called him a complete freak for having had his throat cut. That’s not nice at all, and she slavishly follows Angelica’s bitchy lead. Yeah, she’s not the victim in this, and right now, she’s guarding the door with a knife.

“Where’s Faith?” I ask.

Angelica replies. “I told her to wait outside, around the side of the house, and watch for anyone coming.”

I turn again to the door, thinking if I can get outside, Faith might help me. I don’t think she’s as evil as these two, but Jarena smirks and waves the knife, the steel glinting.

“Listen, Angelica, this is all a bit dramatic, even for you.” I keep my voice calm, flat. I want to take the tension out of this moment, and I’m pretty sure I know what this is about. “You didn’t have to get me here under false pretenses. I’ve already decided I want nothing to do with Saint. You’re right. He’s not the one for me. You can have him.” Then I add, “I prefer Zane.”

“You would like the freak best.” Jarena gives a bitchy laugh. “You’re not here because of Saint.”

I’m not?

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