Page 51 of Vexing the Viper

Maybe it was a mistake coming here.

I shouldn't have come without Niko.

23

NIKO

"You're really goingto let him go by himself?"

"What do you expect me to do, Mateo? You know I don't want to go."

My heart broke in two when I heard his soft goodbye as he walked out the door. The past few days have been the absolute worst for me. Getting into that argument with King was not what I wanted to do. But when he brought up the Halloween Ball, I panicked. I still don't understand it myself, but I never thought that fight would cause a rift between us.

Hell, we've barely talked these past few days. He always stays out at the gym until after I'm asleep so he can hide out in his room when he gets home. It fucking hurts. And it's my fault.

There's a soft knock at the door, and for a second I think it's King, until I realize he lives here and would just walk in. Mateo opens the door and Sam strolls through waving hello.

"Hey, Niko."

"Hi, Sam," I say, melancholy straining my voice and my thoughts on King and how dejected he looked before he left.

"So, you're really not going to the Halloween Ball?" He sighs, eyeing me up and down.

"Oh, my Medusa. Not you too."

"What?" He shrugs, advancing into the room. "I'm just saying, King is my friend and it fucking sucks to see him so down."

"Yeah, well it's no picnic for me either."

"Then why don't you go? I'm sorry, but you're being an ass. Do you know that King thinks you won't go with him because he's a human and you're ashamed of him?"

"What?" I whisper, my heart in my throat. I didn't fucking think he would think that at all. "That's not true."

"Yeah, well, that's what's been running through his head the past few days. That, and the fact you don't want to be seen with him."

"No," I croak, tears coming to my eyes. "It has nothing to do with him and everything to do with me." Mateo walks over to me, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, well..." Sam trails off, not finishing his sentence.

"Fuck, I-I-I gotta go."

Running to my room, I grab my leather jacket, shoving it on before slipping into my combat boots. I need to get to King, and I need to get there fast. Running out of my room, I don't say goodbye to either Mateo or Sam. I take off out the door and jog down the stairs as fast as I can. Pulling on the door, I dash into the night, the blood moon illuminating the university. Looking around, I see humans and monsters of all kinds strolling, taking pictures, and chatting away.

I run through the crowd and head straight for the banquet hall. I know exactly where I'm going, so I sprint at full speed, my thoughts only on King and trying to find him as quickly as possible. I twist to the side, barely missing a group of gigglingPhoenixes on the sidewalk. "Sorry," I toss over my shoulder as I keep running.

I make it to the banquet hall, running up the steps as fast as I can. I stop short when I recognize a familiar body shape off in the side of the stairs in the shadows.

"Kingston," I whisper, making my way to him. I can tell the moment he senses my presence because his body locks up tight and his head turns away. I approach him slowly, nerves fluttering in my stomach at the thought of him walking away from me and not giving me a chance to explain. "Can we talk?"

He doesn't say anything, his foot tapping incessantly on the ground. Not wanting to give up, I try again.

"Kingston, please, can we talk?" I plead, taking a chance and grabbing his hand. He doesn't pull away, so I take that as a win.

"Fine, talk." He doesn’t look at me, his gaze focused on the ground.

"Okay." Taking a deep breath, I squeeze his hand, trying to figure out how exactly I want to word this. "First, I want to apologize. After our disagreement, I should have talked to you sooner and told you exactly what I was feeling. But, to be honest, I'm embarrassed of why I didn't want to go."

King turns his head, locking his eyes on mine. "What are you embarrassed of?"

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