Page 18 of Vendetta
‘Holy handsomeness!’ Millie was practically salivating. ‘Four Italian stallions carved from my dreams. Which one is Nic?’
My eyes hadn’t left him. ‘The one with the dark hair.’
‘Ha ha, very funny.’
‘Second from the right.’
‘Wow. And Luca?’
‘Second from the left.’
Millie whistled to herself. ‘Hello, blue eyes.’
Alex prodded her in the shoulder. ‘Are you done? We’re trying to talk tactics.’
‘Shut up,’ she hissed, shaking him off. ‘I’m in the middle of something.’ She narrowed her eyes, honing in. ‘OK, who’s on the far right? The one with the slicked-back hair? And is that ascar?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe we should call him Hair Gel.’
The closer they got, the more obvious it became that they were capturing the attention of every girl in the vicinity, and they looked like they knew it too. I wondered where the fifth brother was – the bright-eyed boy from the window who’d raised his hand without a smile – but the thought vanished when Nic’s eyes found mine and I nearly exploded with butterflies.
‘Hi,’ he mouthed.
I smiled back, resisting the urge to clutch my stupid, back-flipping stomach.
‘Holy crap, that was seductive.’ Millie was hopping from foot to foot. ‘They’re coming over. Be cool.’
Like helpless magnets, we drifted towards the brothers, leaving Alex and his sidekicks to talk boring strategy behind us, determined, like every boy at the basketball courts, to ignore the new arrivals. My uncle’s warning, which had seemed so urgent and important at the time, flittered away on the wind. If these boys were really bad news, as Jack seemed to think, then suddenly I was happy to be Icarus, ready to get all melty from flying too close to the suns.
‘Hey,’ I called out. ‘I didn’t know you’d be playing today.’
Nic stopped a couple of feet away and the rest of his brothers closed in around us. ‘It was a last-minute decision. Now I’m glad we made it.’
Millie pinched me. It was her silent version of an excited squeal.
‘Nice vest, Sophie,’ said Luca, straight off the bat. ‘I can barely see you.’
‘Luca.’ I tore my attention away from Nic for the amount of time needed to throw his brother a contemptuous glare. ‘A pleasure, as always.’
The brother beside him laughed. He had the stupidest hairstyle: the top section of his hair was scraped into a short black ponytail, while the sides of his head were shaved, revealing a small golden hoop in his left ear. Despite the ridiculous plant hairstyle, he was attractive, but when he laughed, his eyes widened unnaturally and his opened mouth revealed two chipped front teeth that made him seem slightly maniacal. Hereminded me of that one crazy hyena inThe Lion King.
‘Ignore Luca. That’s just his bad attempt at trash-talking you,’ Nic cut in, sending his brother a glare on my behalf.
‘And my way of pointing out that she’s small,’ Luca added.
‘Thanks, Sherlock. I know I’m small.’
‘Just making sure.’
‘Do you evenhavea brain-to-mouth filter?’ I asked.
‘I try not to overuse it,’ he returned blithely.
‘Clearly.’
‘Don’t cry about it, Day-Glo.’
‘Shut up, Luca.’ Nic threw his red vest over his head and pulled it down. ‘I think you make it look good, Sophie.’
