Page 59 of The Kiss Of Death
“Yeah, run away, coward.”
“Does the white-haired ghost girl have you grabbed by the balls?” Kay made a hand gesture to illustrate his point that noone here needed to see. “You’re leaving me alone with Cillian, who does not have our penchant for chaos.”
Resting his elbow on the chessboard, Cillian snorted. “Maybe he’s inlove.”
“I don’t like her.” Kay pouted, sidling up to my side and slinging his arm around my neck, his breath reeking of alcohol. “She is nothing special, while you’re special to us, and you’re prioritizing her over our friendship.”
I narrowed my eyes on both of them and attacked. “Cillian, still terrified of intimacy? As for you, Kay, your desperate need for attention is destined for one person only, not me, so take your arm away from—”
Kay raised his hands in surrender. “Point taken. Forgot you’re a frigid asshole. Good luck to her.”
“Who is she? Or is she a he?” Cillian didn’t miss the opportunity.
“No one,” Kay grunted. “And fuck you, Levi!”
Their argument resumed, providing me the perfect excuse to make my escape toward the library roof. I navigated through campus and arrived at the promised land. A quick scan ensured that the librarian at the front desk remained immersed in her perpetual ten-book dystopian series—gifted by me as a lure since my arrival at Pantheon.
I eased open the restricted door leading to the roof. Just as I approached the staircase, a hand yanked me into the cramped, dark space beneath the stairs. I stooped low to avoid hitting my head.What the—
“Dalia?” I uttered as the light from her phone revealed the tight confines of where we were, resembling a makeshift coffin. “Is that a scheme to get me locked up with you?”
“I panicked,” she whispered.
Our chests would have been touching if it wasn’t for her violin case between us. And there was this scent, like sweet fruitsand fall. Pumpkin. Peach. Hibiscus. It was everywhere. “What’s this scent? It smells of something orange.”
Like something I’d want to bite into and consume.
“That would be me,” she admitted.
Great. Even her scent didn’t leave me indifferent now.
“You know if you wanted some alone time with me, all you had to do was beg, and I’d have considered allowing you to suck your first—”
“Never,” she spat, her eyes managing to remain big in a lame attempt at being menacing.
We were still arguing about that. Her acting as if this was one-sided. She still didn’t realize I’d take her every first. It was just a matter of when. She had screwed us both, so she’d deal with the consequences.
“I’m—” She shook her head. “This is ridiculous. First, I fell asleep in class because of you. I walked around all day long with a pen mark on my cheek, and, second, I almost got arrested because of you!”
“Arrested? Don’t you think you’re being a tad dramatic?”
“There are people on the roof.” She lowered her voice. “They told me to leave, so I excused myself and hid, thinking they wouldn’t find me here if they ran after me. Then I decided to wait for you here, for some reason. I’m not good at breaking the rules.”
I tilted my head back with a chuckle. “And it never occurred to you that those people shouldn’t be here either? You should have stood your ground for the spot.”
“I’m a nice person, Levi.”
“Not to me. You’re not so nice.”
“That’s because you don’t understand the concept of kindness.”
“Because it doesn’t exist. Humans are only interested in themselves. They only do good deeds to have something in return or feel good about themselves.”
“I don’t!” Her scream startled a spider lurking in one of the many cobwebs behind her, sending it scuttling closer, its silken thread weaving a path toward her.
“Really? You’re helping me with the music score because you want to feel good about yourself by redeeming yourself. You can’t stand that someone on this earth doesn’t like you.”
She pouted. “You seem pretty taken with me.”
