Page 118 of Tempting Little Thief

“Where I come from, I am the cleanup crew.”

Alto smirks, steering his woman away. “I believe it.”

I want to say I don’t need you to, don’t care if you do, but no point in making an enemy I don’t need. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch something I do not expect. At all.

Not even a little fucking bit, and to be real, I’m almost kind of mad about it.

I spot a girl leaning against the door, staring right at me. Her skirt is shorter than everyone else’s and her headband stands out in her blue-and-black uniform. She tips her head, and my eyes narrow as do hers, a curious glint in her green eyes.

But it’s the wrong shade of green, as is the blonde, not to mention shorter.

Her gaze starts at the top of my head and works its way down, slowly rising to meet mine once more.

“That is a snake you don’t want to let too close. If she doesn’t bite, the more poisonous one will,” Delta warns.

“The sister.”

“Thetwin,” she says, and I’m not sure if she’s correcting me or simply stating, because yeah, she’s my girl’s mirror, only less than, at least in my eyes.

A fucking twin.

“Boston Revenaw,” she continues. “Secretly engaged to a big bad man, yet here she is.”

My eyes narrow. So she ran back home.

“What’s the damage?”

Delta chuckles darkly. “Catastrophic.”

“Enough,” Ander murmurs, steering her away.

I stare at the girl, and across her face, a slow smirk starts. She shakes her head, taking a half step forward, but freezes in place when a pretty, shinier blonde slips in front of me, attempting to block me from view.

The sister laughs, turns, and walks away.

Mine spins once she’s gone, teeth clenched and eyes full of wrath.

She opens her mouth to speak, but I cut her off.

“You didn’t tell me the bitchy sister fucked over a deal or that you had a fucking twin. So much makes sense now.”

She scoffs in pissy awe. “Do not even start. Follow me,” she forces past clenched teeth. “Now.”

Maybe before, if only for a minute, but now? I’m doubly mad.

“I think I’ll stay with the group. We’re headed for the archery room next, right?”

Her face falls, her hand coming up, but before it latches on to me, she thinks better of it, lowering it back to her side.

I don’t like that and she knows it, her lips pursing.

“You are supposed to be a ghost, remember?” she whispers, almost pleading. “Don’t do anything stupid that makes you a real one.”

Rage bubbles beneath my skin, clawing and scratching its way to the surface, but her eyes. There’s fear, something I’ve never seen on her before, and now all I want to do is take it away.

I want her to fear me in a lot of ways, none of which would hurt a single hair on her perfect little head, but fear me nonetheless. What I don’t want is for her to fear anyone else and I sure as fuck don’t want her afraidforme.

I step in close, and while she tenses a tiny bit, she doesn’t move away. My fingers itch to trace along her skin, to erase the worry lines deepening the corners of her eyes, but I don’t. I don’t know why, but I don’t. “Ain’t nobody going to hurt me, Rich Girl.”

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