Page 9 of Trick's Elite

No, she couldn’t get lost in how amazing he felt against her. She needed to get away from there and disappear.

The sound of Trick quietly moaning her name from the restroom made her flinch. She wanted to hear that while he was above her. It was hot,too hot. She closed her eyes as it washed over her.

Her eyes popped back open.No.She couldn’t like the sound of that. Shecouldn’t.

If she let that bit of information sink in, her resolve in her mission would be tested in a way she wasn’t sure she could fight back from.

When the bathroom door opened moments later, Stella closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. They’d had enough awkward interactions for one day.

Chapter Six

Trick

Stellawasjustbeingdifficult. Trick watched as she huffed and puffed as she ignored her food. He rolled his eyes and took another bite of his breakfast burrito. He wasn’t sure what her issue was, but he wasn’t even going to try to figure it out until he finished his food. She was smart and strategic, and he needed his brain in full working order to be able to handle her.

When he swallowed the last bite of his burrito, he stood and brought his plate to the sink. “Are you going to eat, or are you going to waste it?”

“How do I know you didn’t poison it?”

Trick chuckled and turned on the faucet. As he wet a washcloth and squirted a bit of dish soap onto it, he replied, “Why would I do that? You have information I need. And you’re my mate, so…”

“That’s what you keep saying, but… What does that mean? I mean, really.”

“I told you. It means—”

“I know what you told me. It seems like a soulmate kind of thing, but I know plenty of soulmates who are horrible to each other, so… Yeah, that doesn’t fill me with security.”

Trick cleaned his plate before he set it in the empty sink and grabbed the frying pan from the small stovetop. “My food came from the same egg mixture and the same pan. I ate it, and I’m fine.” He started washing the pan as he waited for her to reply.

“It could be a poison that’s safe for shifters.”

Her resolve was wavering. He could hear it in her voice. “I don’t know of any of those, but if you do, I’d appreciate that information.”

“I’d appreciate that information,”she mocked him in an annoying voice, but Trick just grinned and rinsed off the dishes he’d just washed.

When he turned around, he saw her lift her fork with her free hand, the one that wasn’t handcuffed to the table, and take a bite of her food.

Stella

Stella hated how he just watched her eat. She wished he would find something to do. The breakfast burrito was fucking amazing. He had even chopped up onions and peppers. The cheese was perfect, and if she wasn’t mistaken, she thought she tasted garlic and salt. It was the best damn breakfast she’d had in years. Even the bacon was cooked to perfection.

Because his eyes were on her, she didn’t react to the food the way she normally would. She pretended it was neither good nor bad, but she didn’t waste a bite. She didn’t believe he poisoned it, and she needed to eat if she was going to keep her strength up.

As much as Stella didn’t want to admit it to herself, she was pretty sure that Matthew truly cared for her, but the situation was complicated. If someone she cared about had been hurt by him or someone he was associated with, she would be conflicted, too.

The problem was she couldn’t care about his feelings or about him. If she did, it would make it more difficult for her to do what she needed to do in order to get away. Besides, just because he said shifters weren’t evil, that didn’t mean he was telling the truth.

“Tell me about the layout of the place.”

Stella looked over at him and didn’t answer until she finished the last couple of bites of her food. When her plate was empty, she told him what she knew about the grounds of the Black Forest Academy. About halfway through her explanation, Matthew got up and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen from a drawer before he returned to his seat. He started making a rough drawing of what she was telling him, and by the end, she had even pointed out where corrections were needed.

After that, he asked her to point out where the guards were positioned and how many. Once they were notated on the map, he asked about shifts. She didn’t know as much about that, and she was honest with him about it. She spent most of her time with the academy out on mission, so she couldn’t help in that area.

It wasn’t until he nodded and mentioned that everything she told him matched what their contact had given them that she realized Matthew had been testing her.

Get your shit together, Messer! He’s not your new bestie!

His chuckle pulled her out of her thoughts, and she glared at him. “What?”

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