Page 70 of The Pretty Savage

I was exhausted beyond measure, and this time it wasn't because I couldn't sleep or because I had a mission. It was because my heart and my mind could not get in sync and decide what to do with this girl. She consumed my every thought, my days and nights, but I also knew she was a snake, sent here for reasons unknown to me, and that made her dangerous.

The fact that she was this observant about The Brotherhood also made my skin crawl, but she was right.

We were building an army—our army.

All five of us—well, four since I couldn't exactly count Arseniy anymore—were tired of doing our fathers’ bidding. We didn't agree with their methods, and we didn't want to wait for someone else to take them out. Those men were like cockroaches, almost indestructible, and we were taking matters into our own hands.

My father thought I was here to get some much-needed rest and to waste a couple of months observing people we could collect for our organization. But he had no idea that the plan my friends and I made a couple of months ago was now coming to fruition.

Vega was right about almost everything.

The Brotherhood collected the best of the best. The assassins, the foot soldiers, those that were rejected by their families and those that wanted revenge more than anything. But out of all of them we had recruited thus far, she was the better fighter and I knew without a doubt she could take out even our best fighters if she wanted to, regardless of what she said.

And that kind of skill you could only get if you started training at a very young age.

I saw her fight during class today. Her moves were precise, her hands steady, her eyes focused on her opponent, following every single move they made, and if I was about to announce war against our fathers, I would much rather do it with her by my side.

But there were too many secrets shrouding her. Too many lies I didn't like, and I wasn't ready to just open my arms and welcome her in without question. I understood why Dante pressed for her to join us and why Jax kept quiet when I tried to refuse it, but one of us had to think rationally, and it would seem that would have to be me.

Still, I couldn't deny that she had a point, or the fire in her ignited my own. She was strong, that much was clear, but there was a sort of fragility hiding behind those mysterious eyes, which only made the need to wrap her in my arms and hide her from the rest of the world greater.

And as she walked ahead of us, as if she knew where we were going as we headed out of the cemetery, I couldn't keep my eyes off her swaying ass, or the way she ignored my burning looks.

"Careful there, brother," Jax murmured next to me. "Her clothes might catch fire if you keep staring that hard."

"Fuck off, Jax," I chuckled. Unlike Dante, I didn't have a need to strangle him for just looking at her, but it didn't mean I liked it. "And stop looking at her."

"Why?" he pressed. "You said it yourself, she's not exactly worthy of you," he whispered the last part, careful so she wouldn't hear. "Which means she's fair game for?—"

"Jax," I growled, looking to my right at my best friend. The motherfucker wore a smug smile as he looked back at me, fucking with me.

"You look good today. Did you…" His eyes widened. "You slept?"

And I had no idea why, but my cheeks tinted red, remembering just how hard and well I slept last night. And how pissed off I was when I woke up. I told myself it was because I allowed myself to be vulnerable next to someone that could be my enemy, but in reality, I was pissed because I wanted her something fierce, and my cock didn’t understand that we couldn't have her all that easily. "I did." I nodded, trying to hide my embarrassment from him.

"How? Did you take something? Did you…" he trailed off as realization dawned on him. "Adrian," he murmured, his voice laced with unspoken warning. "You didn't sleep in your own bed last night, did you?"

"No." I shook my head, because I knew there was no point denying it. "I didn't." I looked straight ahead at Vega's back, while the green monster in my chest kept pounding every time she looked up at Dante who was chatting with her as if they were old friends.

I didn't have to tell Jax where I slept. He was smart. He could figure it out.

"Are you two," he started. "What are you two?"

"Nothing," I mumbled, hating that word the moment it spilled over my lips. "We're nothing."

"That thing back there didn't exactly look like nothing. I mean, Dante's face doesn't exactly look like nothing." Jax wasn't one to beat around the bush, but I didn't like his line of questioning. Mostly because I had no idea what to do with this tightness in my chest or the fact that I couldn't fucking stop thinking about her.

I had to put some space between us. I had to get out of here, remove myself from her presence. She was a distraction I didn't exactly need right now, and I didn't want to fuck up everything before it even started. Besides, I knew I wasn't going to react well if she truly did decide to fuck one of my friends.

She wasn't mine, but every single nerve ending in my body screamed, rebelling against the thought. Some part of me had claimed her, and I fucking knew the one taste would never be enough.

"I think I need to get out of here for a while," I murmured. "Maybe go to Munich or somewhere outside of the country."

"I can have a jet ready for you tonight," Jax said, no questions asked. He understood better than anyone else why I needed to disappear from time to time. Why I had to take the time off to put my mind back together, and being around Vega was messing with everything. "What time do you want to leave?"

"Whenever," I answered after a minute of silence. A minute too fucking long, because my gut constricted painfully when I thought of leaving her behind. "You'll keep an eye out on things?" I looked at him, asking him without so many words to keep an eye on her.

I wanted to lie and say it was because I didn't trust her, but we both knew there was more to that request than I wanted to admit, and Jax was all too happy to let me live in denial for at least a little while longer.

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