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“The others will blow the horn at their bosses,” he says through his teeth. “They’ll know we know.”
“If none of their men returned, they would have drawn the same conclusion,” I hiss.
“Good point,” Damon chimes in, making himself comfortable on a thick root. “But it would still be interesting to know why the focus on speed tonight, Micah. I know you; you enjoy taking your sweet time playing with your prey.”
“And how long have you known me, exactly?”
“Cut the shit,” Carlton says. “You know damn well he’s right.”
“Yeah, mind telling us what’s happening, Micah?” Damon prompts, his brows dipped down low. “Is this about the professor?”
“It’s none of your fucking business.”
“It sure as fuck is if you’re going to fuck up our missions for her,” Carlton argues.
“He’s never wanted a woman one on one before,” Sade offers. “But he doesn’t seem to be able to get enough of this one. It confuses him.”
I glare at my older brother, though I know full well why he’s doing this.
He’s known since last night that Eva changed something in me, but he’s not sure how to guide me through it. His only experience with feelings has been with Justine, and while said experience is richer than most men enjoy in a lifetime, it’s still confined to her. He doesn’t know how to help me deal with this, but I doubt these other two sickos have the slightest idea.
“Is that why you put on that whole show at the cafeteria?” Carlton inquires, his tone somewhat softer. “You were marking her like some sort of dog?”
“Oh, I’ve marked her.” The words leave my mouth in a hiss. “You’ll smell me on her from a mile away.”
“Relax.” Carlton steps back, his hands up. “I’m not challenging your claim on her. It’s just—” He stares me up and down with a trace of fascination. “Wow. You of all people. You’re like the most fucked up bastard I know. Also, I’m a bit hurt. I thought it was you and me forever in those porn group chats with all that—”
“It was never you and me, man,” I growl. “The stuff I’m into is vanilla compared to your shit.”
The laughter that bursts out from his chest eases the tension, but it doesn’t do anything to soften my discomfort. I rub the back of my head, wishing we could move past this, but now Carlton is like a dog with a bone.
“No, wait, let me see if I get this straight,” Carlton says, leaning his entire weight on me with his arm resting on my shoulder. “Your solution to prevent her from fucking your stepfather, is to become her bodyguard? No, her stalker.”
“You think this is funny?” I bark, shoving his arm off of me.
“I just think it’s fascinating. All day I’ve been trying to put a name to what I saw this morning. To the way you looked around the cafeteria as if you wanted to bite off the heads of all the men in the room. You were watching out for competition.”
Sade and Damon don’t seem to share Carlton’s amusement. Damon seems to be taking it particularly seriously. He stares at me in that eerie way bad men do when they’re looking for weaknesses in a dangerous opponent.
I clench my fist, reopening last night’s wound and making it bleed for her again. Thanks to the black leather gloves we’re all wearing, the others can’t see it. Carlton leans close to my ear again.
“Now listen, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m opposed to your little tryst,” he says. “We all know that icy heart of yours needed some emotional stimulation to resemble anything human. But you need to remember that woman has been doing stuff with Romano. Probably fucking. One way or another, she’s a liability. Besides, you’re taken.”
My hand slams into his throat a split second later, and I haul him against the tree behind him. A cracking sound splits the trunk, causing Damon to jump up to his feet, ready to step in. Sade stops him by grabbing his shoulder.
“It’s not for you to judge what she is and to whom,” I growl.
Carlton laughs like the fucked-up bastard he is. “Relax, I’m not judging. I’m just saying, don’t fall in love.”
He could try to fight me but he doesn’t because he’s making a point—that I might be in too deep.
So I step away.
My hand bleeds into the glove, reminding me of how I wielded the hilt of my dagger inside Eva and how she came all over it. Reminding me how she loved what I did to her body. She reveled in my twisted fuckery, and the way I bled for her turned her on like a motherfucker. Her body was putty in my hands, her mind a puddle of forbidden pleasure.
“I’m the same man I’ve always been,” I say thickly. “I won’t kill any slower, I won’t aim any less sharp, and I sure as fuck won’t fuck any less mean.”
But he’s right. The very reason why Eva Brannan and I came together in the first place is the fact that she was fooling around with Romano.
