Suddenly, it all goes utterly silent as his gaze slips past me to my laptop screen.
His eyes immediately darken, and a shadow ripples over his face.
“Yelena—”
“Don’t,” I choke. I whirl, my gaze darting between him and my stuff as I shove everything into my bag and throw it over my shoulder. “Just…don’t.”
I start to walk out of the library. He follows.
“Yelena,stop,” he hisses behind me as we step out in the late afternoon chill.
“Get the fuck away from me!” I blurt, whirling to stare at him with fear in my eyes. “Stay away!”
“Where did you?—”
“WHO CARES?!?” I scream in his face. I swallow heavily, shaking as I start to back away from him.
“Yelena—”
“Did you stalk me?!”
His jaw sets, his dark eyes turning inky.
“DID YOU FUCKING?—”
“Yes!” he snarls. “Yes, I fucking stalked you.”
Without thinking, I turn, and I start torun.
I run like the devil himself is chasing me, and I don’t stop until I’m tearing up the wooded path toward Morvaine.
“FuckingSTOP!”
I scream when he finally catches up to me, grabs my arm from behind, yanks me to a skidding stop, and whips me around to face him.
“Stay the fuck away from me!!” I scream.
“Yelena!” he roars. “You have to listen?—”
“I don’t have to do afuckingthing!!” I shriek, jamming a finger at him. “Leave me thefuckalone! Stay away!! I can’t have you near me?—”
“I’m not fucking going anywh?—”
“Yes, you are.”
I jolt, whipping my head around to see Damiano standing at the top of the front steps, a dark wooden baseball bat slung over his shoulder. His eyes flick to me before he drags his gaze back to Achilles.
“You,” he growls. He starts to walk down the steps toward us, swinging the bat off his shoulder and pointing it at Achilles. “Turn around. Start walking. Don’t stop until you get to Kingsward, three feet past the edge of a cliff, or the middle of fast-moving traffic. I don’t care which, but you’ve got five seconds to get away from her.”
Achilles ignores him completely.
“Yelena,” he growls, his eyes still locked on me. “There’s an explanation for all of that, I promise you. But I need to show you?—”
“You’re not going to show her fuck-all, Golden Boy,” Damiano growls, his voice icy. “You’re not going to look at her, or talk to her, or?—”
“This doesn’t concern you, Barone,” Achilles says through clenched teeth.
Damiano chuckles darkly. “The fuck it doesn’t. This ismyclub’s house. More importantly, that’smyfucking cousin you’re terrifying right now.”
