When I release Xavier, he jumps at Orion, as if he wants to go for a second kill for today.
“You watched me do it! You snuck up onme!”
“You were making a mess out there. Of course I had to go make sure you cleaned up properly!”
Xavier points at Orion’s chest. “I didn’t ask for shit! You invited yourself into my car!”
“What was I supposed to do? Leave you dragging a corpse all over the Tartarus grounds?”
They’re right up in each other’s faces now, and I have to admit, it’s amusing watching them bicker like girls. Xavier suddenly shoves Orion, who then grabs Xavier’s throat. I’m really not in the mood to stop a fight, but someone’s gotta do it.
“Stop,” I bark. “Now.”
The knives immediately clatter onto the ground, and both their heads turn toward me.
I glance at the burner in the back and the blood staining Xavier’s shirt. I never could’ve imagined these two would actually kill a damn cop … let alone work together to get rid of the evidence.
Impressive.
But this kind of transgression is only going to make my job harder.
“You two have really made a mess here,” I say, rubbing my temples.
“It was his idea,” Orion says, and Xavier immediately shoves his elbow into his gut.
I pick up the knives they dropped and point one of them at Xavier’s throat. “I tell you to stop, you stop.”
Xavier immediately gets in line like a damn soldier. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You keep arguing about whose fault it is. Meanwhile, we’ve got a dead cop on our hands, and a whole damn army of cops swarming the campus. That’s on you two. You should’ve known better than to co-conspire while I was out.”
“Wasn’t my intention,” Orion says. “But since you’ve taken a liking toward him, I wanted to make sure your new toy wasn’t doing anything stupid.”
Xavier steps on his foot, and I do think he deserves it, honestly.
“So you mean to say you did this for me?” I smirk. “Laughable.”
Xavier narrows his eyes at Orion and hisses, “You said you wanted to be myfriend.”
“We’re already in this together, so might as well,” Orion replies.
“Together in what, exactly?” I ask.
Orion blushes. “As your playthings.”
“Oh …”
Poor things. Fighting over scraps of my attention.
“I can see that,” I say, and I grab Orion’s throat. “Friends don’t let friends kill someone the Mistress needed.”
“No, ma’am. But I—”
“Shhh.” I silence him. “If I wanted you two to kill, I would tell you two to kill, and you would be happy to oblige.”
I grab Xavier by the chin and make him look at me too. “Behave.”
He nearly slinks into himself. “Okay.”