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ChapterTwelve
Silence filled the living room along with the salty buttery scent of popcorn. I’d been surprised when Cole had gotten up from the couch and left the room. I thought he was the first one to give up. I’d been disappointed at first really. He always seemed like the one that would play games with me. It wasn’t until I heard the microwave that I realized what he was actually doing. The giddy feeling that made my skin tingle couldn’t be explained.
Since getting that bowl of yummy goodness and the first round of beers had been passed around no one had said a thing. I think Nico is a true believer in the age old saying that whoever speaks first loses. I can’t say that he’s wrong, so I’m not talking first. Of course, that means this night was going to be longer than I’d originally thought.
Flipping my phone face up, I fought the urge to growl at myself. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d looked at the electronic since starting the silent wars with the Valentino boys only to remember that they’d set up a signal jammer and I had no fucking service. I wasn’t planning to call anyone, but a girl would like to check her socials when she is bored.
I also wanted to text Alicen and see what she was up to tonight. Since I’d gone back to the apartment after the shooting situation, she’d been a little quieter than normal. Alicen wasn’t exactly a loud bubbly person, but she’d been more outgoing before. I wasn’t sure if the shooting had scared her, worried her, or made her angry, but something was off with her. It also didn’t help that I hadn’t had as much time to spend with her and Milo over the break. Not only was I attempting to recover from being shot, but Jasper and I had been working on figuring out who’d give my uncle the intel on the girls. As well as dig up information on Santiago, the Valentino boys, and Gio.
I needed to try and make up with Alicen and Milo. They might not say anything, but I could tell they weren’t happy with me.
This was the problem with friends. It was one of the reasons I didn’t want to have any when I came to CPEHS. I had too much to do, and I was running out of time. I shouldn’t be worried about the feelings of some boy and girl that had nothing to do with my plans. Instead, I was sitting on the couch in a strange house, surrounding by men who either wanted to kill me or fuck me, probably both, thinking about ways I could make my friends feel better about me being in life-or-death situations.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere, and it’s a waste of time,” Enzo finally growled at Nico as he sat forward in his chair. He rested his arms on his knees and hung his head down in between his stiff shoulders. My hands wanted to knead those tense muscles until he was a soft pile of relaxation at my feet.
“None of us are going anywhere until we come to an agreement,” Nico shot back at his friend. He wasn’t going to budge on this idea he had. I wasn’t too worried about it. I could take the easy route and agree to whatever he wanted just so I could get out of this house. Of course, I would have no intention of following through with it, and they would all know that. So that meant, it would probably be a waste of time.
“We’re not coming to any kind of agreement sitting here in silence while she munches down on popcorn. She’s already been through three bags and a six pack of beer. I don’t think she’s going to be the first one to offer anything up,” Cole told his fearless leader as he leaned deeper into the cushions on the soft next to me.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” I told him as I leaned into his warm body. My body was getting a little stiff sitting in the same position for so long, and my stomach was more than full. It took more than a handful of beers to get me drunk, but I was certainly feeling a little buzzed by the ones I’d had.
Swinging my body around, I twisted and moved until my head was laying in Cole’s lap and my legs were thrown across Dante. If we were all going to continue to sit here and spend time together, I was going to be comfortable.
Thinking of being comfortable, I sat up quickly and pulled off my leather jacket, tossing it down onto the coffee table in front of the sofa. That was better. If I spent any more time here; I was going to be removing my skin tight black jeans and my little red lace bra too.
They needed to get this show on the road.
“What are you doing, little fighter?” Cole asked as he leaned over my face. His fingers were running through the strands of my platinum hair and a shiver of pleasure crawled down my spine at the feeling.
“I’m getting comfortable. We’ve been here for hours already. Who knows how much longer he’s going to be stubborn and make us stay. Where’s the remote for the TV? Let’s find something to watch. What do you wanna do for dinner? I’m suddenly feeling spaghetti with some good garlic bread. Oohh, maybe some meatballs. I’m not that amazing in the kitchen, but I’m good with a knife. I can chop the garlic or whatever.” I popped another kernel of popcorn into my mouth as I stared up into Cole’s deep blue eyes. They were lighter in the center and gradually got darker towards the edge with little flecks of gold in them. I could stay there and stare at them for hours memorizing all the different shades of blue there was.
Maybe I was feeling those beers a little more than I’d originally thought.
“We’re not here to treat you to dinner. We’re here to get you under fucking control before my father orders your death,” Nico spits out at me, his face turning red with unchecked anger.
“Why do you care if he orders my death? We both know that when this is all said and done I’m not walking away from it alive. I accepted that fact a long time ago. Besides, I’ve been killing off your men, disregarding anything and everything you say, and being a blatant pain in your ass for months. You should be A-okay with killing me off. It would make your life easier.”
Yep. Really feeling those beers.
Of course, I didn’t worry that he was going to kill me. Not right now anyway.
I didn’t feel even the slightest hint of fear when he surged to his feet, pulled the gun out of the back waistband of his jeans, and pointed it at my head. A smile broke out across my face, and I tilted my head to the side in Cole’s lap as I looked up at him.
“You look delicious holding a gun. I wouldn’t mind seeing how you’d handle a situation where you need to use it.” With the deep tan of his skin, he would look amazing with the red splatter of blood across his face.
“She’s out of her fucking mind. He’s pointing a gun at you. Aren’t you scared at all?” Enzo asked from his chair. He stared back and forth between me and the end of the handgun in his best friend’s hand. He seemed a little worried for me even though he was the one to suggest my death to begin with.
That was a little interesting to me.
“She’s not scared at all. Death doesn’t scare her,” the sound of Jasper’s voice came from the other side of the couch. I wasn’t surprised he’d found me. I knew without a doubt that if I was gone for too long he would track my location and come for me. It didn’t matter how high powered the signal jammer was the guys had going on inside the house. Jasper was fucking bomb at what he did, and he could make anything electronic turn on its owner and fucked shit up. Kind of like all those electronics in that Transformer movie. I also didn’t think the jammer had any affect on the tracker in my arm.
“How in the fuck did you get in here?” Enzo questioned as he moved to stand next to Nico who was no longer training his gun on me but was now pointing it in my best friend’s directions. That shit wasn’t going to fly with me.
Moving off the couch I stood between Jasper and the gun. If Nico thought I would let him do anything to my friend he was out of his fucking mind. It wasn’t our fault that he was constantly underestimating those around him. He was so used to being the top dog, that it never entered his mind there would be people who were better than he was.
“I smashed in one of the windows in that back bedroom. Not my fault you didn’t hear it.” Jasper’s eyes cut down to the bowl of popcorn that only held a handful of kernels and the litter of empty beer cans.
“I was under the impression you needed me, not that you were having a party.” I could hear the irritation in his voice. After what happened at the docks, he was hyper vigilant about staying by my side. It was also like a PTSD kind of reaction. I was his comfort blanket or something. He was mine, so it was fair. The fact that I went off with the Valentino boys and then didn’t check in had to fuck with him. Knowing him he tried to contact me half a billion times and couldn’t get through before he decided to hack whatever he needed to so that he could find me.
