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I walked by a group of guys who I could smell before I even passed them. The alcohol surrounded them strong enough I wondered if I could get drunk from the fumes alone.
“Hey, pretty girl.”
I didn’t look at them, didn’t even acknowledge their existence. After living in Desolation for my entire life, I knew when to be unnoticeable. Silent. It was a survival instinct, one that was ingrained in me.
The catcalls continued followed by whistling. They said rude and crude things, but compared to what I’d been called, their words were almost comical.
I was almost at the end of the block when I heard someone approaching, footsteps on pavement quicker as they tried to catch up with me. Everything in me tensed, and instinctively, I reached into my bag for the knife that Matteo had given me.
The handle was cold and hard in my palm, my grip sturdy. I still remembered the feeling that had consumed me when I opened up my bag and had seen it laying there, sheathed in leather, the blade so sharp when I pulled it out I’d cut myself.
Like a hot knife through butter.
But the boy—because that’s exactly what he was—didn’t touch me. He moved in front of me and turned, jogging backward with a grin on his face. His forehead was greasy and his hair unkempt. He reeked of booze that not even his overpowering cologne could mask.
“Hey, we were talking to you. Didn’t you hear?”
I stayed silent.
He chuckled as if amazed I ignored him. “Too good to respond?” I could hear other footsteps behind me as his friends caught up.
I just kept my focus on the pavement as I kept walking. A few times, I had to step to the side so I didn’t run into him, but he kept pace with me the entire way, continuing to ask me questions that I refused to answer.
But it was when I was close to my apartment building that I had a feeling he wasn’t going to let up. I didn’t want him to see where I lived. He was just some drunk college kid who seemed harmless. He made me uneasy, but not in the dangerous way I felt when I was surrounded by lowlifes, my brother and father included.
God, Matteo would eat this little shit up and spit him out until there was nothing but skin and bones scattered on the ground.
I was going to take a different route, hopefully losing him, because it was very clear this asshole wasn’t giving up or taking the hint.
The two guys behind me clearly were the followers as they weren’t even paying attention to me. Instead, they talked to each other about their college classes.
But when the idiot reached out and tried to touch my hair, the girl who’d survived a shitload of stuff, who’d been hit too many times by her father and brother, rose.
The girl who had to fight tooth and nail just to stay above water when it felt like a tsunami was covering her came up like a warrior about to destroy everything around her.
He tugged on my hair, and I spun around, brandishing that knife and holding it up between us, the blade pointing at the fucker. My hand was steady, eyes narrowed, and vision focused.
His shocked expression came on instantly, but that soon faded to anger.
Oh, he was one ofthose.
His buddies, who laughed, broke that stunned moment of silence.
“Holy fucking shit,” one of them said.
“This fucking bitch pulled out a damn gutting knife, man.”
I paid them no mind. They weren’t the ones who were threatening me in this moment. Maybe this douchebag wasn’t a genuine threat, but that wasn’t a risk I would take.
“What exactly are you going to do?” The fucker seethed.
I still stayed silent.
He took a step forward, and on instinct, I swiped out, the blade nicking his forearm. He hissed out a curse and held his arm back, looking down at the small, very clear, superficial cut. A bit of blood welled up before sliding down his forearm to drop off his elbow.
“Bitch, do you know who I am? Pulling a knife on me is going to get your life destroyed.” He took a step closer but froze when I did the same, the tip of the blade digging into his chest.
“I’ve dealt with real dangerous men. Unlike you.” It was the first time I’d said anything. “Killing won’t be something new for me, asshole.”
