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Walking back into the room, I hold up the bag and give Viv a grin. Her eyes light up when she realizes what I have. “You’re perfect.”
I smile even wider. “Well, thanks. I try.”
Her eyes take on a devious gleam. “Oh, I was talking to the sushi.”
We smile at each other like idiots. I set the bag down on the long desk and pull out the large container. The platter is huge and filled with a bunch of different kinds of sushi. I hand her a paper plate and set of chopsticks before popping the lid off. We each pick out what we want and sit down on the floor. I watch as she reaches under her bed and pulls out a small, familiar-looking book.
“Have you read it yet?” I find myself asking her.
She nods her head as she swallows the food in her mouth. “Yeah. I’ve read it a couple times.” She smiles at the book like it’s precious to her. “I think this is the best Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten,” sheadmits as she passes it to me. “If we hadn’t made that bet, you wouldn’t have been here tonight. I’d probably be stuffed in a trunk and on my way back to New York.”
I page through the small book full of Cain’s neat and orderly script. I don’t read it though. I feel like it would be an invasion of his privacy. So I hand the book back to her and smile softly. “We would come after you. No matter what, there’s no way we would be able to let something happen to you when we can stop it, even if that means taking on an entire crime family.”
It’s true too. Zane would be ready for one serious mass murder and the rest of us would be eager to attend as well. Viv has gotten under our skin. We’ve all become attached to her in one way or another. Even though I was suspicious of her when she first showed up here, I couldn’t imagine life without her now.
Viv clears her throat and changes the subject to simpler topics, like what my plans are for after graduation, and a few probing questions about what the guys and I do that I evade effectively, but I suspect only because she lets me. The night started off horribly, with a dead rapist on the floor we’re now eating sushi on. Viv seems like the kind of girl who would appreciate the slaying of her enemies more than flowers anyway.
Sometimes when conversation between us flows this easily, I think that maybe I could have had a chance with her, but then I realize that out of the four of us, I would never be a girl’s first choice. Or second. Or third.
Viviana
Iwake up to the soft sound of the door being opened. Nox is curled around my back with his arm wrapped around my waist. Slowly and carefully, I wrap my hand around the hilt of the knife I keep tucked into my pillowcase.
Footsteps approach the bed, and I prepare for the attack. Nox’s arm tightens around my waist like he can sense the tension in my body. I try to loosen his arm as gently as I can without alerting the intruder to the fact that I’m awake. When they come even closer, I have no choice but to act in whatever way I can with Nox wound around me like a boa constrictor. Holding my breath as they get even closer to the bed, I flip us over, my arm swinging in a wide arc, barely missing the giant man jumping away from the bed.
“Fuck, Viv, you nearly slit my throat!” a familiar voice shouts.
Nox sits up, making me fall from my precarious position across his body and onto the floor. Blinding light pierces my eyes and I close them against the sudden brightness. “Sloane?” Nox says groggily.
My eyes blink open against the pain to find Sloane standing next to the light switch with a hand pressed protectively against his throat. I grimace at that. “Don’t sneak into my room. Or jump out and scareme. I’ve almost killed both of you now. You guys need to be more careful,” I tell them unapologetically.
I would be crushed if I killed one of them, but I’d also be rightfully pissed off if it was their fault. They have absolutely no right to make me murder them. Sloane and Nox both scowl at me like I’m the one being ridiculous. Sloane holds up the book bag he brought with him before tossing it over to Nox.
Nox sighs gratefully as he gets to his feet to rummage through the bag. I watch him without any shame as he turns his back to us and pushes his boxers down his toned legs. My bottom lip ends up clamped between my teeth as I watch him tug up a fresh pair, covering up his perfectly round ass. I kind of want to bite it. Just one cheek. Or maybe have my name tattooed there so everyone knows it’s mine and they’re not allowed to look.
Sloane snorts and I ignore him as Nox steps into a pair of jeans. When he’s got them pulled up, he turns toward us as he buttons and zips them up. He freezes when he finds me staring at him. His lips press together and his eyes widen. Sloane has to ruin the moment though as he flings himself down onto my bed. “I think you hypnotized her with that bubble butt of yours.”
I glare at him without even having to think about it. Nox fumbles with the shirt he was trying to put on and scowls over at Sloane. I don’t spare him another glance because my eyes are taking in the bare expanse of Nox’s chest. How the hell did I fall asleep last night with all of that wrapped around me?
When Nox finally manages to pull the T-shirt down over his head, I pout at all the covered skin. I’m so breaking into their house to burn all of their clothes so they’ll all just have to be naked. “Why the hell are you smiling like that? Should I be worried? I think we should be worried,” Sloane says, turning to Nox like he’ll agree with him.
Surprisingly, Nox nods along and I frown at them. “I was just thinking about an interesting public service project I could do.”
“And that made you smile like the Grinch after he put on his Santa suit because…?” Sloane quirks a brow at me.
I huff and cross my arms over my chest, ignoring him. Nox stands awkwardly on the other side of the room, his eyes bouncing betweenSloane and me, but never settling on either of us. “I should, um…probably go.” He starts to edge toward the door and I frown but don’t object when he slips out.
“He’ll come around,” Sloane tells me, leaning into my side.
I shrug and let him pull me into his side to snuggle against him. Pressing my face into his neck, I breathe deeply. He and Nox smell so similar. Whatever body wash Sloane uses gives him a slightly herby scent. His fingertips draw circles on my exposed lower back as I snuggle into him. Warm breaths fan across the top of my head. “I’ve never done this before,” he says softly, holding me closer to him.
I look up at him with my brows raised, wondering what he’s referring to. Grinning at me, he turns and presses his forehead against mine. “This. Cuddling with someone. It’s weird. Usually, I can’t stand to have someone touching me for so long, but I don’t feel that way with you. It’s comfortable actually.”
A soft smile spreads across my face at that. Maybe it’s selfish, but it makes me happy to know he hasn’t held anyone else like this. I know he was far from a virgin when we met now that I know he wasn’t going around and murdering twenty-seven people, but as always, that reminder makes me a little murderous. Charlotte is lucky I’m not completely unhinged because I’m letting her live even though she touched Sloane before me. Maybe I could get him to make me a list of names. I’d still be gracious enough to only take their hands.
Well, twenty-seven plus ten, plus three is forty, times two is eighty. I’d have to cut off eighty hands. Why do people have so many damn hands? Even if I only took care of the girls Sloane has been with, that would still be fifty-four hands, and there is no way to make that look like an accident. Maybe it would be easier to kill them than to let them live.
Sloane seems completely oblivious of my train of thought as his breathing deepens and he falls asleep. I take the opportunity to grab my phone.
