“What’s your problem?” my sister asks, and my gaze flicks over her before going back to where Lana went and wondering if I should follow the little menace to see what she’s up to.
My curiosity wins out, because I say a quick goodbye to Gracie, ignoring her questioning stare and head after Lana.
I walk through the hall, not noticing anything out of the ordinary, and pass both bathrooms. Something in my gut is telling me that’s not where she went, so I completely bypass them and head towards the door that leads out to the alley that sits behind the coffee shop.
My gut was right, because as soon as the door swings open, I’m met with the sight of Lana, my pretty little menace, holding a knife to a guy’s throat against the wall of the alley.
He’s dressed similarly to her in all black, but he’s twice her size and covered in tattoos.
“What the fuck is this?” I ask, and Lana turns to look at me. The guy uses that opportunity to shove Lana backwards, and she quickly rights herself, but not quickly enough to stop the guy from getting away.
I watch as he runs out of the alley and into the open, knowing she can’t go after him in the middle of the day in public.
“What the fuck is your problem?” she barks and fists her hips.
I pop a shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “I’m just looking out for the community. Wouldn’t look very good if someone was killed in the middle of the day right next to the college campus, would it?”
She huffs but stays silent, knowing that I’m right.
“Who was he?”
Her expression turns hard, not an ounce of emotion on her face. “None of your goddamn business. I thought I told you to stay the hell away from me. Or would you rather I chop your dick off?” she asks, running the flat edge of the blade across her palm, and it brings me right back to her sitting on top of me in my room. Me tied to the bed, her knife sliding across my skin, both pain and pleasure rippling through me… goose bumps pebble on my skin, but I don’t outwardly show my reaction.
Growing up with the family I have, paired with the years of fighting, taught me never to show weakness to my opponent, whether that’s in a ring or in a boardroom. Or in this case, in a damn alleyway.
I shake my head and begin to walk backwards towards the door I came out of. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”
Though I’m not sure why I care whether she lives or dies.
Maybe because if she dies so soon, our little games will be finished and my fun will be over?
She copies my earlier move, shrugging a shoulder. “We’ll see.”
I guess we will.
TWELVE
LANA
As much as I hate to admit it, I know Cole was right. Killing that asshole in broad daylight when anyone could have come across us was not a good idea, but it’s not like I can pick and choose when someone decides to come after me.
And thanks to that piece in the school’s newspaper, I’m now easily trackable.
I had the picture taken down straight away, but who else other than the guy who found me in the coffee shop saw it remains a mystery. Now I just need to find him and end him before he can do the same to me. Luckily, when I grabbed him in the alleyway before Cole appeared, I attached a tracker to the material of his jacket for this exact situation.
The trackers I use are barely visible to the naked eye, so there’s close to no chance of him finding it. I just have to find him sooner rather than later to make sure he doesn’t get rid of the jacket.
When I was back in my room gearing up, I watched from my laptop as he finally stopped moving. He settledin a house not too far from the college, and after a quick search I found that the house he’s staying in is an Airbnb that he’s probably renting for the next couple of days while he plans to take care of me. Too bad for him he’ll be dead before the sun sets.
It’s almost too easy to break into the two-story home, and I stalk through the house expecting him to be at least a little prepared for me to come after him, only to find him sitting in the living room, watching TV from the sofa without a care in the world.
After I did some digging on this guy, it’s clear he’s new to our line of business, because there’s no way in hell he knows what he’s doing. He didn’t cover his tracks, using his real name to rent this place.
Fucking amateur.
I sneak up behind him, and he doesn’t notice my presence until I’m almost breathing down his neck. He lets out a grunt of surprise before jumping from his seat, but he’s not fast enough to grab one of the weapons that are resting on the coffee table, because I already have him backing up against the wall, my blade to his throat. Once he can’t step backwards anymore, my knife digs into his skin and I tilt my head.
“Is it just me, or do you feel like we’ve been here already?”
