Ninja’s lips curl up on one side. “Wow! Are you like Sherlock Holmes’s sidekick? Because I must say, that was quite the deduction.”
Levi slams his hands on the table again. “See, I knew it. Bam!” He reaches up for a fist bump against his brother’s waiting knuckles.
Ninja rolls her eyes and picks up her pen. “Now that you have me all figured out, I’m going to get back to work.” Her gaze passes over me once more before she lowers her head, easily dismissing us and giving her full attention back to her books.
Levi stands up and pushes the chair in. He flips her braid from over her shoulder to her back. “Later, Ms. Tarzan.”
“See ya in class, Ninja,” Gunner says.
The four of us sit at the booth on the other side of the small sub shop. The guys talk about our practice from earlier, but I tune them out. Ninja is the only one in the room I want to focus on. A few minutes later, Val calls out that our food is ready. The guys eat and talk while I take a bite of the sub and continue to stare at Ninja. She doesn’t once glance away from her books. I push my sub away. The captivating girl across from me steals my appetite. Her lack of need for attention is, ironically, what’s so fucking attractive. The more she retreats, the more I need to know what drives her.
She sets down her pen, then stretches her arms out and up. The exposed cleavage of her firm breasts peeks just over the seam of her tank top. The chair squeaks as she pushes it back to stand. Leaving her books sprawled across the table, she heads down the thin hallway toward the back of the small restaurant. Without thinking, I get up, toss my uneaten sandwich in the garbage, and head in the same direction after her.
On the left side of the narrow hall, there’s one dingy bathroom for both men and women. She closes the door in my face just as I come upon it. I tap on it, knowing I’ll get rejected in the form of a fuck-off, but I do it anyway. I start to turn away, but to my surprise, she opens it.
Through the restricted opening, she pokes her head out. “What?”
“Do you open the door for anyone or just me?”
“I thought it was Gunner,” she taunts.
I brace my hand on the wall next to her. “Sure you did.”
“What do you want, Edge?”
Leaning in, I drop my voice. “I just wanted to tell you I don’t think you’ll make it at Monarch.”
In a flat, unworried tone, she asks, “Not that I care what you think, but to pacify my curiosity, why is that?”
“Because you don’t play by the rules.”
She looks down at her boots, then back up at me. “Yeah, well, I don’t see how that’s your problem.”
It’s very much my problem—and all of Venom’s. Ignoring her response, I ask, “What brought you to Monarch anyway?”
I already know the answer, but I want her to tell me something different. I want to be wrong. This would be so much easier if I were wrong about her motives. Her—me—together—fuck! I don’t like where my thoughts are going. Bad fucking idea.
I slightly shake my head, dislodging the seductive images. Ninja and I are dangerous together. I have a thousand secrets I’ll protect at any cost. So, I have no choice but to believe she plans to tear through them and destroy them, one at a time. And I can’t let her do that. There’s too much at risk.
She scans my face before she sneers at me. “None of your business.”
“I’m making it my business.”
She goes to close the door, but I jut out my foot, forcing it to remain open.
Pasting on a fake smile, she says, “Okay, well, thanks for letting me know you’re a creeper and for sharing your insignificant concerns. So, if you would kindly remove your foot so I can pee in peace, that’d be great.”
“I’m not done.”
“I am.” She pushes on the door again, but it doesn’t budge. She blows out a frustrated breath.
My head inclines toward her. “I’d bet that you’re a good girl, aren’t you?” I skim the length of her body. She’s wearing those tight-ass short shorts, a black tank top, and her Docs. “Despite that badass front you got going on and your attitude problem, you’re a good girl.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
That fucking scent of perfume and sweat hovers between us. Just a whiff of it is enough to send signals to my dick. I takea deep breath to inhale part of her, to remember it. I want nothing more than to hate her and find something wrong with her besides her defiance and suspicious motives, but I can’t. Through her strength, determination, and fearlessness, she firmly stands her ground. She wrestles to keep her demons at bay just like I do. Another reason I need to hate her—she won’t back down. I know because she’s exactly like me. We’re replicas of the same stubborn, fixating mold.But also, because of this very fact, I thoroughly enjoy this game we’re having.
Gunner was right. She is my match. She may not be a willing participant, but she’s playing my game whether or not she likes it. Not the other way around.
