heartbeat throbs and a shudder shoots across my spine. To my doom, it’s not fear or even dread. It’s a vile, cruel feeling.
Anticipation.
It recoils beneath my skin and rushes through my veins. My body tightens as if screaming at me to meet him halfway and finish what we started.
My body is a suicidal idiot.
Scar stops and cuts him a glare. The other girls barely look at Shadow or Julian in the eye, but Scar? The girl is so tiny but never backs down. I admire that about her, probably because I thought I was like her before.
Julian appears from behind Shadow. Their height are about the same but Mist’s favourite bodyguard is bulkier. While his dark brown eyes and hair give him a ruggedly handsome look, the set of his jaw and solemn features hints at a sinister, mysterious man.
He’s silent and barely appears in public, but he’s part of Mist’s inner circle. I can’t get much of a clue about him except that: A— he gives off a dark energy and therefore should be avoided and B— he’s close to Shadow and once again, should be avoided.
Julian taps Shadow’s shoulder. The second the latter turns, I attempt to run in the opposite direction. Maybe I can hide with Natalie.
Scar halts me by clutching my arm in a steel hold that doesn’t fit her tiny frame. “He loves hunting. Running away is the worst thing you can do with someone like Shadow. You’ll provoke him into chasing you.”
“You sure know a lot about him.” I don’t mean to snap, but it comes out that way.
Her expression is unreadable. “I ought to.”
A strange, unfamiliar tightening grips my chest. Does that mean she and Shadow had something? Maybe they still do. Did he wrestle her to the ground and bite her like he did me? A sour taste of betrayal fills my mouth. I loathe myself for it.
Shadow and I are nothing. Why would I feel betrayal for nothing?
“I’ll start my shift.” I remove my arm from hers more violently than I intended.
Once I’m behind the bar, I release a long breath. Julian took Shadow away. I get another night of peace.
But I can’t keep playing freaking Russian roulette every day.
The only thing that has worked since that night is that Johnny stuck to the plan.
I haven’t seen his crew around, but I heard from the guards and the girls’ gossip that ‘we’ are allies with President Joe now. Ghost – whoever that is – struck a deal to sell a share of the factory to President Joe.
Since I can’t keep waiting for Shadow to come ruin me like he promised, and I need to get on with my revenge, there has to be a change of plans.
I had hoped to let President Joe bathe in his success for a longer time so when I take it away, it’ll hurt like hell. However, I can’t continue playing this game of nerves with Shadow. The next time he does something crazy, I might do something crazier in return.
Eye for an eye.
There’s no way I’m losing any battles for him.
I take a discreet look at my surroundings. The barmaid is busy chatting with a customer, but no one else is in my immediate surroundings. I retrieve my phone and send a message to Liam. ‘At one.’
He should understand that code.
We used to send it back and forth when either of us wanted to escape the house or the school’s confinement.
I go back to waitressing like a bee. Work drives some of the tension away and prevents me from thinking. I can’t keep having daydreams of those dark, overcast eyes peering into my soul while Shadow does things to me.
Dirty, unhinged things.
Then he’ll end up ruining me. After all, he’s like my father. Destruction is in their genes. Peace confuses them.
Beside my revenge, I promised myself that I’ll never be with a man like my father or be a victim like my mother.
Why in the living hell am I attracted to Shadow then?
Am I mentally deranged?
I push the hazy thoughts away and tend to customers. Natalie crosses my path twice, and like the entire week, she bows her head and scurries away. She must blame herself for what happened that night with Johnny even after I told her she shouldn’t.
I hope she’ll come around because this place is becoming more suffocating without her calm energy.
Actually, it doesn’t really matter. Once I make a plan with Liam, I’ll leave this place and never look back.