“Next time, beautiful...” He leans in and kisses me. Then he bites my lower lip. “I’ll show you what type of monster I really am.”
Chapter Thirteen
My fingers tap against the bar’s counter from my position at the far end while I soak in all the chaos at Le Salon. The loud music. The pretentious perfumes. The sleazy old posh folks. I can kill them all if I want to for no other reason except that I felt like it.
Sometimes, I wonder what would I be like if I didn’t have Ghost and Nonna in my life. I’d probably be a psycho killer who kills for fun.
Not bad, if you ask me. At least, I wouldn’t be having second thoughts about what the hell I exist for.
A presence appears at my back. I don’t pay it attention and grab my glass of scotch. We have this thing in Team Zero: sneaking about. Just because we can.
Flame murmurs, “It’s done.”
I smile around the rim of my glass. Easy. I knew Flame would do a fantastic job.
“How done are we talking about?”
He stalks in front of me with that usual detached expression. No hoodie covers his head tonight. Sleeked coppery strands of hair shine under the club’s lights. His beard is groomed, too. Who knew someone obsessed with sleep would appear normal in public?
“As in he won’t be released first, done.” He leans close so only I can hear him. “If anyone is coming out in the first place.”
He retrieves a cigarette and lights it. His gaze lingers on the flame for a second too long.
I face him. “But there’s a problem?”
He blows nicotine in my face. On purpose. Bastard. “Just like I can get someone on the inside, so can Ink.”
I drown half of my glass. “He’s locked up and under severe Omega withdrawal. He can’t do anything.”
Flame raises an eyebrow. “His disciples can.”
“The fuck is with Team Zero’s obsession with disciples?” I never understood why they want to take care of other people besides themselves. I can barely keep a watch on myself, let alone take second-generation assassins under my wing.
Ghost took mentees multiple times. The closest he has is Kyle and he never leaves his side. Flame has his moles as well, but he doesn’t consider them in a familial way like Ghost does.
“They can do the job for you,” Flame says as if that’s a given and taps his temple. “Work smarter not harder.”
“The hassle isn’t worth it.”
Do you like being hollow?
Zoe’s words ring in my head and bring a bitter taste to my mouth. I take a chug of my scotch and bury her and her words in an abyss.
“Just know that there’s a,” Flame makes quotation mark, “Team Ink out there. If you have grudges with him. They have grudges with you.”
I grin and clasp his shoulder. “Aww. Are you worried about me?”
His bored facial expression doesn’t budge. He kills the cigarette and steps away from my touch. “I’m worried about the favours you owe me.”
Now. That’s hollow.
If a psychotherapist has a look into Flame’s brain, he’d scale so high on the psychopath spectrum, they’d lock him up just to study him. Unless he flips the table and garners some favours from them.
He throws a joker card in front of me. It’s a way to kill time for Team Zero. When one of us is bored and wants to play a hunting game, we’d pick one of our targets and place a joker card on them. All Zeroes compete to catch them first. The one who kills the target and retrieves the joker card is a winner.
I didn’t know there was a joker card game going on. “How dare you leave me out?”
He smirks. “Crow sent it with a note. Don’t ever fucking send me joker cards again.”
I can’t help but laugh. Crow is the only Team Zero member who escaped Hades, but he had to fake his own death in the process. That joker card has been placed on Dr Johnson’s daughter, the godfather of Omega. We were supposed to kill her for her daddy’s sins. Crow ruined it by falling in love with her. He threatened to kill us all.
It was strange how Crow could change that way. Like me, he only cared about himself, but since he met that French nurse, it’s like someone hit a fucking switch.
I’ll never understand how people change to please others.
Others just disappoint you.
After Flame leaves to continue his endless slumber, my eyes roam back in