Antichrist

I step backward on trembling legs, holding my breath in my throat. “Luca…”

He hisses, pointing at me with the tip of his bottle. “This is your fault.” He falls back onto the barstool. “What does he want?”

I blink back the pain that always surfaces any time I find myself in a vulnerable position with Luca. “That he wants your father delivered to him by Friday or he’s taking me.”

Luca waves his arm, an obvious sigh of relief marring his features. “Ah, well, he can take you. Simple.”

“Really?” I say, brow quirked. “How so?”

Luca clicks his tongue, his eyes glassing over. “He’s not going to hurt you, Meraki, and this is what we had you for all along. Don’t get your fucking hopes up. You were always a means to an end, a safety blanket, if you will.”

I stare at him blankly, crossing my arms over my chest. There’s a coldness frosting my bones that won’t melt. No matter how hard I try. “You’re wrong. He will hurt me.”

“He won’t.”

“How do you know that?” I bite back a snarl.

Luca’s eyes flicker with greed. “Oh, because I know something you don’t.”

Then

I think every girl is brought into this world with the perception that a man will protect her. Raised with false hope and bullshit story arcs that the likes of princes and princesses give, the disappointment is bound to happen, because men are disappointing.

It had been three weeks since Niko had left. I think the pain had become a throbbing residue that stuck to the back of my throat and served as a reminder any time I took a breath. That was the worst part about losing someone who meant so much to you over a long period of time. The stronger the feelings, the more potent the taste. It wasn’t that I was mad at him for leaving me, it was the fact that he left all of us. Ari had died, and instead of sticking it out with everyone, Niko ran.

“Hey.” I turned to the doorway of my room to see Luca standing against the frame with a cheesy smile on his face.

I ran toward him and jumped, wrapping my arms around his neck. The panicking I was feeling just moments ago subsided as soon as I was in his arms. Luca was a blanket of safety for me. Having him made me feel closer to Niko and Ari because we were all so close. Jer and his family had moved to Chicago, so Cece, Mira, and Luca were all I had now.

“You okay?” he asked, his arm tensing around my waist. “You hungry?”

I leaned back and slid down his body until my feet hit the carpet. “Yes. Starving.”

“Good,” he murmured, tucking me beneath his arm and placing a kiss on the top of my head. “I know just the place.”

“Mmmm, is it as good as the last one?”

He directed us down the long hallway and to the living room. My home was never anything special. Sitting on a modest block of land in the rougher side of Halsin was the white-and-gray single-story house. The paint was chipping on the outside as well as the inside, and the decor was boldly ranging in the midnineties since my aunt never wanted to change things up.

“Mer?” my aunt called out to me as we hit the front door.

I turned around with a smile on my face. An honest one for the first time in a long time, since all I’d felt was sadness since—well—since that all happened.

Aunt Elsa grinned wickedly, tossing her dishcloth over one shoulder. “You eating out tonight?”

My aunt was the only living family I had left after my mother and father both died in a plane crash when I was three years old. Before then, it was only her and my other aunt after my grandparents both died and so on. Tragic family story, one that I didn’t tend to visit often.

“I’ll be back a little later.” I waved to her as Luca dragged me out the front door.

“You kids behave now!” she called after us just as I closed the front door and Luca dragged me toward his parked Mercedes.

I pulled open my door, narrowing my eyes at a smug-looking Luca.

He waved his hands up. “It’s a surprise!” His blue eyes widened on me as I slipped into the passenger side.

If it was anyone else, I would’ve demanded to know where we were going. But Luca was about as dangerous as a house mouse.

We rode down one of the back streets before he took a sharp right onto the highway that either took you to New York City or to Rockity. He headed toward Rockity and I shifted to face him, tucking my hair behind my ear.

“Where are we going?”

He did something that he had never done before.

He ignored me. Luca was known for his charming smile and charismatic personality, but right now, he was acting as though I didn’t exist.