He shrugs. “His grandfather is the chief of police. Out of all of us, he’ll get the lightest sentence. Vice is just going to take the fall for you and go to prison for a very long time if he doesn’t. Someone has to do it.”
I glance at Saskia but she just sniffs. I can see it in her eyes, she’s dying to make a snarky comment about me not volunteering myself…but she needs me. I can’t kill Joseph if I’m in jail.
I flick my gaze back to Jude. “You know you’ll go to prison, right?”
Jude chuckles, making me see red. “Nah, they’ll give me a community order, and send me to rehab,” he says. “Why are you so mad? I thought you hated me.”
His eyes sparkle with fucking amusement.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” I say. When neither of them say anything else, suddenly it dawns on me. “You want to get sent to the same facility where your cousin is.”
“It’s the only way I can speak to my cousin. It’s perfect if you look at it. It’s like going on holiday.”
“It isn’t going to be a fucking holiday.” I get to my feet. I’ve no idea why I’m mad. I need to process what the hell is going on. The buzzing is back under my skin. I can’t think. I can’t fucking breathe. “I’m going to get some air,” I say.
Dante’s behind this. I don’t know how, but that message is clear as fucking day. It’s one of the things we used to say when we’re taking out the friends of our prey, getting them alone.
One down, three to go.Or two to go in my case. And now I don’t even know which fucking two.
“Viola,” Lorcan says. “Need me to come with you?”
“No. Stay the fuck here.” I want to be alone.
Outside, the weather is balmy. I walk to clear my head. As I get to the playing fields, someone comes up behind me.
I spin around and collide with Jude.
He yanks me to him and kisses me before I can yell at him.
Why am I so mad?
I’m losing them.
First Dino and now Jude. I’ve only just fucking found them, and now I’m losing them. And I hate losing. I fucking hate it.
The thoughts swirling around in my head don’t make sense, so I stop thinking and let the feel of Jude’s lips on mine melt the cold that’s starting to creep through my bones. I’m fucking freezing.
As if sensing the chill within me, he wraps his arms around my whole body, enveloping me in warmth. Then he pulls me toward the bleachers where the wind is not so bold, and kisses me harder. His tongue is molten fire, his teeth fierce. I growl like a fucking wild animal in his embrace as he shoves me against the metal columns supporting the seating block we’re hidden under.
He starts unzipping his trousers and hitches up my skirt, sweeping my knickers aside.
“You said you wouldn’t fuck me. And now three times in twenty four hours? Why?” I say bracing myself against the icy metal. Snow has started falling. It lands like flecks of cold angel dust, freezing the end of my nose, burning my cheeks. Only my core is hot and on fire.
Everything else is frozen.
“Need. We both need it. And I can’t fucking resist you any longer,” he hisses as I wrap my hand around his cock through his boxers. It’s rock hard and pulsing for me. “And, I’m about to turn myself in, so I need you to fuck me one last time to keep me sane when the bastards ass rape me.”
“You’re an idiot,” I breathe, as he steals the air from my lungs with another kiss.
“Just shut the fuck up and spread those legs,” he says huskily.
In my pocket, my phone vibrates. I bet your life it’s Dante, gloating.
“What the fuck is that? A pocket vibrator?”
“It’s my phone,” I say to him.
“Fucking ignore it.”