“Come on, knock it off,” I scolded, still trying not to look around for the girl. I still felt her there.
Damon rose, the end of his cigarette burning orange and a puff of smoke drifting up into the air. “Like we give a shit.” He took the cigarette out of his mouth and blew out.
“But it’s insulting to people who do. No wonder you’re in confession every fucking week.” I walked around him, growing impatient and not knowing why.
Damon did everything he could to be an asshole, but that was him. He was always the same.
And suddenly, I didn’t want the same old shit tonight for some reas
on. I didn’t want him to be him or me to be me. I didn’t want to hide anything tonight.
It’s Devil’s Night, she’d said. She knew what we got up to. She knew me. If she didn’t find me, I’d find her.
Kai
Present
I grabbed a couple water bottles from the ice bowl next to the towels and walked toward the steam room, the wet heat snaking up my nostrils as I opened the frosted glass door and walked in.
Hunter-Bailey Men’s Club was quiet this time of the day. And no matter how busy my friends and I were—or how hungover—we usually found ourselves here most mornings.
I looked up, instantly spotting Michael sitting two steps up on the marble seating that snaked around the room, while Will sat hunched over to my right one step down. He lifted his head, and I could see last night’s indiscretions written all over his pale and weary face. Dark circles sat under his eyes, and he dropped his head again, grumbling, “Motherfucker.”
I shook my head, holding out a bottle of water. “You need new vices.”
The asshole was drunk every day. And to add insult to injury, he was blowing through every cent his asinine, indulgent parents gave him, paying for any one of three things to which he’d dedicated his life: drinking, women, and, as I was starting to suspect, pills and powder.
He pulled the water out of my hand and held the chilled bottle to his brow, his shallow breathing growing shaky.
Taking my bottle, I climbed the step and sat down next to Michael. His back and head rested against the wall, and his eyes were closed as steam billowed in the air around us. Dim lighting cast a soft, blue glow throughout the room, and I felt a trickle of sweat already sliding down my chest toward my towel.
“How are the renovations going on at St. Killian’s?” I asked him.
But he shook his head. “Don’t. Don’t talk to me about fucking renovations right now.”
I narrowed my gaze, seeing his eyes open and his jaw flex as he stared ahead. He was angry? With me?
And then suspicion hit me. The night before last and what happened at the dojo with Rika.
Great. Not that I was in the right by any means, but I trusted her to not tell Michael every damn thing.
I let out a breath. “Man, I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to hurt her. I—”
“You know who I’ve been thinking about lately?” he interrupted me, asking but not waiting for a response. “Your mother, Vittoria.”
I kept my eyes on him.
“She was a prized piece back in the day, huh?” he mused, a slight smirk on his face. “Still is, if you ask me. Great ass. Long legs.”
I stilled, clenching my jaw. I knew what he was doing, but anger was rising anyway.
He continued, “I don’t think I ever told you how hot she always got me, did I? Back in high school, coming over to your house and seeing her in her skin-tight workout clothes. That woman still doesn’t look a day over thirty.” He smiled, savoring the insults he grinded in my fucking face.
“You know what I think I’ll do?” he taunted. “I think I’ll go to your parents’ house tonight. Wait until your father is asleep and see if she wants to climb on top of me. Yeah.” He nodded. “She’ll love the feel of me, and if she doesn’t, who cares? Who cares how much she fights and cries? I’m gonna put fear in her, so every time I’m around she’s gonna know I can take whatever I want from her no matter what.”
I tightened my fists at my sides and stared ahead, fury burning its way through my gut. Too fucking far.
I stood up and walked down the steps, turning to Michael who still sat relaxing against the wall. But his eyes were locked on mine, all too ready for this confrontation.