Page 16 of Alluring Darkness
“You know, I always thought you were different,” Connor begins, that awful hurt lacing his voice. “That you actually… understood.” Anger creeps into his tone again as he flicks a dismissive glance up and down my body. “But I guess not. Good luck, Raina.”
Before I can compose myself enough to respond, he yanks the door open and stalks out. It vibrates in its frame as he slams it shut behind him.
Tears threaten to spill from my eyes. I blink them back with great effort and instead draw in a deep breath to steady myself.
It’s better that he’s angry.
At least then, he will stay out of harm’s way.
8
ELI
Keeping my distance from Raina is harder than I anticipated. All I want to do is to launch attack after attack, chipping away at her defenses until she is reduced to a trembling ball of fear, begging me for mercy. But to do that, I have to build up anticipation.
She can’t possibly think that I would let her little stunt in the car slide, so she’ll know that I will be coming for revenge. And sometimes, waiting for the other shoe to drop is worse than the act itself. So I have been keeping my distance, leaving her to constantly have to look over her shoulder. And building her fear and paranoia. Soon, it will be time to strike.
Chatter comes from the open doors to the canteen up ahead. I roll my shoulders back, trying to dispense the restless energy inside me. It works poorly. I really need to find someone to take that out on.
“Your grandfather called yesterday, by the way,” I say, casting a glance at Rico from the corner of my eye.
While we continue towards the canteen, he raises his eyebrows and turns to face me. “He did?”
“Yeah. I talked to Dad this morning, and he mentioned it.”
“Huh. What did he want?”
“A report on your progress.”
Rico snorts and rolls his eyes. “Of course he did. I swear, I love the guy, but damn he can be so fucking bossy.”
“Well, there’s a good reason for that,” Jace comments from my other side as we enter the packed canteen.
“Still, that doesn’t—” Rico begins before being cut off.
“Hey, isn’t that Connor?” Kaden interrupts.
We all turn and follow his gaze.
Sure enough, Connor Smith is stalking out the doors on the other side of the room. I only have time to see the back of his head and half of his jaw before he disappears from the canteen, but it’s enough to confirm that he is still sporting an impressive number of bruises.
A grin spreads across my lips.
Some of my best work, that. Lots of pain but nothing permanently damaged. Which means that I can do it again soon.
“So, he’s out of bed, huh?” Jace says, running a hand over his jaw. Then his eager eyes find mine. “Should we…?”
“I think we have a more pressing problem,” Rico replies before I can say anything.
He jerks his chin towards our table, and we all tear our gazes from the doorway where Connor disappeared and look at the empty metal table and the six chairs around it.
Except, it’s not empty.
Surprise flashes through me.
There, seated in one of the chairs in the very middle, is Raina. She has a tray of food in front of her and she’s eating calmly as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. I scan the tables around her. A few people flinch and snap their gazes back to their own plates, as if they’re worried that I might take out my anger on them for not making sure our table was clear.
To be fair, I am tempted. I had planned to give Raina a bit more time to worry before I struck, but who am I to pass up an opportunity to punish her if she just delivers herself to me like this on a silver platter?