Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
He reaches out and swipes a bit of whipped cream off my lip. He holds my eyes as he licks it off.
All the oxygen in the room disappears. I can only blink at him, my body aquiver.
He barely touched me. And now there is an ocean between my legs.
“Ask.”
“What happened to your ear?” I nod to his left ear. He tucks his hair back behind his right ear, and I see the right ear has the same rippled deformity.
“Cauliflower ear. Too much fighting without head protection.” So he is a fighter. Good to know.
I open my mouth to ask another question, but my alarm goes off. I silence it and frown. “I’m supposed to meet my friend at the library.” The reluctance is clear in my voice.
He dips his chin.
I sigh and reach into my backpack for my wallet. “Can I—”
His glare freezes me. You’d think I was reaching for a weapon.
“Okay, thank you for breakfast. And answering at least some of my questions.” I scrunch my eyes at him. I’m watching you, buster.
He’s not phased in the least. “Goodbye, Belladonna.”
I’m halfway to the university before I realize I never told him my name.
7
Bella
* * *
“So that’s the story of my stalker,” I tell Honey later. We’re in our favorite corner of the cavernous university library, whispering. The library attendants are all wearing dark robes with a bright yellow stripe that makes them look like bumble bees. Every so often, one buzzes by and tells us to hush.
We’re ignoring them so I can tell Honey all about my brunch date.
She’s chewing her lip, looking distressed on my behalf. “What if he’s dangerous?”
“Oh, he’s definitely dangerous. But I can handle it.” I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Literally, I’m carrying a vial of a botanical blend made from the extract of hemlock. It’s less bitter, so it can be slipped into a cup of coffee. I could’ve poisoned Blondie at any point in our conversation.
But I haven’t explained to Honey the extent of my venefica studies yet, so I just say, “So far he hasn’t hurt me. The opposite, in fact. I thought he was hired to be my bodyguard, but he denied it.” He already knows that I’m trouble. I haven’t tried very hard to hide my supervillain tendencies for some reason. I wanted him to see it. To know me.
Usually, I do my evil deeds in secret, hiding them from everyone, including my father. But that moment in the poison garden, I wanted him to know. We were co-conspirators, and it felt wonderful. “Maybe it’s not smart, but I want to see him again. Maybe he’ll try to hurt me, but maybe not. Yolo!”
“Yolo?” Honey looks amused.
“Yeah. It means ‘You only live once’.”
“I know that. It’s just… people don’t really say that anymore.”
“What do they say then?”
“Ummm, DIFTP. Do it for the plot.”
I repeat what she said, but it doesn’t roll off the tongue as well as YOLO. “The plot?”
“Like, in a book.”
“Like a romance novel?” I love romance novels. I’m about to tell her about Thorbjorn, the muscular blond hero on the cover of Viking Thunder, when she asks, “What did his tattoos look like? Did he have any skulls on his hands?”
“Nope. But he did have a skull ring.”
“Oh! He’s Fraternitas.” She looks a bit more relieved, but then her forehead crinkles, like she’s puzzled.
“What’s Fraternitas?” I ask. The word sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.
“They rule New Rome. Unofficially.”
“I’m from New Rome,” I perk up. “I wonder if my father does business with them.” That would explain where I’ve heard of them.
“Um, they’re not exactly legit.” She still doesn’t know my father’s perfumery business is a front and that he does business with the criminal underworld all the time. “I actually—” She falls silent when someone approaches the polished wooden table and sits down across from us.
“Hey.” The newcomer pulls her earbuds out of her ears. Her skin tone is a few shades paler than Honey’s, and she’s dressed severely, in a black skirt and sweater. Under the sweater, her white shirt is buttoned to the collar. Prim as a librarian, except she’s our age and wearing smoky eye makeup that complements her long, glossy black hair.
Honey lights up. “Hey, Raine. Are you working a shift?”
“Just got off.”
“I’ve been wanting to introduce you to my friend. Bella, this is Raine. She’s studying library sciences here.”
We exchange hellos.
“Bella’s not staying on campus either,” Honey says.
I nod to Raine. “My father doesn’t think I can be trusted in the dorms.”
“My stepbrother said the same thing,” Raine rolls her eyes. “He just loves having me under his thumb.”
“Maybe we can convince him to let you do a sleepover sometime,” Honey says to her. “I could use the company.”
“Or I just do it without asking permission. Anything to piss him off.”