Chapter 43 Faust
FORTY-THREE
FAUST
“What did you fucking do to her?”
Sylvan is mid-lunge, his back to me, but even in this position, I can see his head tilt and I know he’s got that stupid cocky grin on his face.
The locker room is chaos. “Soldier” by Eminem is playing way too loud and usually I’d have headphones on but not right now. Not less than an hour before we’re on the ice and all I want to do is hit my own teammate.
Sylvan picked a corner of the room away from everyone else, only a concrete wall at my back, but I can feel the team’s eyes flickering over to us.
For once, I don’t give a fuck.
I take a breath in through my nose, out through my mouth.
I think of Neve on top of me last night. How close we were in my car. The way she was so wet for me, her breathy moans, her perfect lips saying my name.
Then that smack against the back window.
I convinced myself it was ice hitting the car; plausible, but I had a feeling that wasn’t it. Neve is already on edge though and I didn’t want to shoot up her anxiety, especially after I’d just given her an orgasm.
Her first from me.
And last night it took all I had in me not to fuck her in my bed, her warm body curled up against mine. But after I got used to all the blood in my body rushing to my dick, it was shockingly easy to fall asleep.
She’s too much of a comfort, and I know I should stay away.
I won’t be here long, and who knows where the hell I’ll end up.
And what about her? She won’t tell me exactly what it is she wants to do, and there’s no way in hell she’d follow me across the continent.
It’s beyond mad to even think about it; we barely know one another.
But even as much as I keep repeating it to myself, I’m not entirely sure it’s true.
I see her.
The way she hides behind her sexuality. Her eyes always searching and finding habits and tics that no doubt serve her well in her psychology major. Does she want to be a therapist? She’s always forcing revelations from the people around her without divulging her own; she’d be excellent.
And my mom would love her. The attitude she has, the way she never fails to humble me.
Fuck.
Sylvan rises, then slowly turns to face me, and I note his eyes are bleary, shadows under those icy irises. And yep, there it is, that cocky smirk on his face that pops his dimples.
He runs a hand through his blond hair, and I clench my own into fists to stop from breaking his fucking jaw.
My pulse pounds in my head and all I can think about is Neve’s text to me earlier.
North
Have you talked to Sylvan today?
I told her I hadn’t, that I’d see him at practice, then for the game. She didn’t reply. I asked her why she wanted to know, why she snuck out of my fucking house when it was still dark outside—I woke up at sunrise, my heart sinking when I realized she wasn’t in my bed—and she didn’t answer.
So I called her.
She only answered on the sixth fucking call, and I had to drag out of her the reason she asked about this little shit in front of me.
He ambushed her in an alley.
I take a step toward him, til we’re nearly nose-to-nose. I know how he fights, and I know I can absolutely wreck him.
I don’t care if it takes him out of the game. I wouldn’t mind if we never played together again; I don’t give a fuck if people think we’re a dream team.
“What did she say?” he asks quietly, his eyes dropping to my mouth.
I clench my teeth. It takes everything in me not to fucking deck him. “Do not play with me.”
He arches a brow, trying to be innocent. “Are you mad I told her not to fuck you?” he whispers, his breath ghosting along my lips.
What? She conveniently left that part out.
I don’t think.
I just grab his throat, my fingers digging into his skin, his mouth parting, grazing my own. From this angle, no one will be able to tell exactly what I’m doing to him, although I suppose if his corpse slumps along the locker room floor, they might figure it out.
“Stay away from her.”
“I will if you will.” His voice is hoarse, the way I’m touching him, but he doesn’t dare lay a hand against me or even try to defend himself.
“She’s not yours.” I don’t care if she and I haven’t had this conversation; if there’s a chance Sylvan could be the little psychopath murdering people on campus, he doesn’t need to be within a hundred kilometers of her.
The fact he’s this close already bothers me, particularly since he seems to be fucking stalking her.
Us.
“Yeah,” he whispers as if he can read my mind, “it looked like she was yours last night, didn’t it?”
I squeeze his neck so hard his eyes widen.
He can’t breathe.
Yeah. Not so fucking cocky now, huh?
I tilt my head, my mouth on his. “If I catch you anywhere near her again, you’re the next body they’ll find at Drayton.”
He still doesn’t touch me and I loosen my grip just marginally so he can submit to me.
But he puts a hand on my chest and he bites at my bottom lip, dragging it out, so quick I don’t have time to react.
He moans softly as he releases me with his teeth, my blood hot, and his eyes close a second before they pop back open again, staring right into mine.
“I like you like this,” he says softly. “Overprotective. Me and you? We can take good care of, huh, Captain?”
He says it like it’s my name and he looks up at me like he means it.
I clench my teeth, my mind spinning.
I shove him away by my hand on his throat but my eyes don’t leave his.
He lifts two fingers to his lips, tracing them, fixing his gaze on me as he does.
“Tonight, if we win…” He takes a breath, his chest rising and falling.
“I’m going with you to that castle. I saw you’re in the group chat too, with Tylone.
If Cynthia is going, she’s going, and I know that means you’ll be there.
You’re not the only one who can’t stay away from her. ”
Absolutely fucking not. He’s not going. But I don’t waste my words saying that.
“Anything can happen to her in there. It’s dark, and it’s dangerous.” He isn’t smiling anymore.
“And if we lose?” I ask, and I’m surprised my voice sounds so raspy to my own ears, like I can barely get the words out.
He drops his hand and his eyes narrow. Silver chips of ice. “We won’t. Not if she’s on the line.”