Chapter 35
GALINA
Lochlan
Okay, I know now why you shut me out.
My pulse skips when his text lights up my screen. But then I go back to watching Legally Blonde in Ari’s room with her and Lucia.
I know I’m being childish. Lochlan is a college senior. A star football player. He has wealth, a powerful family, and ridiculously good looks.
And I’m surprised that he has a storied past with women? Am I that stupid?
I grit my teeth as I watch Jennifer Coolidge “bend and snap” her way into breaking the hot UPS guy’s nose.
Yes, a lot of this is my own insecurities talking when measuring myself against these faceless women of his past. In my head, I’m picturing Lochlan cavorting his way through a harem of gorgeous Victoria’s Secret models and comparing them to…well, me.
And that stings.
But honestly, that I could handle. Imaginary lingerie models I could stuff way down inside and try not to think about.
It’s a little harder to do that when it's your waitress and she's gleefully rubbing her history with your boyfriend in your face.
Ugh.
I hate that I’m angry and jealous about this, because it makes me feel pathetic.
My phone lights up again.
Lochlan
I never slept with that woman, little villain.
My heart lurches in my chest—both at his admission, and at his name for me which I honestly love. But then I sour again, and I hate that it’s because I don’t know if I can believe him or not.
I really, really want to. But right now, I just don’t know.
Lochlan
Please come outside so we can talk. I can explain the whole thing.
I purse my lips.
Stay mad. Don’t just give in.
Me
I’m busy.
Lochlan
Elle fucking Woods can wait. Come outside.
My spine snaps straight as I quickly glance around the room, half expecting to see him standing there in the shadows.
Me
Wow. Spying on me. Who saw that plot twist coming.
Lochlan
You’re familiar with the architectural feature known as windows, right?
Me
Stop texting me.
“Who are you messaging with?”
I quickly drop my phone into my lap and look up at Lucia, blushing. “Hmm?”
“She says, hiding her phone super suspiciously,” she giggles.
“Honestly, no one," I huff. "I’m just looking at social media.”
Lucia’s brows arch. “Shit, I can’t believe we haven’t talked about this yet!” She grins excitedly at me. “I assume you’ve seen the new Velvet Villainess video?”
Shit.
Okay, it is pretty fun having a secret alter ego I can disappear into. But sometimes, it feels like I’m lying by omission to my friends and family when talking about the latest Villainess video, knowing I’m her.
“Is that the one you showed me?” Ari snorts. “She dumped her boyfriend, or something about a ghost?”
Lucia sighs dramatically. “Ari, we really need you to get your facts straight.”
“Honestly, we really don’t," Arianna laughs. “I can promise you, I’m going to sleep just fine without any clarification on your horny book-world drama at all.”
I giggle as Lucia rolls her eyes and turns to me. “You’ve seen it, right?”
“Yeah,” I mumble.
“What do you think the guy did? Ghost, I mean.”
I shrug. “Sounds like he was maybe a fuckboy?”
Lucia frowns. “But…duh? I mean, look at him. Who would possibly look at a super-hot tattooed guy with ten-pack abs who wears a mask on social media and think “steady boyfriend material.”
“Dummies,” Ari snickers. “That’s who.”
Lucia laughs. “I was going to say silly bitches, but dummies works, too.”
Hi, yes, it’s me.
Dummies.
Silly bitches.
That’s me.
My phone buzzes in my hand.
Lochlan
Just come outside and I’ll explain everything. Please.
Me
I’m good, thanks.
Lochlan
I’m counting to five, then I’m coming in there and we can do this with an audience.
My pulse jolts. He’s crazy enough to do that.
Me
I wouldn’t, if I were you. Arianna keeps a gun in her room.
Lochlan
I sincerely doubt that.
Me
For real. Her parents gave it to her after the second murder in town.
Lochlan
Zero percent chance that’s true. Anyway, you’re not going to shoot me.
Me
Famous last words.
Lochlan
I like my odds.
I clear my throat. “Luce, you still carry that pepper spray around?”
She nods. “Always.” She grins as she nods her chin at her bag hanging off the chair in front of Arianna’s desk. “Why?”
I shrug as I stand. “No reason.” I walk over toward the desk. “Ari, can I use your phone charger?”
“Duh?”
My phone has plenty of battery. But I plug it in anyway for show before I covertly open the top of Lucia’s bag and snap a picture of the bottle clearly marked “Pepper Spray” inside.
Me
You can believe me or not about the gun…
I text him the photo.
Me
But I 100% guarantee this goes in your face if you step through the door.
Me
You remember how fun it was the last time we played that game, right?
I send a kissy face just to be a cunt and turn my phone face-down on the desk before walking back over to my friends sprawled across Ari’s bed. I flop down next to them and exhale.
“You wanna crash here tonight, Luce?”
She groans. “Please. I seriously can’t take much more of my roommate, and we’re only halfway through the first fucking semester.”
Lucia is, obviously, going to pledge The Order at the Initiation Trials later this year.
But even though you pledge a club halfway through your freshman year, you don’t get to move out of the regular dorms and into the club housing until your sophomore year, and unfortunately, Lucia’s current roommate is a bit of a basket case.
She glances at Arianna and me. “You guys don’t mind?”
Ari shakes her head. “Of course not! So, would you prefer the Nikitin Suite, or the Sartorre Suite?”
I clear my throat. “Why don’t we all just crash in here together?”
Arianna gives me a strange look. “Your room is eight feet away.”
“Yeah, but we could have a sleepover! Spooky stories, snacks, the whole bit.”
Lucia grins. “I mean, that does sound kinda awesome.”
Yup, it does. It also sounds safer.
I don’t doubt for a second that Lochlan wouldn’t just break into my room while I’m sleeping. But I’d like to at least think he’d have second thoughts about trying anything if I’m sharing a bed here in Ari’s room with two other people.
Arianna shrugs. “I mean, it’s fine with me.”
I can hear my phone buzzing repeatedly across the room. But I ignore it.
That’s something I can deal with later.
It’s a few hours later when Ari and Lucia are snoozing in the bed next to me, the only light coming from the glow of the DVD menu for Legally Blonde 2.
Honestly, it’s nowhere close to the first one. But it’s kind of tough to do a Legally Blonde marathon without watching it.
I wince as I swallow, my throat feeling dry. I slide out of bed, careful not to wake my friends as I tiptoe over to the bathroom door. I fill a cup at the sink and groan in satisfaction when the cool liquid bathes my throat.
“You don’t have it on you, do you?”
I bite back a scream of terror as I whirl. Lochlan is standing in the doorway to my room.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” I hiss.
“Asking you if you—”
“Shh!” I blurt, my eyes going wide. “Just…quiet! Ari and Lucia are asleep!”
Lochlan looks amused as he leans against the doorframe. “To the more pressing subject…”
I roll my eyes. “No, I don’t have the pepper spray on me.”
“The pepper spray that definitely exists.”
I glare at him. “Wanna find out the fun way?”
He chuckles. “Not really.”
My throat bobs as I let my eyes drag over him.
God, it’s so fucking unfair. As pissed as I am at him, just being in his presence melts all that away.
“What do you want,” I growl.
Lochlan’s charming grin fades. “To tell you that you’re mistaken. I never slept with Julia. Drago did. She was just fucking with you because of your dad tearing her a new asshole for hitting on your Papa.”
I blink rapidly as I stare at him. “Which…you know about because you were stalking me?”
He nods and I huff.
“Great.”
“Galina—”
“I don’t want to hear it!” I hiss. “I mean, when that fucking woman—”
“I never touched her!”
“Well, you touched plenty of other—!”
My words choke off in a strangled gasp as he grabs me, presses me against the sink counter, and wraps a big hand around my throat. I shiver as he looms over me, his raw dark energy radiating over my skin and making my knees weak as he pins me against the marble at my back.
“You know why I’ve been with so many women?!” he snaps.
I grit my teeth and look away. “Jesus—”
“Look at me, Galina.”
“I don’t want to—”
I fight him when he cups my jaw with his other hand, but he finally forces my gaze back to his.
“Do you not want to look at me because you’re angry, or because you’re jealous?”
“I’m angry because I’m jealous!” I spit in a hushed voice. “And believe me, I do not need to know why you’ve been with so many fucking—”
“I was telling the truth before!” he mutters through grit teeth. “As Ghost, when you asked me why I did the mask thing.”
I roll my eyes. “Let me guess. To get more girls? To acquire more groupies who would fawn all over you and tell you how sexy you are, and how much they want to fuck—”
“I had a fucking deficiency!” he rasps as he lowers his face right into mine. “I had a black fucking hole inside me that only got filled up with attention and praise and fawning and fandom!”
“Great!” I hiss. “Go deal with that—”
“You didn't hear me, Galina.”
My brows furrow. “What?”
“Had, past tense. I had a deficiency. I had a black hole inside of me.”
Heat tingles through my chest when he presses his forehead to mine.
“But I found a way to fill that void, little villain. And for once, the pieces feel like they’re clicking into place for me.”
He groans softly.
“For once, I have something that fills that emptiness inside me in a way I've never had before. Not with all the followers in the world. Not with all the fucking likes and comments and random girls and meaningless, empty bullshit.”
“I’m so fucking glad for you!” I hiss back. “I’m so glad it helps you—”