Chapter 50
KAI
“Kai.” Diana’s breath trembles. “I need to know. Is there something going on with the Vipers tonight?”
All my defenses fall right then and there.
I can’t keep hiding this from her. The lines are too tangled now. We can’t unwind Sophia from the web without impacting Simon and the Vipers.
I sigh, dropping my head against the wall as I tell her the truth about Simon buying six tickets, and what Mikhalkov told us on the phone.
The truth has her blanching.
“Oh my god,” she whispers. Diana wrings her hands together. She paces back and forth, winding her hands through her hair. “All of this was happening, and you didn’t think it was wise to tell me?”
“Diana–”
“—I deserve to know if something is going to put my little sister in harm’s way!”
“I didn’t want you to worry!” I cry out. “You were already stressed about Sophia; I didn’t want to add to that. But I didn’t think your sister and the Vipers would show up together.”
“Even if they didn’t, I don’t want you handling the Vipers on your own, Kai.
I want us to fight them off together.” Diana’s eyes widen.
Shock numbs my system. We freeze in place, caught by the realization that we’re exposing every forbidden thought in our heads now.
It was easier during sex when there were no inhibitions.
But now, the painful possibility of crashing and burning at the end of all of this feels even more terrifying and real.
Ping! Ping!
Diana scrambles for her phone. I lean over to read the groupchat.
ROWAN
What are they dressed up as?
LUKE
Bet they’re tiny ass devils wielding pitchforks
WALLACE
They’re dressed up as faeries
A photo of them pops up. Under the glowing LED lights, Sophia glitters like a fairy emerging from the ocean. Freshwater pearls decorate her dark, silky curls. Crystal beads drip like raindrops from her dainty wings and gossamer blue mini skirt.
LUKE
Is it bad that I’m turned on???
ROWAN
The temptation to put you on a leash grows everyday
STELLA
Ooo! Didn’t know you were kinky like that Rowan ;)
ROWAN
Keep this up and I’ll have your salmon cubes sloshed to the side the next time I deliver
DIANA
Guys, stay focused!! Is Simon with them?
WALLACE
No. There’s just three Vipers with the words ‘Sloth, Envy, and Pride’ on their sleeves.
“Lust…” Diana gulps. “The Vipers are dressed as the seven deadly sins.”
“Pretty damn fitting,” I grumble.
I quickly text Wallace back.
We’re getting into position now.
Neon lights and blaring music crash into us the second we leave the storage closet. Diana squeezes my hand. I look back at her. We don’t say anything, but our hold on each other is clear.
Whatever happens tonight, we’re getting through it together.
Our hands break apart.
Diana goes back to the table where Stella waits for her.
“Kai!”
I turn around to see Rowan coming up the stairs. Worry and annoyance flash across his face.
“You two couldn’t have picked a worse time to hook up,” he gripes. Before I can apologize, he nods at something over my shoulder. “The plan is in motion.”
I follow his eyes. Sophia and her friends are lined up at the bar. They flirt with Vipers dressed as Envy and Sloth. One of Sophia’s friends desperately vies for the attention of Pride, but his attention is pinned on Sophia who couldn’t give two fucks about his existence.
As I suspected, she doesn’t care for hockey players as much as her friends do.
Luke isn’t intimidated at all. He strides towards her with The Look.
His bright, playful blue eyes ease into a lazy charm that makes his stare smolder between his dark lashes.
It’s the look that had every girl in school writing his name into their notebooks, and it got him every girl he ever wanted.
But I have a feeling Sophia won’t be so easy.
Rowan and I lurk close enough to see and hear everything.
“Look, Soph, I know you’d look amazing in a Vipers jersey,” Pride boasts.
Luke saunters up to the bar. He leans his elbow against the table and scoffs. “Amazing? In that thing? It’s all green and yellow. Makes me wonder if Shrek’s Swamp was the inspiration behind those jerseys.”
“Hey!” Pride rounds his shoulders and squares up at Luke.
Sophia swats the Viper aside to step in front of him. She crosses her arms, flashing him a curious, daring look.
“You really don’t think I would be able to pull off a Viper’s jersey?”
Luke angles his head at her. Unlike Diana’s cold and regal beauty, Sophia’s is girly and delicate with a deceptive edge. Even with her dainty button nose and plush, pink lips, the arrogant lift to her chin and her sharp, shrewd eyes give away the thorns beneath.
“Maybe you could pull it off,” Luke muses. “Although, I think you’d look so much better in my jersey.”
Sophia scoffs. Her mouth quirks up into a disdainful smile.
“Is that line supposed to work for you?”
“It depends.” Luke steps forward until he closes the gap between them. “How close am I to getting your name?”
Sophia’s throat bobs. For a second, her attention flickers down to his lips. But she regathers herself in time to level him with an unimpressed stare.
“Maybe if you had better pick up lines, circumstances would shift in your favor,” Sophia challenges.
The familiar glint of intrigue and excitement comes alive on Luke’s face. It’s the same look I saw on him when our high school hockey coach wanted him to play defense. Falling and getting back up from skating backwards excited him just as much as acing it did.
“How about better pick up lines and a drink? On me.” Luke draws out some cash and hands it to the bartender. “I’ll have a rum and coke!”
Sophia still has her arms crossed, mistrustful and wary of him. But Luke simply stares back at her, calm and undaunted. That’s when Sophia unravels her arms and gives in.
“A sangria for me.”
“Whoa, hey, hey!” Pride bursts in. “We’re still talking here.”
“Is that what you were trying to do? I thought you were just embarrassing yourself.” Luke laughs. “Jessica Lovelace wasn’t wrong when she said, ‘There is very little difference between a prideful man and a senseless fool.”
The Viper scowls. “What the fuck—”
“—For both fail to acknowledge,” Sophia continues, “that they are utterly insufferable beyond repair.”
“And for that, they are one in the same,” Luke finishes.
The air between them shifts. Their masks fall and their gazes collide with the quiet harmony of two people who realize they like the same thing.
Pride glares at Luke. He sidesteps Sophia to shove Luke back. “I’m not gonna tell you again, asshole. Leave us alone!”
Luke smiles, yet the threat in his manner is clear. “Didn’t anyone tell you to keep your hands to yourself?”
Luke and Pride nearly go head-to-head before Sophia cleaves herself between them.
“Oh, stop being dramatic.” Sophia scowls at the Viper. “Go away. I’m tired of listening to you ask boring questions about the hockey team and brag about yourself.” She waves her hand as if he’s nothing more than a servant she dismissed. “You’re done.”
Pride sputters, struggling to piece a sentence together before he ultimately gives up and storms away.
But not without leaving Rowan and me suspicious.
“Why are the Vipers asking about us?” I ask.
The crease between Rowan’s brows deepens. “That’s what I want to know.”
“Guys!”
Wallace hurries towards us. Stress wears down his face, as booze slicks off his iPad. “Someone in line spilled their drink on me and I need to get the iPad fixed. I have to step away from the doors for a bit.”
Rowan pinches the bridge of his nose, yet his voice stays steady and calm. “Fine. Any news about Simon?”
Wallace frowns. “Not yet.”
He rushes down the end of the hallway where other DHUSA reps are waiting to help out.
Panic starts to race through my body. I fight to thread my breath in and out, but the music is too loud, my skin crawls at all the sweaty bodies pushing and shoving past me, and the situation with Simon and the Vipers is already spiraling out of control, and I don’t know what to do—
“Kai, look at me.” Rowan grips my shoulders, forcing my eyes to his. “Don’t let this throw you off, okay? Wallace will be back at the doors. Everything is going to be fine. Let’s just focus on getting Diana what she needs from Sophia. That’s the only thing that’s in our control.”
Diana.
She’s the priority here.
I nod my head. I sink my hand into my pocket and grip her hair clip, grounding my thoughts still.
Rowan keeps his steady hand on my shoulder before we both turn back to Luke and Sophia. They’re now sitting at a table with their drinks.
But they’re not locked in some romantic trance like we’d hoped.
Instead, their arms are flying around because they’re fucking arguing.
“I don’t care about the symbolism!” Luke argues. “Mr. Hewitt ruined Dear Mister St. Clair!”
Sophia’s fist banging against the table punctuates each word. “Hewitt was just trying to save Rosalie from her. Own. Terrible. Decisions!”
“Oh, here we fucking go!”
“Hewitt does questionable things for the greater good!”
From the corner, Diana and Stella watch their argument with concern. Diana snaps her attention towards me. Her eyes widen.
What the hell is going on?
But the argument is actually effective. Sophia is so heated with Luke’s opinions, she doesn’t even notice Diana and Stella slipping her phone off the table.
“I should be flirting with cute boys right now, not arguing about symbolism with you!” Sophia hisses.
“Hey! You were the one who followed me here!” Luke accuses.
“Because you took my drink!”
“And? I’m not spending my hard-earned money to buy drinks for a Hewitt sympathizer.”
I drop my head into my hands.
“Why is he like this?” I groan.
“I ask myself this every fucking day,” Rowan grumbles.
Sophia scoffs in disgust. “I’m surprised you can even comprehend Jessica Lovelace since you clearly lack good sense.”
“Oh, I lack good sense? You—”
Diana quickly pushes Sophia’s phone back onto the table and hurries away. Luke notices. He suddenly leaps to his feet and dramatically sweeps out his arms.
“Well, if you want to go, then fine!” He goads. “Don’t let me stop you from flirting with the entire club!”
“You know what? I will!” Sophia springs to her feet and jabs her finger into his chest. “I’m not wasting another moment with a brute like you.”
“Oh, ho.” A sardonic smile tugs his lips as Luke shakes his head. “Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy the first half, sweetheart.”
“I did not!”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
They’re standing so close now, the sudden contact makes them both tense.
Luke’s eyes drop to her lips. Confusion crosses his face. Sophia’s lips part. Gargled words stutter on her tongue as if she wants to argue more, but nothing comes out.
Sophia simply glares at Luke and shoves past him to hurry down the stairs without looking back.
Luke breathes out. His face is a little flushed as he trudges back towards us.
“What the hell was that?” Rowan asks.
“A conversation with a little demon,” he grumbles.
Suddenly, Rowan’s phone buzzes. The message on the screen makes the muscle in his jaw tick.
“It’s Mikhalkov.”
We scramble over to read the message.
I have news: the Vipers are trying to throw you off your game before the conference tournaments. They’re chatting people up, trying to figure out who’s on the team. Tell the team to leave or tell them not to engage unless they want broken bones.
“These fucking psychopaths,” Luke hisses.
“Simon, stop!”
“I’m just complimenting her costume, babe.”
My blood goes cold.
I snap around and see Diana’s wrist caught in Simon’s hand. Her mask lies unbound at her feet.
“You were running your mouth back at Andrea’s office,” Simon sneers. “Why are you so quiet now, Diana? Forget how to speak English?”
Hot white fury blasts and razes down my control.
I storm towards Simon.
“Kai, don’t!” Rowan shouts.
I shove Simon back and deck his face with my fist. His back hits the wall with a harsh thud that makes Andrea scream. He glares up at me. Blood drips from his lips, red as his suit.
I don’t give a fuck about Mikhalkov’s warning. I just want to break every part of Simon that touched Diana.
Luke and Rowan subtly ease Diana and Stella out of the way. Simon notices the boys and realization dons on his face.
“Wait a minute…Kai, is that you?” The fury on his face warps into a smug satisfaction that makes him cackle. “Honestly, I’m not surprised you chose to hide your face tonight. Guess it’ll be easier for you to get drugged up without anyone knowing it’s you, huh?”
My nostrils flare. “You better—”
Shouts and screams break out behind me. I dart around. Two other Vipers tackle down Luke and Rowan.
“No, no, no.”
I rush towards them, hands shaking, heart pumping fast.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
Someone twists my arm and shoves me into a table. The towering decorations wobble and collapse over me.