Chapter 16 #2
I know, I know, I’ve banned the word, but fuck if it isn’t the right one for her.
She doesn’t just fawn over Harley. She touches every guy in our class and when I see her out in the dining hall, she touches every being with a dick that crosses her path.
I’m sure she must be hosting orgies in her room every night with the amount of winks and knowing looks she’s getting.
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t throw stones and all that shit but technically, I’m not having any orgies, despite Avery’s snarky comments. Also, how many people does there need to be involved before it’s classed as an orgy? Fuck it, off topic.
I manage to keep my cool until classes finish for the day and then I drag Avery down to the gym for a training session, intent on sweating my rage out.
I’ve kept up with my own routine but she’s gotten pretty good at kicking my ass in our lessons as well.
I’m still going easy on her because I know she’s a little hesitant about the knife, but I’ve found the best way to get her over that is to talk about what I’ve done in the past. She loves it when I walk her through scenarios, like she’s learning a skill and piecing together more of my past. I think she wants to know everything that has ever happened to me, but there will always be things I’d rather never speak of again.
When my body hits the mat for the fifth time, my fury has burned out enough to talk it out.
“Why Harley? Like, of all the dicks in this school she could climb, why him?” I’m totally fucking pouting. Thank fuck he isn’t around to see it. His head would probably get so big it would explode.
Avery helps me off the floor and then hands me a bottle of water. “I’ve looked everywhere for a link to the Jackal and I can’t find one. They’ve never crossed paths as far as I can see. I think she’s just a desperate whore. A dirty, desperate whore who enjoys a challenge.”
I nod and wipe my face with my shirt, ignoring the face Avery pulls over it. “He is fucking gorgeous, the bastard.”
Avery shrugs. “There’s plenty of gorgeous guys at Hannaford that she can have, you just don’t notice them because you’re too busy drooling over the three you’re obsessed with.”
“Rude,” I grumble, and Avery cocks an eyebrow at me, smirking at my attitude.
“It’s an observation, not a judgment.”
“Fine, but you don’t need to be so smug about it.” God, I sound whiny. I need to harden the fuck up.
She scoffs at me and gets back into position, then changes the subject because she’s a saint. “I spoke to Atticus again. He’s pretty adamant I go to the Charity Gala this year, and he said he’s going to dance with me there. He’s still not chasing me but it’s getting close.”
Fuck. I need to look this guy up, make sure he’s not some rapist asshole. I make a note to talk to Ash and see why he hates him so much. I wonder if Harley likes him?
“Ash and I both have invitations with plus ones. I’ll take Blaise and Ash will take you.
Harley has a swim meet and now that he’s taking his swimming more seriously, he’s going to go.
He’ll be pissy, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
Well, I could have the Gala date moved, I guess.
How badly do you want to see Harley in a three-piece suit? ”
I try not to drool at the thought. She doesn’t need any encouragement in her assessment of me. “It’s fine. I’m sure being around you lot there will be other Galas to attend.”
Avery laughs at my fake-ass airy tone and waves a hand at me. “Okay, no more distractions. Walk me through another. I think I’m almost ready to start stabbing my enemies myself.”
I raise an eyebrow at her. “Any requests, Miss Bloodthirsty?”
She nods and hesitates for a second. I roll my eyes at her. “Just ask. I’m not going to lose my mind over it and if I don’t want to do it, I’ll say no.”
The door to the gym opens and I don’t have to turn to see it’s the guys. They’re bickering and talking shit loud enough for Illi to hear it down in the Bay.
Avery lowers her voice. “I want to know how you won the Game. How you beat the last two men.”
I stare at her for a second and then shrug. It’s an old memory, not something I think too much about. Why not use it?
Blaise slips his arms around me and tugs me until I’m leaning back against his chest. I smirk at Avery and say, “Sure. We even have volunteers to be our victims.”
Blaise cackles, squeezing me a little, and Harley swoops down to kiss my cheek, murmuring quietly, “I’ll be your victim any day, babe.”
I smirk at them all and pull away from Blaise, ready to get this show on the road.
Ash stands with Avery, intent on learning everything I’m teaching her as well.
It’s a well-calculated move from him; they all need to know how to read a situation, and no one is better at it than Avery or me.
If they’re going up against the Jackal with me, they need to learn when to fight and when to manipulate.
I point at Blaise. “Do you want to be a loud idiotic beefcake or a silent, calculating sociopath?”
Harley cuts in before I finish the sentence. “He’s an idiot. Where are we standing?”
Blaise scoffs but nods along. “If anyone is the beefcake it’s you, dickhead, you’re going to fucking sink next time you get in the pool. Lay off the weights when you’re frustrated at being stuck with the cougar, man, maybe have a wank instead.”
He continues, but I zone out their bickering easier than I breathe air, so I just direct them into their places and then I stand between the twins. Avery cools the arguing off with a single look and I’m a little jealous of her superpowers.
“Right, Blaise is Geordie. He’s made it to the last three by sheer size so far. He’s easily four times bigger than me, he sees me as a nothing job. He doesn’t pay any attention to me at all.”
Avery nods and tilts her head. “He’s focused on the other male contender.”
“Exactly. Harley is playing the part of Xavier. The best way to describe him is to say he was a sober Joey. All of the psychosis, none of the manic.”
Avery shudders, and I squeeze her hand. “Just watch and listen this time. Right, Geordie lunges at Xavier. What’s the plan, Aves? Ash?”
Ash waves a hand. “Let them fight. Then you only have one to take out, and hopefully whoever is left is injured.”
I nod, oddly impressed that he’s thinking it through. I shouldn’t be; he’s always been the level-headed one. Except for the months he insisted I was evil; then he was an emotional asshole.
Avery frowns. “You can’t just watch them though; if Geordie lands even a single hit on Lips, she could be out. You’d have to be watching for an opening to take him out.”
Harley crosses his arms, watching me just a little too closely. “Xavier is the real danger. Joey sees fucking everything, even as high as he is. He picks up on all the little shit that you guys do. If you’re standing there watching, he’d be trying to find a way to throw Geordie at you.”
Avery shrugs. “What did you do, Lips?”
I step up and slip the fake knife we practice with out of my pocket. Harley gets Blaise in a headlock at my directions and I stand behind him.
“I danced around them, never letting them get too close to me intentionally. I knew I had to wait for Xavier to be dealing the killing blow to Geordie. This was before my leg was destroyed, and I was faster than any of them. Eventually, Xavier got impatient and stabbed Geordie, waiting long enough for blood loss to weaken him and then went about strangling him.”
I press the knife into Harley’s Achilles tendon and push him to kneel, dragging Blaise down with him, grunting in protest, but being a good sport overall. Fuck. I didn’t think this one through at all.
I shoot Avery a look and she raises an eyebrow at me. “Remember you asked me to show you. This was your doing.”
She frowns at me, and Ash crosses his arms. “Well, hurry up then.”
Ugh. I lean forward and whisper in Harley’s ear, “Please don’t be a dick about it, Avery will murder us both.”
And that is the only warning I give him before putting him into a chokehold and using my free arms to grab a fistful of Blaise’s hair to hold him still while I ‘stab’ him through the eye and ‘kill’ him. How did I have free arms to do this while strangling Harley, you may ask?
My thighs.
My thighs are wrapped around Harley’s neck, ankles locked and squeezing just enough that he knows how fucked he really would be if I wanted to take him out.
“Holy fucking shit, Star!” Blaise sputters as he watches Harley very slowly, and I hope peacefully, grow weak from lack of oxygen. I let him go before he actually passes out, and Ash gapes at me.
“Then once he’s out I find a rock and smash his skull in. There was a crowd watching and I didn’t want anyone watching thinking I was afraid to get my hands dirty. Half of the power of the Twelve is the rumors that precede us and as a starving teenage girl, I couldn’t risk looking weak.”
There’s a sort of reverent, stunned silence for a second.
“Okay, teach me how to do that. Now, Mounty, I need to be able to do that. You looked like an assassin seductress, I’m in.” Avery gushes, her eyes lit up like I’ve just handed her a box of blood diamonds.
“Fucking Christ, we’re going to have two of them bloodthirsty and trained,” Harley croaks, and I lean down to kiss him sweetly in apology. He smirks into the kiss, fisting my hair in one hand and cupping my jaw in the other.
“I can think of worse ways of dying, babe. Your legs wrapped around my neck might just be my preferred way to go.”
Avery snaps at us both and I pull away, ready to torture my boyfriends for a few hours while I arm Avery with enough knowledge to be a danger to society.
Well, more of a danger than she already is.