Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
Our midterm exams consume every waking moment for the next two weeks.
It’s a blessing really because no one has the chance to panic or argue about the Jackal’s impromptu visit, and Avery is so consumed by her studies that she trusts Atticus to put protective measures in place for our meeting with Senior, despite her rage at his deception.
Harley and Ash become so competitive that I ban them from talking about classwork around me. I can’t cope with the snarking and arguing at all, especially not with Blaise looking green the second they start quoting random lines from our literature readings to outdo each other.
I just need to get him through the exams.
He’s ready. I know he is. We’ve worked too goddamn hard this year, around all the fucking bullshit trying to kill us all, for him not to pass his exams now.
Avery refuses to let any of the guys stay in our room for the week, claiming they’re a distraction for me and bad for my sleep, and I don’t have the heart to tell her I sleep better when I know they’re all around me.
I’m plagued by constant dreams of the Jackal, and what would have happened if I hadn’t snuck off by myself.
On the last day of exams, I am the first to finish our history exam and I spend ten minutes rereading my answers even though I know they’re perfect. The teacher, still the substitute, takes a call and then gestures me to the front of the room. Ash glares as his eyes follow me, and I shrug at him.
“You’ve been called to the principal’s office, Miss Anderson. If you’re finished, you need to head there now.”
What the actual fuck? Mr. Trevelen must be losing his damn mind.
I collect my bag from the front of the class, away from where we could sneaky looks at our notes and make my way to the office.
Something is up.
I slip my knife into my blazer pocket in case it’s Joey or Senior, and I prepare my defense in my head if it’s some skank running her mouth about me and the guys again to get me kicked out.
I mean, Annabelle is taken care of and the cougar was fired, so I should be finished with that bullshit, but Hannaford knows how to test my very will to fucking live sometimes.
I’m rehearsing the exact way I’ll tell Mr. Trevelen to fuck off as I arrive at the office. The receptionist is missing and I frown, weaving my way through the partitions until I get to the principal’s office, the door open for me.
I walk in only to find a gun aimed at my chest.
Ms. Vivienne looks fucking deranged as she holds the piece in her shaking hands.
I stare at her, unblinking and unafraid.
Well, I’m a little worried she’s taken the safety off and she’s going to shoot me by accident with all of the trembling she has going on, but one look into those big doe eyes of hers tells me she has no real spine for murder.
“You just couldn’t let him go, could you?” she hisses, and I struggle to keep myself from rolling my eyes. Really, bitch? Seriously?!
“You’re going to go to prison for killing me just so you have a chance at climbing on Harley’s dick? I mean, he’s good but is any dick really worth that?” I say calmly. I’m waiting for the perfect opening to break the slut’s arm. There, I said it; she’s a dumb slut and I’m a hypocrite. Sue me.
“Like I give a fuck about that mobster’s dick. I don’t want to fuck him. I want him fucking dead. I want to deliver you to my love so we can be happy together finally. He can’t focus now you’ve betrayed him. He’s fucking gutted you’ve left the fold.”
She continues rambling, on and fucking on, and it takes me a second to process her words.
The Jackal.
The stupid slut was sent here to kill Harley by the fucking Jackal.
I snap. My patience and her fucking arm. She screams so loudly the whole school will have heard it during the exams and fuck it if I care.
I hope Avery can clean it up for me. When I have her on the ground, her unbroken arm pinned behind her back with my knee and her own gun pressed against her skull, I lean down to question her.
“Are you so stupid that you believe Matteo’s lies? What did he tell you, that I’m a defector? That I belong to him?”
She sobs and whimpers, not planning on answering, so I grab a fistful of her hair, slamming her face into the carpet before yanking her head back until her neck bows beautifully. “Answer me. I’m not a patient person.”
“He loves me. He just needs you out of the way so we can be together. He found me; he saved me from my husband. Why wouldn’t I help him catch you after what you’ve done?”
I shake my head and fish out my phone. I hesitate for a second and then text the group number. I have to trust them this time and contact them before I call Illi.
I fucking hope it’s the right thing to do.
Ash texts back immediately. On my way.
I don’t want him to see the mess I’ve made of Ms. Vivienne, I don’t want to risk it triggering some deep dark memory, but I have no way of cleaning her up a bit.
Fuck it.
When the door eases open and Ash steps through, barely three minutes later so he must’ve fucking run here, the look on his face when he sees the gun is bad.
“That’s not yours, is it?” he snaps, and I shake my head.
“I’ve just been chatting with the lovely cougar. It turns out we have a mutual friend. Would you like to tell Ash who it is you love so much that you were trying to kill Harley for him?”
She laughs, spitting blood on the floor from where I’ve broken her nose. “He’d be fucking dead if you hadn’t sent the Butcher in. That dirty roofie would’ve done the job perfectly.”
I freeze, and Ash’s eyes flare.
“You gave Annabelle the roofie?” I ask, my hand steady as I press the gun into the base of her neck.
The slut chokes on her own blood a little more as she gurgles out, “I drove her down to the Bay myself. We had struck up a lovely friendship before you ran her off. Now I have to answer to her parents, they blame me for not knowing where the fuck she went.”
The door slips open again and my other two guys walk in. Blaise frowns at me for a second and then leans back against the door like he’s holding it shut. I doubt anyone will disturb us if the scream hadn’t sent them running, but I guess I should’ve locked it by now.
Harley pulls up a chair and then helps me off of Ms. Vivienne, before peeling her off of the floor and dropping her into it. I can’t look at him right now because all I’ll see is the thick tube down his throat and black circles under his eyes that had been permanent while he was in the hospital.
Ms. Vivienne is going to die.
She’s going to die bloody.
“How about we call your little friend, hmm? How about we ring him and see if he wants to collect you?” I say, handing Harley the gun and directing the guys until Ash is guarding the door, Blaise is covering the cougar’s mouth, and Harley’s finger is steady on the trigger.
I lean forward until I’m right in her face. “I didn’t defect from him. I’m the fucking Wolf of Mounts Bay, and that sadistic fuck sent you here against the Twelve to die for him.”
She shakes her head, sobbing behind Blaise’s hand, and I hit dial.
I hear him breathing as he answers, but he doesn’t say a word.
“Your little girlfriend is dead.”
Her eyes widen at me and she tries to shake free from Blaise, but his hand is steady. I’m glad it’s him holding her. His trust in me is so complete that he’s willing to get blood on his hands because he knows I’ll clean it up.
The Jackal’s voice is the same one he uses when he’s trying to sweet talk me.
“Like I give a fuck about some cougar pussy. I wouldn’t put someone in that building with you, little Wolf, unless they were disposable to me, and we both know every pussy I’ve ever had is disposable. Yours is the one I want to keep.”
Pathetically, tears fill her eyes. I cannot understand what these women see in Matteo. How can they look at him and not see the monster under his skin?
“I told you I’m not interested.”
“And I told you, you’re mine. I’ll kill every fucking man that touches you. You think the Butcher can keep them safe? The Crow and his fucking spies? Little girl, I was born in hell, and I fought my way to the throne. If I want you, I’ll fucking have you.”
I stare over Ms. Vivienne’s head to my guys and say, “Enjoy the throne for now. It’ll be mine before this is all over.”
I hang up to the sound of him laughing.
Ms. Vivienne is sobbing behind Blaise’s hand now, big heaving gasps like she’s heartbroken. I can’t stand the sound of it. She’s just as fucking weak as the rest of the rich skanks at this school, only she thought she could win over the Jackal.
He doesn’t have a soul to win.
My phone pings and I jerk my head for Ash to answer the door, murmuring quietly with Avery until she hands my bag over. He shuts the door and drops it at my feet. Ms. Vivienne’s eyes land on the bag and the sobs dry up in her throat.
“Let her go, Blaise. Go wait outside, all of you,” I say, and I unzip the bag slowly, enjoying the way her eyes track the movement. I’m not a sociopath but fuck it if it doesn’t feel satisfying to finally get rid of this bitch.
I dig around for the plastic sheeting, spreading it out with steady hands. It’s much easier to be patient and prepared than to be rash and attempt to clean up evidence later.
Ms. Vivienne watches while I prepare for her death and the sobbing starts up again until she’s fucking hysterical. Ash grimaces and grabs Blaise’s arm, pulling him out the door until I’m left with Harley. I sigh at him which he totally ignores.
“Do you ever listen to me? I’m not trying to hide this from you, I just don’t think you should have to watch it,” I grumble, tugging my uniform off and then slipping the plastic jumpsuit over my lacy lingerie. I’ll have to get Ash to pick me out some more.
Harley’s eyes don’t falter from where he’s watching Ms. Vivienne. One wrong move and I think he’ll break her neck. “Blaise is green and Ash has a history that makes killing women hard for him, even when they’re treacherous whores. I don’t give a fuck. She pulled a gun on you, she’s gotta go.”
I grab her by the hair and lean down until I’m at eye level with her. The tears don’t work on me, not at all. The second she told me she gave the dirty pills to Annabelle, she’d sealed her fate.
“The moment you climbed into bed with the Jackal, you killed yourself. If I delivered you back to him, he’d cut you into pieces first just to hear you scream.
I don’t get off on that shit, so I’ll kill you first even though you deserve all the pain in the fucking world for what you’ve done. You’re welcome.”
Then I get to work.