“Not really,” I say, irritated when he follows me down the path up toward the academy.
“Well, I’m going to give it to you, anyway. If you want her, then stop being a jerk.”
I glare at Rizzo. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
He smirks, and I have to claw myself back from punching it from his smug face. “It’s classic bully tactics. You like Natalya. That’s why you get such a kick out of tormenting her. It gives you power over her, but it’s not the best way to win her heart.” He winks at me and then marches on ahead. “Just think about it.”
Motherfucker.
If it wasn’t bad enough having Eva tell me that I have feelings for Natalya, now this son of a bitch is also suggesting I like her.
Do I like Natalya?
I rub a hand across the back of my neck as I walk slowly up the path toward the boy’s dormitories, which are separate from the main building.
The idea is foreign and yet I can’t deny that the hatred I’d felt toward her has been slowly morphing and changing.
Over the years, it turned into something sinister. I wince as I remember when I took things too far in tenth grade and stabbed her in the leg.
My anger over my mother’s death and the way my father beat her was taken out on her, because she was the only outlet I had.
The Gurin Bratva was in my eyes the reason I was here, but it turns out I was very wrong.
Now, I don’t know how I feel about any of it.
Guilty, perhaps. As even if the Gurin Bratva had been the reason for my mother’s death, Natalya has always been an innocent in all of it.
And my attraction to her has been apparent for a number of years. At first it disgusted me, but now I’m starting to realize that perhaps both Rizzo and Eva are right.
I want Natalya in the most primal way and that is dangerous. Feelings can’t come into this. Not if I’m going to break her the way I always wanted to, but suddenly the prospect is less desirable than it’s ever been.
“Elias!” Nik calls my name, jogging toward me. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
I shrug. “Sorry, had some business to deal with.”
He shakes his head. “Rosa just broke up with me.”
I raise a brow. “She broke up with you?” I ask, finding it hard to believe.
Rosa doesn’t have a backbone, so it is hard to imagine her standing up to Nik.
He nods. “Yeah, we weren’t having a fight or anything. She just turned around and told me it’s over.”
“About time,” I say.
His brow furrows. “What?”
“You’ve always been a fucking asshole to her, Nik. What did you expect?”
His jaw clenches and he looks like he wants to tear my head off. “I expect her to do as she’s told and shut the fuck up.”
I laugh. “Russians. You guys just don’t know how to treat a woman.”
“And you do?” Nik asks, looking skeptical.
“If I want a girl, I know how to treat her, yeah.” It’s a lie, because it’s becoming clear to me that despite my denial, I want Natalya. And I definitely haven’t treated her right.
“Whatever. You coming to dinner?”