“You zip it.” He holds up a hand that will be fucking broken in about a second, along with his ribs because he’s shirtless again.
Gareth remains at the door, watching the scene intently while his unhinged cousin circles us with the aura of a lion. “What do we have here? I placed a bet and called the guards liars when they said you brought a girl—who isn’t your sister—over. Looks like I lost a few bills, but this shit is worth it. I say, why her, Jer? You said she was dull and more boring than a nun.”
This motherfucker.
Cecily’s face goes red, a different shade from the color that covered her cheeks when these two came in. That one was embarrassment mixed with discomfort. This one is anger.
And yes, I did say she was dull and fucking boring, but only to deflect Gareth’s and especially Nikolai’s interest from her. This asshole likes to fuck around a lot, and Cecily was simply not going to find a way onto his list.
That incident happened long before I chased her in the woods and metaphorically staked a claim on her.
“You were duped, Niko,” Gareth says with a knowing smile. “You can be really slow sometimes.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He glares back at his cousin, who’s still nonchalantly studying the scene, probably sensing that I’m approaching the point of an explosion the more Nikolai keeps talking, or even existing, near her.
Not getting a reply, my friend, who’ll soon lose those friendship privileges, slides closer to Cecily. “Your name is Cecilia, right?”
The red has slowly disappeared from her face, but she’s turned cold both in expression and voice. “Cecily.”
“Tomayto, tomahto.” He stares at her funnily. “You’re close with lotus flower, aren’t you? You have this whole shared love of unicorns, cakes, and saving animals.”
“Lotus what?”
“Brandon,” he says as if the correlation is a given.
It’s subtle, but I notice the exact moment Cecily’s body goes rigid and the way her expression changes from discomfort to mama bear mode.
Nikolai has always given a bad impression.Always.Not only is he violence on steroids, but he’s so deranged that he gets a bad rep wherever he goes. Cecily, like everyone else on the island, has heard of his brutish, merciless methods and his knack for beating up people for sport.
Generally, no one aside from us feels comfortable in his company, which is the reason for her unease ever since he barged in.
However, the moment he brought up her friend, fucker Landon’s twin brother, she slid seamlessly from fear to protectiveness. This girl isn’t afraid when it comes to her life, and she’d do anything for those she considers family.
“What about him?” she asks with a tinge of stiffness.
Nikolai is oblivious to the change in her, because he grins. “We can exchange information. I’ll give you shit on Jeremy and you do the same about lotus flower.”
She pauses, her gaze sliding to me with a full-blown glare as if she’s seriously contemplating the option, but then she shakes her head. “I have nothing to tell you about Bran.”
Nikolai stands in front of her and tilts his head to the side, as if meaning to stare into her soul and peel off the information he needs. “Not even a tiny bit? Think again, because I have all the deets about the girls Jeremy’s dated.”
I fling him back by his nape and throw him against his cousin. “Take him and leave.”
“Why?” Gareth pushes him back inside. “This is getting fun.”
I’m about to grab Nikolai again, but he slips away last second. “Stop throwing me as if I’m a ball, motherfuckers.”
“We have no time for you. Fuck off.”
“Actually.” Cecily steps forward and stands beside me. “We do. Didn’t you bring me here to meet your friends?”
No, I fucking didn’t.
In fact, I kept her away from this place so she wouldn’t see these assholes.
“What she said.” Gareth smiles at her. “We’re having dinner in a bit. Will you join?”
“No,” I say.