“You and me both, but what else can we do? We’ve got eyes and ears in their ranks. We have to trust it.”
“You trust Ant and Enzo?” I ask.
As far as the meeting went yesterday, it seems that everyone is fully onboard with both of them wanting the same as us when it comes to Ricardo Mariano, but I can’t help being concerned that we’ve already made enough mistakes when it comes to the Italians.
“I trust Calli and Daemon,” he says strongly. “And Ant and Enzo seem to be on our side so far. We just need to keep a close eye on it all. We’ve got tracking on all Enzo’s devices; we can literally see and hear his every move he makes. If he’s playing us, we’ll know instantly.”
“I want to trust them. I want them to give us the in we need to overthrow that cunt.”
“With or without them, Ricardo has a death wish for what he did to us. I fucking promise you that.” His hand lands on my shoulder and he squeezes in support. “You need me, you know where I am, yeah?”
“Thanks, man. Appreciate it.”
He’s gone as quickly as he appeared, leaving me alone once more.
I stare down at my knees, wondering where all of this is going to end, and when I finally look up, I discover that my presence has been noticed, because Brianna is standing at the huge window of the office she’s in, watching me.
I hate to think of what she’s seen while I’ve been here with my shoulders slumped in defeat. But it’s too fucking late to worry about it now. And she’s seen worse.
Memories of the mess I was when she came to me the other night hit me like a truck, making my anger soar once more.
Pushing to my feet, I hold her eyes as the air crackles between us.
She wants me to do what the others are begging of me and allow her to do her time here in peace.
But all I want is for her to stop seeing so fucking deep. And her being here only gives her more access to all my failures. My weaknesses. My vulnerability. And I don’t want her or any other person on this planet seeing them.
15
BIANNA
Despite spending my afternoon in a revision session with year eleven students, I’ve been unable to shake the prickling sensation that he’s still watching me.
It’s ridiculous, because I’m in a completely different building from where his last class of the day is. Yes, I may have printed myself a copy of his timetable so that I can keep tabs on him when Melissa excused herself from her office during lunch. Incidentally, it was collecting that from her printer that ensured I found him sitting out there like a fucking psycho, staring straight in at me.
Even now, as I pack up my stuff ready to head home for the day, a shudder runs down my spine.
Unable to stop myself, I glance over my shoulder, but both the doorway and the hallway beyond are deserted, all the students gone for the day.
After a few words with the teacher I was observing this afternoon, I throw my bag over my shoulder and make my way back to Melissa’s office.
She’s already told me that she’s in a meeting this evening, so I make the most of my peace and quiet and start work on lesson planning for next week.
I’m totally lost in what I’m doing by the time the door behind me opens a few hours later. I jump a fucking mile, my eyes shooting to the person marching inside, my initial thought that it’s Nico coming to torment me over his ‘stolen’ credit card situation.
“Are you okay?” Melissa asks when I stare at her with wide eyes.
“Y-yeah. I just had my head in this and you scared me.”
“Sorry.” She winces. “What are you doing?”
“Planning this year seven project for your class. I have the first couple of lessons down, I think.”
“Let’s see.” She walks over as I scroll up to the top of the document.
I watch her as she studies it, nodding at what she sees.
“It’s good, Bri. I think the students will really love working on this.”