I shift my gaze from boy-next-door Matthew to the men who have captured everyone’s attention.Holy shit. I narrow my eyes on the taller, more muscular, and older one. And by older, I mean Caleb Taylor, who has a whole two years on his younger brother, Jacob.
Also, they’re not your average men.
They’re Unholy and now known respectively as Havoc and Discord.
And by respectively, I mean Havoc can kiss my ass since he was there the day Luke cheated on me.
Nope, that’s wrong. Havoc wasn’t merelythere. He was my best friend, and he betrayed me by playing an active part in my humiliation. But I’m not holding a grudge against him. Not when I’m too busy holding one against his shitfuck of a friend. It’s best to keep my energy focused. Besides, with the way Kerri’s eyeballs are practically popping out of their sockets, I think the perfect flame to light her fuse just presented himself.
“Wait here.” I slide out of the booth, with Kerri hissing my name and whisper-yelling at me to come back. “Havoc,” I shout as I dash over to them…
…because you respect the Unholy’s identities, even if you grew up with them and know them by their birth names. Excluding Luke when in the privacy of my mind because I don’t like him.
I may not have seen Havoc since high school graduation, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t make it my business to stay aware of what went on in Mayhem. Of course, I knew the exact day each one of my childhood friends became Unholy.
Havoc pivots, palming a nasty karambit, the weapon materializing as if from the air. The sneaky bastard. I have one of those claw-like blades myself. Mine is decorative because they’re cool as hell. The one he’s wielding looks like it can cut me from neck to groin in a single slash. Everything about him is primed for battle. For half a second, I almost skid to a stop and retreat to the table. But this is Havoc. At the heart of him, he’s still the same person I grew up with…just scarier.
And when did he get this gorgeous? I mean, he was always handsome, but wow, he aged well.
Being up here in mountain country, we grow our men big. Still… The material of his charcoal T-shirt hugs a torso that entices a woman to want to see if the tattoos covering his arms extend to the flesh across his muscular chest. It’s a given that he has the word Unholy inked across his pecs. Even without seeing his bare chest, I know it runs below his collarbone, shoulder to shoulder. They all have the same tattoo. It marks them as members of the gang—that, and Mayhem Forever somewhere on their body.
I’m sure to most women, looking for it is like a living, breathing Mayhem version of Where’s Waldo.
And Havoc’s eyes. How dare they be such a deep shade of brown. Decadent chocolate. Coupled with chiseled bone structure and disheveled dark blonde hair, he makes for one hell of a pretty package. To me, though, he’ll always be the destroyed teenager who hid beneath hoodies, even in the height of summer. As an adult, he’s a larger and more lethal version of the boy who used to be the person I trusted most in the world.
“I know you?”
This jerkoff.
I plant a hand on my hip and smirk up at him. “Seriously?”
In his defense, when I visited Mayhem, I didn’t reach out to him. But I haven’t changed in appearance, and he’s being a deliberate asshole.
Havoc lifts a brow, arrogance oozing from every pore of his suntanned skin. He’s overkill for Kerri, but sometimes a woman needs a rough ride to knock the memories of lousy sex out of her brain. “Princess climbed down from the tower for the day?”
I snort-laugh at his sarcasm. “How about you go fuck yourself and welcome me home proper?”
“Oh, damn.” Discord slips an arm around my shoulders and pulls me against him. He’s matured too since the last time I saw him. He may be shorter and thinner than Havoc, but he’s at least a foot taller than me. Everything about him puts me on edge. “It’s about time you came home.”
“No, it’s not,” Havoc snaps.
“Don’t be rude.” Discord drops his arm and takes a step back, his expression slightly bemused. “TheFaith Decker. Imagine that.”
I shrug, more self-conscious than I have ever been in my entire life. “I’m famous, huh?”
“Infamous,” Discord corrects. He rakes me with his gaze and it’s like an electric current moves through me. I swear to God, my vagina taps me on the shoulder to remind me I haven’t had sex in almost a year. The kid has got good game. “You’re different from what I remember.”
“It’s been seven years, dude. I would hope I’ve changed.” I look him over with a critical eye. “But you… You’re a whole man now.”
When we were kids, Discord would follow us around. He was a quiet kid. Always dirty and covered in bruises. Afraid of his own shadow. He’s come a long way since those days. Of course, I know why he was that way, but still… There is nothing left of that little boy in the man he is now.
“Hell yeah, I am. Too bad I can’t have you.” His full lips curl into a lazy pout. “Jester is going to freak when he finds out you’re here.”
“He knows, and he didn’t freak. But we did come to a mutual agreement to stay out of each other’s way.” I turn back to Havoc and extend my arms. “So, where’s my hug, you big asshole?”
Havoc pulls a face but wraps those heavy arms around me. The people behind us don’t dare complain that we’re holding up the line. “When are you going back to the golden kingdom?”
No one hates the world outside of Mayhem more than Havoc.
