"You're disgusting," I hiss, wiping furiously at the spit with my sleeve. "Don't touch me again, you pig!"
Mateo's unhinged entitlement is extremely creepy. A lot of the guys here probably are like that, but at least they hide it better. His friends are crowding closer, trying to herd me away from the others and it's seamless enough to make me think they've done this before. The music's so loud that I'm not sure anyone will hear me if I start yelling.
A new set of hands pulls me away from Mateo's little circle of predators and against a hard chest. "Give it the fuck up, Costa. She's with me."
It's Lucca, and I sag with relief.
"This is the second time you've come between me and my meat, asshole," Mateo's fists are clenched, though I can tell he's hesitating to come closer, even with his buddies behind him.
"Meat?" I snarl, "Who the hell-"
Lucca moves me behind him so smoothly that I don't realize it until I'm staring at his broad back. "She's not meat, and she's not yours, motherfucker," he said viciously, "if you touch her again, I will beat you into a pulp of broken bones and blood. Are we clear?"
"You're making a big mistake, Toscano." Mateo's grinning, and it's unnatural, showing all his teeth, his skin is stretched tight over his features.
Like a skull,I thought, shuddering.
Dragging me along like I'm luggage, Lucca stalks out of the lighthouse.
Chapter Nine
In which Mariya and Konstantin fight. Tatiana and Lucca do not. Fight, anyway…
Eve 6 - Here's to the Night
Tatiana…
"Wait- Lucca, just-" He's hauling me along the exterior stone wall of the school grounds and I'm tripping over tree branches and rocks. Stubbing my toe, I yelp and dig in my heels. "Stop! What the hell was that?" I almost pitch backward when he abruptly lets go of my wrist.
"Goddamnit! How many times do I have to rescue you?" He's shouting in my face and I really want to punch him in the dick again.
"I didn't ask you to rescue me," I scoffed, "I don't need you-"
"Apparently, you do." Lucca cuts me off, amber eyes blazing, "because every time I turn around, fucking Mateo is all over you! Do you want to get hurt? Is that it?"
"He keeps popping up like a fungus everywhere I go!" I protested, "Believe me, I don't want anything to do with him." Remembering his disgusting tongue on my neck, I shudder and wipe at the spot again.
"He's been following you?"
"If I'm walking alone, he always seems to show up with his little douchebag entourage," I admit, "I try to stay with a group between classes. He's just a creep. He'll get tired of his game and go harass some other poor soul soon."
This just seems to make him angrier. "Has that fucker hurt you? Is that where you got that black eye?"
Laughing, I shake my head. "No, that's from a rifle scope, I wasn't prepared for the recoil, that's all. He hasn't touched me." I try not to shudder again but I do, remembering his slimy mouth. "Not until tonight."
"Mateo is a psychotic asshole from the nastiest family in the Cosa Nostra," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "No one wants to do business with the Costa Mafia because they're backstabbing pieces of shit, and their main source of income is the Red Trade. He despises women, especially the ones who reject him."
The Red Trade. Human trafficking, women, and children. Specifically for sex work. Even in the world of organized crime, any mafia, bratva, or cartel who traffic these poor souls are the lowest of the low.
"Well, just in case I needed another reason to hate him, that would do it," I said. The autumn wind picks up, rushing around us and sending another scatter of leaves flying from the last few clinging to the trees. Shivering, I pull my sweater down to cover my hands.
"Here," Lucca says crossly, pulling off his leather jacket, "put this on."
“I'm fine.” He ignores me, sliding it over my shoulders. I love this jacket, made from battered brown leather, the best kind that only looks better as it ages. He helps me slide my arms into the sleeves.
"Do you want to go back in?"
Honestly? No. I want to keep walking with Lucca. I want him to talk to me about something other than combat techniques. I miss the night I broke down in front of him because at least for that moment, he was open. When he was emotionally raw, like I was, and he shared part of himself with me.
