“I’ve seen you around,” he nods politely. Looking back to Lucca, he offers a small smile. “Good luck with the challenge.”
“Yeah,” Lucca groans. “On the bright side, once I’m dead you can use me to fertilize the gardens.” His brow rises. “Though it’s possible that I’m not the first body you’ve used, eh, Larry?”
The old man is startled into laughing and for a moment, I can see what he looked like when he was at his peak: strong, proud. “Ican’t imagine what you’re talking about. Now off with you, I have work to do.”
“Nice to meet you,” I wave as we walk off and Larry goes back to his pruning. “How do you know him?” I ask, “I’ve never seen him speak to anyone before.”
“Remember my freshman year?” Lucca says, “Always in trouble? I spent a lot of time in the greenhouses as my disciplinary action.”
“Much better than the Dean using her power tools on you,” I shudder.
“Gesù Cristo,Jesus Christ!” Lucca automatically makes the sign of the cross, “Don’t even say that shit out loud.”
He changes direction as we enter the student housing building, though it’s far too ornate for something as mundane-sounding as “student housing.”
“We may as well talk this through now,” he says, “let’s go see the girls.”
Remembering my mother’s warning a few days ago about offering the olive branch first, I force a smile and nod.
Tatiana opens the door so fast that it’s clear they’ve been waiting for us. “So, what did that sadist Fukumoto come up with this time?”
Mariya is sitting on the couch, and she sets aside her extremely illegal laptop, rising to join us. Electronic devices - phones, laptops, hell, Apple watches - anything that can access the internet or reach the outside world is forbidden at the Academy. Not that it stops us.
“You two don’t look good,” she proclaims. “Usually, you’re both excited and ready to go. What did he tease you with? A ritual disembowelment?”
“Not specifically,” I said, smiling at her. It feels stiff and artificial, and given her startled expression, looks as weak as it feels.
“It doesn’t sound great,” Lucca adds gloomily. “Usually, Professor Fukumoto will hint at needing team members with strength, or something about strategy.”
“Today, he talked a lot about life-threatening situations and needing team members who can handle a lot of stress,” I said. “We want to keep you two out of this challenge.”
“But you can’t,” Mariya - of course - interrupts me. “If you two don’t pick us, one of the other Leaders likely will. He may be just trying to scare the hell out of you, but whether he is or not, the odds are good that we’re in this challenge.”
“Telling us that you want us to sit this one out is ridiculous,” adds Tatiana. “Seriously?” Her voice deepens, “Oh little ladies, we don’t want your precious widdle selves to get a boo-boo.”
“I don’t sound like that,” snaps Lucca.
He does.
But he still remembers to do me a solid. “Mariya, will you be on my team?”
Her brows draw together a bit but she nods. “Of course.”
“Tati, will you do me the honor?” I bow to make this less awkward.
“Yeah, okay,” she laughs.
“Good,” Lucca rubs his face, “we know this is going to be dangerous as fuck and we need people who can keep a cool head. Suggestions?”
I can tell we’ve made up for being overprotective by Lucca asking their opinions for the rest of the teams. Damn it. He’s so much better at handling these awkward moments than I am.
Lucca and Tatiana eventually decide to disappear into her bedroom and it’s just Mariya and me. She’s moving around the table, picking up the rubble left from the snacks we all cobbled together for dinner during our planning session.
She’s beautiful, dangerously so. Especially now that I know the thin skin of her inner thighs is so silky that I want to pin her down and stroke between her legs with my tongue. I know the sound she makes when she’s coming, a cross between a moan and a rapturous little sigh that gets me hard just thinking about it. The gentle light from the lamps switched on against the early sunset makes her pale skin glow.
Then she looks up at me, and her frosty blue eyes narrow.
“What are you looking at?”
