with the hands ofa sinner.”
—Oliver Masters
Ollie.
HALF THE DAY WENT by smooth. I kept my mouth closed, ears opened, determination rolling, and operation“get Mia out”in full focus. Once she returned without a dent in her record, I’d move on to phase two: find the bloody prankster, as Mia liked to call him. Prankster seemed juvenile for the shit he’d put her through.
Scott and I had come to an understanding. He’d have my back, but once the job was complete, I never wanted to see or hear about him and Mia together again.
I’d never been the jealous type, utterly confident in what Mia and I shared, but that still didn’t mean I liked seeing or hearing about it. I’d never keep Mia from someone she loved or grew close to. Finding someone who accepts and understands you entirely was rare, and forcing the ones you love, to sever those kinds of relationships, only hurt your own.
If I were honest with myself, she never belonged to me. She belonged to this world, and the only way to truly love her was to love her unselfishly. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have loved her at all.
Jude walked through the door during lunch, and I tilted my focus to Scott who stood off by the entrance of the mess hall. Scott offered a faint nod, and I rose from my chair, abandoning my uneaten tray.
Before Jude reached the lunch line, I made it across the room and wrapped my hand around the back of his neck, steering him away. “Outside,” I ordered. Jude tried to pull his head from my grasp, and my grip tightened, forcing his weak arse forward. “No one’s going to help you.”
Jude wordlessly nodded and walked ahead of me. I looked back at Scott, who glanced at his wristwatch. Five-or-so minutes was all I had to get this bloke to talk.
On our way out, Bria and the new girl, who I kept forgetting the name of, stopped in front of us.
“Go on, eat. I’ll be there in a minute,” Jude immediately said to the girls.
They both looked over at me then back at Jude. “We don’t eat without you,” Bria whined, and I craned my head in Jude’s direction, looking for an explanation on what she meant by that.
“You are today,” he said through an exhale and annoyance in his tone. “You can eat one fucking meal without me.”
Bria rolled her eyes as the blonde studied me, and finally, they both stepped to the side Jude and I pushed through the double doors to outside, unattended.
“The fuck is this about, mate?” Jude asked, pulling a cigarette and lighter from his pocket as soon as our feet touched grass. He had the nerve to bring it to his mouth and light it as if my presence was a waste of his time. I ripped the cigarette from his mouth, split it in half, and shoved him against the side of the building. Jude’s eyes went wide, and he tried to push me back but failed. “You got a problem, just say so! You can have Bria, she’s a loose cannon, anyway.”
“Bria? I’m here about Mia, remember Mia?”
A smirk crossed his face. “Ah, Mia, yeah?” And before another thought could cross his mind, I wiped that smirk off his face with my fist to his jaw. Jude’s neck twisted before his body did, but I grabbed his shirt and slammed him back against the wall.
“Does this look like a bloody game to you? I’m in no mood for rubbish, you piece of shit. Start talking.”
“You got it bad for her I see,” he pushed me off him and held up a hand, “I haven’t touched the girl. Well … no … I take that back. Perhaps I touched her,”—he brought his thumb and pointer finger in the air, hardly touching them together— “but only a little.”
In a hot flash, rage erupted, and my angry fist punched his gut, knocking the air from his lungs. Jude keeled over with a hand over his stomach.
Violence wasn’t usually my first attempt at conversation, but this bloke had tested my patience, and I had none left. “You told detail where to find a key,” I clenched his shirt in my fist and pulled him upright, “How’d you know about a key?”
Jude looked past me and sucked in a defeated breath. “A note, alright?”
“A note?”
He pushed his hand into the pocket of the black jeans painted on him and pulled out a folded piece of paper before shoving it into my chest. “A bloody note.”
“Where did you get this from?” I asked as I opened it, and my eyes swiftly skimmed over the tattered paper. The letter was simple:Tell Lynch the key is in Mia’s dorm or everyone will know. “Know what? What are you hiding?” I narrowed my eyes.
“I found it in my dorm,” he dabbed his hand over his mouth, blood dripping over his already swelling lip. “That’s all you need to know.”
“Not good enough,” I stepped closer, securing him still with a warning glare.
He jerked his head to the side, whipping his black hair off his shoulder. “It doesn’t concern you.”
“If it concerns Mia, it concerns me. You weaseled your way into this mess over some threat youwilltell me about.”
