She dashes off, leaving me with Lothario. My hands ball into fists.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I hiss at Tiberius.
“None of your business,” he smirks, cracking his knuckles.
“It’s very much my business,Mr. Garcia. She’s not going to this documentary alone. You asked my history teacher on adate.”
“It’s a free country.”
“Stay away from her,” I hiss.
“She’s a grown woman. A very sexy grown woman. Why do you care so much what she does?”
“Because she doesn’t want to date a mobster.”Because she’s the sweetest fucking person I’ve ever met and I don’t want her to become part of our world of blood and brutality any more than she already is.
“How does she know until she’s tried?”
“Trust me, she doesn’t. She’s already in deep with Nero. She owes him money for something her ex did, and he intends to collect by Christmas. So the last thing she needs is to be seen around town with you on her arm.”
A flicker of unease tugs at the corner of Tiberius’ eye. “I won’t let that bastard lay a finger on her.”
I sigh. “Uh-huh. How very chivalrous of you. All I’m asking is you not make my life any more complicated than it already is and keep your dick in your pants. Can you do that?”
He smirks as he walks away. “I promise nothing.”
Great. Just wonderful.
* * *
Noah and Elihave a student council meeting at lunch, so George, Gabriel and I load up on shit food from the vending machines and eat outside on the bleachers. It’s freezing out, but Gabriel pulls us both into his arms and it’s so nice I don’t even notice I can’t feel my nose. He lights up a joint, and we pass it between us in contented silence.
Well, ‘contented’ might be too strong a word. I scan the faces of every student wandering around the fields. Every movement out of the corner of my eye makes me jump and the wound in my stomach ache. Mackenzie Malloy is out there. She could be around any corner, just waiting to put a bullet between my eyes or ruin my life in some other way.
And we were going to stop her by… flying to Germany in a couple of days. It seems ridiculous.
“Do you think you have time to look into someone else for me?” I ask George.
“Who?” She has that wide-eyed look – the one that makes her appear completely innocent but is really just George bursting with macabre curiosity.
“Ms. Drysdale.”
I fill her in on what I overheard about Ms. Drysdale’s debt to Nero. George’s eyes widen even further, and she immediately starts tapping away on her phone.
“Hey, you don’t have to work on it right this second. There’s your lover boy. Hey, Isaac!” I wave at him. Isaac turns to me, swiping his shoulder-length dark hair from his eyes. His face flashes with recognition and he turns away, grabbing his backpack from between the bleachers and jogging back toward the school.
George gazes intently at her phone as if it holds the secrets to the universe. I snatch it from her hands and give her my patented Mackenzie Malloy death glare. “What’s going on between you two?”
George examines her fingernails. “We’re not together anymore.”
“Bollocks.” Gabriel hands her the joint. “You two are perfect for each other. What happened?”
George stares at her shoes. The silence stretches between us. Gabriel shoots me a pointed look. I know this is a level three friendship crisis right here and I’m blowing it, but I’ve never had a girlfriend who’s had her heart broken before. I don’t know what to do.
I dangle George’s phone over the edge of the bleachers. “Tell me what that bastard did to you, or your phone gets it.”
“Please, no.” George grabs for it, but I hold it out of reach. Tears pool in the corners of her eyes. “You’re more like Mackenzie than you give yourself credit for.”
“I learned from the best. Now, spill.”
