What is his point?
I looked at the other side of the room and saw my other secret admirer, who watched with amusement as he sipped wine.
Two can play this silly game.
I grabbed a bowl of cherries from the table and walked off to the other side of the room.
“Is this seat taken?” I asked Luka sweetly.
“That depends. Do you have anything sharp on you?” He looked me up and down before he focused on my bowl of fruit, a curious look on his face as his eyes returned to mine.
“I will take that as a no.” I hummed, sitting across his lap.
Luka looked down at me before glancing over at Silas across the room. “What do you want?”
“Let’s not pretend that you care about the answer to that question as long as you get something in return.” I plucked a cherry off its stem with my teeth. They had a rich sweetness and didn’t have any pits, making them even more enjoyable.
“You caught me there.” He laughed. “You’re quite the exhibitionist, then?”
“Would that put you off?” I held another cherry at the front of my mouth.
“Quite the opposite.” He leaned close and grasped the cherry between my lips with his teeth, snaking a forked tongue in before closing the distance and rolling the small red fruit between our tongues.
I could feel the burning stare of a particular set of blue eyes from across the room. Silas was not the most subtle. He had no one else to blame. He started this.
If I could get these two at each other’s throats, it would be killing two birds with one stone, and I would be free of them both. I just needed to endure it a little longer.
Luka let out a low chuckle as he stole the cherry from me, pulling away to chew and glance at Silas. He gave an amused laugh when he saw his face. “You were right. It is more fun when you have a voyeur.”
“I am not wrong about many things,” I whispered.
“Don’t get cocky,” he warned, looking back down at me. “You’re already poking two bears at once.”
“Well, what fun is being a captive when you can’t play with the keepers?” I asked innocently.
“The difference is that one of us could reduce you to only ribbons of flesh on the floor. Imagine whattwowill do,” he retorted. His eyes narrowed dangerously at me, but he kept a handsome grin on his face.
I ignored him, putting another cherry in my mouth and scanning the room. Silas was gone. I slipped off Luka’s lap, plucking the wineglass from his hands to drink from it.
“I don’t respond well to threats,” I mumbled. “When you hear a rattle, you don’t walk farther into the brush.”
Luckily for me, I spotted Phoebe, her back turned to me as she stood by a small cocktail bar.
“Phoebe!” I whispered as I approached her, turning her around by her shoulder.
She flinched, and my eyes widened.
There were red marks around her neck, as well as some other bruising that disappeared under the hem of her pink dress.
“He knows,” Phoebe choked out, her eyes red. “He found the other samples.” She was trying her best to hold back a sob.
“Shh.” I hugged her, resting her head against my chest. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luka approaching. I quickly turned my face down to her.
While my face was covered, I pulled the small vial that she gave me earlier from my sleeve, placing it in my mouth.
“How touching is this?”
I craned my neck to see Luka standing over us.
