“Hear me out, we go to round two, and I beat the shit out of Yulian again!” Nikolai punches the air, his nostrils flaring as he jumps up.
He’s still half naked, and dried blood trails from the corner of his mouth to where it splashes across his heavily tattooed torso. Nikolai is the biggest of all of us with muscles that he religiously built—like a certain someone.
Someone I don’t want to think about.
But I couldn’t exactly keep from thinking about him when Niko wouldn’t stop talking about attacking the Serpents’ mansion, pitching the idea to Killian and Gareth after telling them all about his victory.
“I’m just saying, we have the momentum.” Nikolai paces, his eyes too blown up and jittery, as if he’s on drugs. He’s not. It’s probably one of his manic episodes exploding in real time.
“You winning against Yulian is not momentum, Niko.” Jeremy types on his phone as he sits on the sofa next to me, looking too focused on whoever he’s texting.
“Of course it is. You saw me kick the shit out of him.” Niko wraps an arm around Killian’s shoulders. “I’m tellingyou, Satan’s heir, you missed out on watching me in what was possibly my best fight of the year. Don’t you feel sad?”
“Sad?” Kill raises a brow. “More like relieved. Hate to break it to you, but watching you fight isn’t exactly on my priority list.”
“You’re just jealous. Go die.” Niko shoves him away, then stalks toward Gareth, who’s lounging on a chair with a notebook in hand.
Killian and Gareth are brothers, but they couldn’t be more different. Kill has dark hair, blue eyes, and a personality that thrives on being threatening and provocative. Gareth, on the other hand, has always seemed like the prince of our group—blond, sleek hair, deep-green eyes, and a mild demeanor wrapped around sharp strategy.
At least, that’s what I believed until our Reddit conversation. Turns out, Gareth is unhinged, petty, and completely unfiltered. He’s also a total brat, especially when it comes to his professor.
It’s our secret, though. Although I doubt he knows who he’s messaging, judging by the updates he keeps sending me about Yulian as Gareth himself—mostly when he believed Yulian was messing with his beloved professor.
“My favorite nerd.” Nikolai slings an arm over Gareth’s shoulders. “Surely, you know this is our best shot at a surprise attack? We even have Vaughn today, so we’ll kick those Serpents’ asses so hard, they’ll never be able to recover.”
“It’s true that we have a good chance for a surprise. They wouldn’t suspect we’d attack them after Niko fought Yulian,” Gareth says with a little evil smile as he looks up at me. “And wedohave Vaughn tonight, so the gang is complete.”
I narrow my eyes but say nothing. Why is everyone trying to get a reaction out of me tonight?
First, it was Yulian fighting and bleeding out in that ring as if he had no self-preservation, then he jumped out and tried to touch me—in fucking public.
I don’t think he was even aware of what he was doing, the idiot. Otherwise, why would he hold me and Jeremy by our shoulders?
I instinctively had the urge to break his hand that he put on Jeremy. I made myself believe it was because I was protecting Jeremy, but who am I kidding? I just didn’t like Yulian touching him.
I simply don’t.
He needs to stop throwing his hands around on people all the time.
“Exactly.” Nikolai hugs Gareth close. “I knew you were my favorite, Gaz. You’re the only one who gets my vision.”
“It’s not going to work,” Kill says. “They’ve strengthened their security, so it’s virtually impossible to attack, even with the element of surprise.”
“Shut up, Kill. Don’t ruin my fucking vibes.” Niko jumps up to a standing position. “The only one who can stop us is Yulian, and I beat him the fuck up, so we shouldn’t have much resistance.”
“There’s also Cyrus,” Gareth says. “Just because he barely talks doesn’t mean you can walk all over him.”
I remain still, looking relaxed, with my elbow on the armrest and my head leaning against my fist, but my eye twitches.
Throughout the week, I tried to ignore the obstacle thatis Cyrus. But I just couldn’t, not when he’s by Yulian’s side while I’m not.
So I might have talked to Gareth—the Reddit alter ego—about it to vent.
I’ve had a dream where I just held his head underwater and watched him drown.
Not sure why.
I’m fully aware of how important Cyrus is to Yulian, and I meant it when I said I wouldn’t hurt his best friend. But I guess my subconscious still wants to kill him in cold blood.
