“Like Dread.”
“Like Roxi,” he corrects, giving me a stern look.
I’m not convinced.
“You don’t have to worry about me looking in the wrong direction,” I say, forgoing a response to his theory. I don’t have the energy to fight with him about his friend’s mind games, but there is one thing we can agree on. “I’m more than aware of how dangerous Lionel is. Whether it was Dread, Roxi, or someone else doesn’t matter. Your friend is just as dangerous as Lionel, and I intend to stay away from them both.”
Severen shakes his head, as if he’s disappointed in me, and picks up his book, keeping his gaze locked on the pages. “Hate to break it to you, Rev, but neither of them will allow that. If I were you, I’d get used to sleeping with the enemy when he’s going to be the one to keep you out of a grave.”
I scoff out a derisive chuckle. “Really? Then it’s ironic that, out of the two of them, Dread’s the one who actually put me in a grave while Lionel kept me out of one.”
Severen’s stare is grim when it connects with mine. “Dread let you crawl out of it. Your father won’t.”
“Dread will be lying next to me if he isn’t careful,” I retort.
“You think your father can overpower me?” a deep, familiar voice barks. It’s loud, angry, and right fucking behind me.
I just barely strangle the loud screech in my throat, but not before my heart flies up out of it and knocks at my teeth.
Severen’s eyes are round discs as he stares above me. “For such a big dude, I did not see you coming. Where did you even come from? Her asshole?”
I sputter while Dread moves past me to stand at the end of the table between us. He plants his hands flat on the surface and stares down at him, his black hair hanging over a frosted stare.
“Why are you eating lunch with my girl?”
Severen gives him a bewildered look. “Bro, you literally asked me to.”
“No,” Dread denies. “I said to watch over her, noteat lunch with her. Those are two different things, and the second suggests friendship.”
Severen turns his attention to me, looking way too smug for someonewho has a fire-breathing dragon looming over him. “You do realize I have to deal with this shit all the time where it concerns you, right? He’s a rabid dog. Any second now, he’s going to cock his leg.”
Dread doesn’t even bother to argue. Instead, he pushes off the table, turns, and leans back on it with his arms crossed over his chest, angling toward me. Just like that, he shuts Severen out, which prompts him to point his hands at himself in a ‘what am I, chopped liver?’ type of way.
IwishI was chopped liver. Maybe then, he’d leave me alone.
Reluctantly, I turn my gaze to Dread, already exhausted.
With his eyes on me, my heart free-falls into the pit of my stomach. He hasn’t been here for more than a minute, and already, the air feels like static.
“What.”My flat, annoyed tone makes it sound like a statement, rather than a question.
He cocks a brow, while Severen grabs his apple juice from his tray and starts slurping on it, clearly invested in whatever Dread has to say.
“Take a ride with me. I want to show you something.”
“What, the inside of your trunk again?” I respond dryly. “I know exactly what that looks like already.”
Severen snorts.
“It doesn’t have to be. You could always come willingly,” Dread suggests, his tone as casual as his stance.
“Oh, is this another ultimatum where we pretend like I have a choice?”
I hadn’t exactly intended to be so hostile, but rather to simply ignore and freeze him out, but I’m unable to help myself. I wield it like protective armor. It’s the only other way to keep me safe from him. Civility leads to compliance, which results in really stupid decisions, like letting him see me at my most vulnerable and teaching me how to swim. That shouldn’t have been a big deal, but it obviously affected me enough that I needed little convincing to let him record me fucking myself with a dildo molded after his dick.
God, I really do make bad decisions, and I fully blame my parents for this catastrophic flaw.
“You always have a choice, darling.”
