Page 18 of Villainous Rise

I couldn’t. If I looked at him, really looked at him, I’d shatter into a million pieces right here in front of everyone.

Goddamnit.

The temperature control in our box felt like it was malfunctioning. Too hot, then too cold, my skin prickling with both.

“Mr. Cipher! Hi!” Dawn’s voice rang out.

My entire body froze, blood turning to ice in my veins. This couldn’t be happening. But Dawn was already out of her seat, waving and oblivious to the emotional apocalypse she’d just triggered.

Hunter’s face drained of color. “Dawn, maybe that’s not -“

Too late. She was already moving toward the edge of our box.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying hello,” Dawn said. She gestured back toward Hunter and me. “Small world really, my boyfriend managed to get us these seats and my roommate just happens to be Havoc’s Keeper. I figured you two must have crossed paths.”

“Is that so?” His voice carried that familiar velvet darkness that used to whisper against my skin in the middle of the night.

I shot Hunter a desperate look that screamed “help me,” but he looked as helpless as I felt, his shoulders hunched with the weight of impending disaster. If Dawn actually accepted Hunter as Menace, we’d need to sit her down for extensive League etiquette lessons.

Rule number one: Don’t cheerfully approach Super Villains like they’re celebrities at a meet-and-greet unless it is an actual meet-and-greet.

I braced myself for the physical impact of his presence. I forced my chin up, dragging my focus across the short distance between our boxes until I was finally looking directly at him.

I waited for my knees to buckle, for my ribs to crack open and spill all my lingering grief right there on the floor. It never happened. My spine locked into place and my lungs kept pulling in air. I was somehow holding together, a perfectly intact shell, while sitting just feet away from the man who had ruined me.

Cipher tilted his head slightly, that infuriatingly perfect mouth curving into a smile that made my stomach drop through the floor.

I looked down quickly at my hands, counting my heartbeats, silently begging any cosmic force listening to make this moment end. Make Dawn come back to her seat. Make Cipher disappear. Make the building collapse. Anything.

I couldn’t look up. If I looked at him again, I’d either burst into flames or burst into tears. Neither option seemed particularly dignified.

Please don’t drag this out, I silently begged Cipher. Please just nod politely and turn away. Please.

“Perhaps you could introduce me properly to your roommate,” Cipher suggested, his voice carrying a hint of amusement that made me want to fucking punch him.

“Annie! Come over here!” Dawn called over her shoulder, waving me toward them.

I remained frozen, my body refusing to cooperate with Dawn’s innocent request. To my absolute horror, Cipher approached the edge of his box, closing the already too-small distance between us.

His smile widened, revealing perfect white teeth with canines that were just a little too sharp. It was the smile of someone who’d just been handed exactly what they wanted. He was enjoying this. The bastard was actually enjoying watching me squirm.

Three months of rage crystallized within me, sharp-edged and burning. I’d spent all that time rebuilding myself from the wreckage he’d left behind, and here he was, casually demolishing my progress with nothing more than a smile.

“Your roommate seems shy,” Cipher said to Dawn. “I don’t bite. Unless specifically requested.”

Dawn laughed. “Annie’s not shy! She’s just very professional. Comes with being a Keeper, I guess.”

I forced myself to stand, legs trembling. Professional. Right. I could do professional.

“Cipher,” I acknowledged, happy my voice only shook a little. I approached, stopping beside Dawn but maintaining a careful distance from the edge of our box.

“Annie Bishop,” he replied, my name rolling off his tongue like he was tasting it. “What a pleasant surprise.”

I couldn’t see it, but I knew his gaze was traveling over me. The sensation was familiar, the way he could possess me with nothing but a look, make me feel naked and exposed in a crowded room.

“Is it?” I let ice coat every syllable to counteract the heat building under my skin. “I wouldn’t have expected someone of your stature to notice Keepers at all.”

“I always notice the important details and you have always been impossible to overlook.”