“You were duped, Niko,” Gareth says with a knowing smile. “You can be really slow sometimes.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He glares back at his cousin, who’s still nonchalantly studying the scene, probably sensing that I’m approaching the point of an explosion the more Nikolai keeps talking, or even existing, near her.
Not getting a reply, my friend, who’ll soon lose those friendship privileges, slides closer to Cecily. “Your name is Cecilia, right?”
The red has slowly disappeared from her face, but she’s turned cold both in expression and voice. “Cecily.”
“Tomayto, tomahto.” He stares at her funnily. “You’re close with lotus flower, aren’t you? You have this whole shared love of unicorns, cakes, and saving animals.”
“Lotus what?”
“Brandon,” he says as if the correlation is a given.
It’s subtle, but I notice the exact moment Cecily’s body goes rigid and the way her expression changes from discomfort to mama bear mode.
Nikolai has always given a bad impression. Always. Not only is he violence on steroids, but he’s so deranged that he gets a bad rep wherever he goes. Cecily, like everyone else on the island, has heard of his brutish, merciless methods and his knack for beating up people for sport.
Generally, no one aside from us feels comfortable in his company, which is the reason for her unease ever since he barged in.
However, the moment he brought up her friend, fucker Landon’s twin brother, she slid seamlessly from fear to protectiveness. This girl isn’t afraid when it comes to her life, and she’d do anything for those she considers family.
“What about him?” she asks with a tinge of stiffness.
Nikolai is oblivious to the change in her, because he grins. “We can exchange information. I’ll give you shit on Jeremy and you do the same about lotus flower.”
She pauses, her gaze sliding to me with a full-blown glare as if she’s seriously contemplating the option, but then she shakes her head. “I have nothing to tell you about Bran.”
Nikolai stands in front of her and tilts his head to the side, as if meaning to stare into her soul and peel off the information he needs. “Not even a tiny bit? Think again, because I have all the deets about the girls Jeremy’s dated.”
I fling him back by his nape and throw him against his cousin. “Take him and leave.”
“Why?” Gareth pushes him back inside. “This is getting fun.”
I’m about to grab Nikolai again, but he slips away last second. “Stop throwing me as if I’m a ball, motherfuckers.”
“We have no time for you. Fuck off.”
“Actually.” Cecily steps forward and stands beside me. “We do. Didn’t you bring me here to meet your friends?”
No, I fucking didn’t.
In fact, I kept her away from this place so she wouldn’t see these assholes.
“What she said.” Gareth smiles at her. “We’re having dinner in a bit. Will you join?”
“No,” I say.
“Sure,” she says at the same time.
I glare at her, and she glares right back. I lean over to whisper, “We only have dinner, just the two of us.”
“Not today,” she whispers back.
“Don’t fuck with me, Cecily. We’re leaving.”
“No, we’re not. I thought I was more boring than a nun.” She flips her silver hair and strides in Gareth’s direction. “Did you mention dinner?”
“Yeah. We can have the chef add any dishes you want. Wait till Kill sees you.” Gareth smirks. “RIP, Jer.”
I flip him the bird, and he merely grins as he walks beside Cecily and Nikolai occupies the other side, hounding her for answers to his earlier question.
She doesn’t answer him, but she doesn’t shoot him down either. Instead, she engages the bastard by divulging some harmless information about Brandon.
I follow close behind them, contemplating who to kill first and whether there should be blood or not.
Who am I kidding? Of course there will be blood. Now, I just have to make sure it’ll pour out from all their orifices.
I start by shoving them away and gluing her to my side during the whole evening, but that barely lasts when she starts drinking with them and Killian joins in with his girlfriend.
Cecily flat-out refuses to leave once Glyndon gets here, despite my and Kill’s joint effort to take our girls and disappear into the night.
“Why the fuck did you bring her here? Now, Glyn won’t budge,” Kill asks me as the two of them play some stupid card game with Nikolai and Gareth.