Mo’s fingers paused while her eyes flickered to Mil and Trace.
I sighed. “Spill. Who are The Elect?”
Trace spoke up. “Tex hasn’t talked to you about it? Or Phoenix?”
“Tex is holed up having sex with this one.” I jutted my finger at Mo. “And Phoenix thinks I’m better seen and not heard.”
Mil snorted. “Phoenix needs an attitude adjustment.”
“Yeah, well.” I played with a fry, dipping it into the ketchup before bringing it to my mouth. “His idea of fun is running ten miles a day then eating things that look like regurgitated baby food, so unless one of us just starts feeding him chocolate intravenously, I highly doubt that attitude adjustment is going to happen.”
“It’s been a… rough year.” Trace and Mo shared a gaze while Mil cleared her throat and looked down at her plate. “For all of us.”
“What am I missing?” I lifted a fry to my mouth, waiting for an explanation. “You guys do realize I’m new to all of this?”
Mil shrugged. “Sometimes things are better left… not discussed. All you really need to focus on is school and getting homework done. Let us take care of the rest.”
“So play dumb and be ignorant just like my father expected me to?” My voice rose. “Is that what you’re asking?”
I was angry, and I had no idea why; it just seemed like I was the little kid at the playground who wanted so badly to play with everyone else only to be told she wasn’t old enough to go down the slide.
I wanted to go down the slide.
I wanted to prove I could.
But how could I prove myself if nobody ever gave me a chance to climb the ladder?
“Fine.” I licked my lips then pushed my plate away. “I’m not hungry anymore.”
“Bee.” Mil reached across the table like she was trying to find my hand. “It’s not that, it’s just… a lot of shit went down, and really we just want to move past it. I mean, we finally get a chance at normal, don’t you want that?”
I looked around the room. “You realize we’re at one of the most expensive schools in the universe, and it’s owned by mob bosses, right? Normal went out the window a long time ago.”
“Normal for us,” Trace clarified.
“Which is… secrets and more secrets?”
Nobody said anything.
“The Elect? Who are they? Who were they?”
Finally Mil spoke up. “It’s best to ask one of the members rather than any of us. Ask Phoenix if you want to know but be prepared for the shit storm that’s gonna come when or if he decides to answer. Things are still raw with my brother, and that’s all I’m going to say.”
“Fine.” I pushed my chair in.
“Bee.” Trace stood and reached for my arm. “Don’t go.”
“It’s fine. I made friends, right?” I looked over my shoulder. The last table I’d been at had gone dead silent. Okay, so they probably weren’t going to take a bullet for me anytime soon, but I had Phoenix.
My shoulders slumped.
Right. I had Phoenix, and again I was reminded that I didn’t really have a friend. I had no one. And I seriously didn’t even know what real friends did. Could I base my assumption off movies and books? Because as far as those definitions went, that meant Trace would be gossiping with me about Nixon. Mil would be painting my nails and Mo would be complaining about Tex. Instead, Mo was thumbing a knife under the table. Trace was checking her phone, face pale, and Mil was watching every person in the room like a hawk — like they all had guns aimed at her.
Swallowing, I bobbed my head in an automatic I–could-not-care-less fashion and grabbed my books. “I gotta run guys. Thanks for letting me sit with you.” I pushed down the swell of emotion fighting to scream its way out of my throat and marched out of the room.
CHAPTER TEN
Even prisoners got time off, right? Or at least a break?
Phoenix
I STARED AT THE phone in my hands and tapped the shiny glass surface… I didn’t want to make the call.
I never wanted to make the call.
Maybe in my past life, when I’d still been a horrible excuse for a human being, I’d wanted that type of power, but now it tasted bitter in my mouth, like I was playing God. I had no business saying who lived and who died — I was the least likely of people. I couldn’t see past the fact that it was like Satan deciding who should go to heaven. Unfortunately, the decision was made for me when the phone vibrated in my hands.
“Yeah?” I barked.
“Boss…”
I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. “Yeah, Nick?” Ever since getting the Nicolasi family thrown in my lap, he’d been my right-hand man, from communicating with the men to helping me wade through all of the drama being a boss brought. Luca trusted him; therefore, I had no choice but to do the same.
“We’re ready for the meeting, but I gotta warn ya… a few of the men are a bit… upset.”
“Define upset.”
“They don’t wanna come. Said they won’t report in.”
“Is that a nice way of saying they’ve gone AWOL?”
Nick cursed. “It isn’t like that, boss. They just… they need time.”
“Do I look like a damn clock?”
“No, sir.”
My palms sweated against the phone, making it slide along my ear. “Listen up and listen carefully. You call the guys who are giving trouble and tell them this.”
The phone cracked.
“Tell them—”I reached into myself and let a bit of the resentment free, a bit of the anger I knew I still harbored. “Che peccato,” I murmured. “What a shame that they’ll never see their families again. Forget their families. They have one sunrise to change their minds. Then I’m putting them on ice. This isn’t a threat to scare them into submission. It’s a promise. You haven’t even begun to see the terror I will inflict on the Nicolasi family if things aren’t done my way. Luca left me in charge because I’m the man for the job. If they can’t come to terms with that, then I’ll at least offer them the opportunity to name their pallbearers before I mess them up and dig a hole. Tell them that, word for word, and call me with their answer. Or hell, just text me one bullet or five. I’ll need to know how many of them to shoot. Don’t disappoint me, Nick.”
“Sir, that is the last thing on my mind… disappointing you.”
“Get it done, Nick, or it’s your head.”
“I’m partial to my head.”
“As you should be.”
“Va’ fa Napoli!” I snapped then hung up the phone.
“There a reason you just told someone to go to hell?” a flirty voice said from behind me. “Because it’s kinda hot, you getting all worked up.”
Not only did I have to deal with my role as the boss of the Nicolasi clan, but now I was dealing with her… again. “Didn’t I tell you to make friends?” I didn’t turn around, didn’t trust myself not to drink her in. I was always weak after dealing with transactions, after barking orders. It drained me because I really didn’t have much left to deal with emotionally.
“Found a squirrel in the parking lot. Does that count?”
“That depends.” I shoved my phone in my pocket. “Did it talk to you? Offer you his nuts?”
Bee burst out laughing. “If he showed me his, will you show me yours?”
“This conversation just passed a really disturbing point of no return.”
“Yeah well…” Bee sat down on the stairs next to me, pulling her knees to her chest. “That’s me, all kinds of disturbed.”
“I’m sorry. Have I given you any indication I’m a shrink, willing to listen to your laundry list of issues?”
“Bad phone call?”
“No. Everything’s fine.”
Bee bit her bottom lip. “You don’t look fine.”
“According to you, I look hot all the time, so now who’s the liar?”
Bee tilted her head like she was examining me, her damn lip still held captive by her straight
white teeth. “Hmm, I’d say you still are. Your veins are all popping out on your forehead, and your jaw’s clenched.”
“Yeah, I always look like that. Comes with the territory.”
“Hmm.” Bee looked away. “Can I ask you something?”
“If I say no, does it even matter?” I stood, expecting her to follow me, which she did. I knew how to get to her next class, even though we were going to be a bit early, considering she’d clearly failed in the friendship department.
“Probably not.” She twirled a piece of her hair and pulled out her sunglasses, making slow work of dipping the edges in her mouth, sucking on them like they were candy.
I looked away. I had to. Instead, I focused on trees, I focused on grass — hell, I even focused on the tiny squirrel that ran in front of me.
I pointed. “One of your friends?”
“I’ll call him Chuck.”
Do not laugh. Do not laugh. I kept it in — just barely — and gave her a noncommittal shrug. Damn, it was going to be hard keeping my guard up when she kept trying to scale the walls.
“Who are The Elect?”
I stopped walking, nearly stepping on Chuck. Hell, at this point I wanted to drop kick him and take off running.
“You mean like student council?” I played dumb, even knowing it probably wouldn’t work, not with Bee.
“Phoenix.” She gripped my arm.
I jerked it free and shoved my hands in my pockets, taking a few steps back. She ignored my need for space and stepped forward, closing the comfortable distance between our bodies. “The friends I tried to make earlier, they said you were one of them… like you ran the school or something, and I just… I’m tired of being left in the dark.”
Her eyes fell, focusing in on my chest. I exhaled a long breath. “Do you trust me?”
Her head snapped up. “Yes, why?”
“Do you trust me to protect you? Trust me to provide safety to you here at school? Trust me with your life?”
“You know I do,” she whispered, reaching for me.
I stepped out of her way and cursed.
“Phoenix?”
“Then trust me when I say that knowing who we were, what we did…” What I did. “…doesn’t matter. In the grand scheme of things, that life, the one we lived here at Eagle Elite, it isn’t even a blip on the radar compared to the shit we’re dealing with now. Right? It’s history. The past. It. Doesn’t. Matter.” I needed her not to know anything about me. Digging meant she’d eventually find out what I did, what I was capable of, and I wasn’t so sure I was ready for her to know my darkness.
I didn’t even like knowing it.
Sharing it with Bee? Well, to me it was a hell of a lot like dumping her in oil and forcing her to sit and try to scrub it off without using her hands.
“So…” Her eyes narrowed. “They were just messing with me?”
My thoughts regrouped a bit. “They?”
“Yeah, Pike, he’s a senior and—”
“Pike?” I repeated, incredulous. “You stay the hell away from that kid. Far. The hell. Away. Got me?”
Her brow furrowed. “He seemed nice.”
“So do I.” I bit my tongue tasting blood. “So do I.”
“No, you don’t.” She burst out laughing. “Nice in Phoenix World is you opening the door for me without slamming it in my face or you remembering to grunt in my direction.”
“Just…” I wanted to scream in her face. “…stay away from him.”
“Damn, and here I was going to give him my flower.”
I lost it.
Instantly.
There was no preparation for the rage I felt. Without thinking, I gripped her by the shoulders and pushed her up against the tree. Her bookbag fell to the ground as my body encased hers, my nostrils flaring, my teeth snapping. “He gets within fifty feet of you, and I’m beating the shit out of him. He holds your hand? I cut it off. He kisses you, and he’s going to wake up without any lips to frame his ugly-as-sin face. If he decides to touch you in any way, I’ll cut off his balls and feed them to him then put him out of his misery with a bullet between the eyes. And that’s going to be on you, princess. All you. So I’d think twice about giving him anything.”
Bee’s shocked expression turned murderous as she tried to push against me. “Jealous it won’t be you?”
“I don’t do virgins,” I spat stepping away. Or anyone.
“I knew you liked men.”
“Bianka! Damnit!” I punched the tree trunk. “Can you please just trust me enough to do my job? Stay away from him, and for the love of God, stop thinking I want anything you have to give.”
Her lower lip trembled as she reached for her bag and tossed it over her shoulder. “You really are a bastard, Phoenix.”
She stomped off.
“Where the hell are you going?” I almost shouted.
“Class!” She flipped me the bird. “I can take care of myself.”
Forget that she literally tripped that very next instant nearly twisting her ankle.
I felt like shit.
I shouldn’t have lost it.
I had better control than that, but the thought of that bastard’s hands on her had sent me into such hatred that I had to keep myself from calling a hit on him. Ha, great. Only been boss for what? Two weeks? And already I’m killing students. Fan-freaking-tastic.
With shaking hands, I watched, waiting until Bee made it safely into the correct building then jerked out my phone.
“This better be good,” Sergio said lazily from the other end. “I was hacking Amazon.”
“Why?”
He chuckled. “Because I’m bored as hell — because I can.”
“You need a job.”
“Yeah, well, killing people isn’t as fulfilling as it should be.”
“You need a girl.”
So do you.
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Wait!” I ran my hands through my hair. “We have a big problem.”
“Listening…”
“Well, actually, it’s more of… you have a problem, and I’m knee-deep in the shit it’s going to cause.”
“I doubt it’s any worse than inviting all five families in for a commission. Oh wait, we already did that.”
“Ha.” I barked out a laugh. “He has jokes. Well great, asshole, because the feds have an implant in our school… and I’m guessing the only reason he isn’t behind bars with the rest of his Russian drug-lord family is because he cut a deal.”
“Who the hell would have the balls to pull that off? Right in front of us?”
“Guess.”
“Humor me.”
“Pike… Phillip Petrov.”
The phone dropped, cursing ensued, something broke in the background, and then Sergio was back on the phone. “Let me make some calls.”
“What about Amazon? Boredom? Ring a bell?”
“Screw you.” The phone went dead.
I turned around just in time to see Pike and the rest of his friends leave the lunch building. He put on a pair of sunglasses and looked in my direction. I flipped him the bird.
He clapped and gave a little bow.
“Russian bastard,” I mouthed.
“Sicilian whore,” he mouthed right back and laughed.
That was it. I was talking to Tex, and we were going to homeschool Bee; no way was I going to let him get to her.
I couldn’t care less who he was or who he worked for. One finger, one breath of air in her direction, and his body was going six feet under.
With pleasure.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ah, the young Turks… the new mafia, if we live that long.
Sergio
I THREW MY PHONE against the wall.
Second one I’d broken in two days.
Ha! A trend. Nice.
It didn’t break, just cracked the screen, making it so I could still look at the number blinking back at me. Of course they knew I knew…because they knew every dam
n thing that went on.
“What?” I yelled into the phone. “Didn’t think I needed to know that piece of information? If he’s your boy. You better make sure he keeps his shit together before one of mine shoots his head off.”
“So much anger…” A chuckle wheezed in my ear. “And yes, he’s one of ours. Think of it as a way for us to make sure all your dealings with the university are legal. Besides, I thought the family didn’t trust you anymore. Something you need to tell me?”
“Are you joking right now? Tell me you’re joking and didn’t implant a Petrov, of all people. You do realize his entire family would rather burn at the stake than save their own? They have no respect for family, no respect for blood¸ no respect for anything but money and drugs.”
“Money talks… so does a promise of no prison sentence. You said no feds.”
“Sure as hell looks like your hand’s in the cookie jar.”
“It only stays there until we’re comfortable with how you’re handling things within the family, Sergio. We never promised to go away. We’re here, waiting for you to come back when it’s time. Think of it as a way of making sure you won’t take a misstep.”
“We won’t.”
“Yet,” he said in a deadly voice. “Yet.”
“I’m done here. Hell, I’m done with you. I quit. I won’t do it anymore. I won’t help you.”
“Fine.” He sighed heavily. “So I’ll have the boys bring you in around five o clock this afternoon? Pretty sure we can book you that early, though the court date won’t be for another few months. I’m sure you’ll be just fine in prison. By the way, the Russians would be more than happy to have a nice reunion. Maybe we’ll let you start a fight club or something.”
“One day…” I vowed, my teeth clenched so tight I thought a tooth would crack. “One day I’ll kill you.”
“I don’t think so, son.” He sighed. “Stay in touch. Oh, and that lasagna looked good last night. Tell your girlfriend to try to cook it from scratch next time, she is Siclian after all.”
The phone line went dead.
In a rage, I started searching for the hidden cameras. Bastards always seemed to think it was funny spying on me. I only checked once a month, and I’d just checked last week. Actually, my brother, Ax, had checked; security recon on all the houses was part of his job description.