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“She’s also my sister.”

“And?”

“So you will show her some respect when I’m around.”

“The fuck I will,” I scoffed. “Respect is earned, not guaranteed. She’s always been a poisonous little bitch. She told me to kill myself, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“That was after… well, you know what happened.”

“After I killed Alex. You can say the words, Mother. It happened, whether you utter it or not.”

“You shouldn’t speak about such things in that casual manner,” she hissed at me.

“Fucking hell, are we about to start referring to Alex as He Who Must Not Be Named? Grow up. It happened, and that’s the end of it.”

“You’re so stubborn, did you know that? And—”

“And I’m not taking you to her home,” I interrupted before she went on one of her famous “you’re disappointing me” rants. “You can get a taxi, or you can walk.”

“She doesn’t need to walk,” Dante sighed, lowering Bee to her feet. “Go get your coat, Bee. We’re going out, just you, me, and Rachel.” As she ran off with a happy squeal, he frowned at the both of us. “She’s still in danger, Rachel. We can’t just let her get a taxi home. If you don’t want to take her—”

“I don’t.”

“Then one of the prospects will have to drive her.”

“James or Shawn?” I asked, giving the name of the last two prospects since Monster had graduated to a full member, and Malfoy had yet to return.

“Who we find first. That good with you, Rebecca?”

“Are any of them likehim?” She asked, looking towards Ant.

“Worse,” I grinned.

“She’s kidding,” Dante scowled at me. “They’re nice men.”

“I highly doubt that but fine, I accept. Do I really have a choice?”

“Sure you do. There’s always a choice. For example, you can choose to walk and risk being shot,” Dante said, his voice completely deadpan.

Her mouth dropped open slightly before she slammed it shut and stuck her nose in the air. “A lift will do nicely, thank you,” she said, but her pale face betrayed her words.

“Why did that ‘thank you’ sound more like ‘fuck you’?” Dante murmured in my ear as my mother went to collect her coat.

“That’s the Rebecca speciality. Cold-hearted and cruel, but she’s Goddamn polite when she doesit.”

Chapter 20

Dante

Rebecca left with surprisingly little fuss, which shocked the shit out of me. I had expected her to kick off big time when Rachel refused to go with her, but she seemed to recognise when she was beaten – a trait she had not passed on to her daughter, more’s the pity.

Rachel had refused to look in her mother’s direction when she was ready to leave and had simply thrown a curt ‘goodbye’ over her shoulder and went back to helping Bee put her shoes on.

I didn’t know a single thing about this Iris woman, but whatever happened must have been bad. Lord knew I’d done enough to Rachel in the month we’d known each other, and she had forgiven every single one of my sins.

Fuck me, has it really only been a month?

It seemed as though I had known her forever, and yet every day I was learning new things about her. But despite what I learned, I barely felt as though I had scratched the surface. It was so weird. I wanted to know everything about her, but at the same time, I sometimes couldn't fucking stand to hear her talk, because it was nothing but sarcasm and snide remarks.

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