Page 50 of Speak

“You’re welcome.” He grumbles.

The soup is delicious and so warm, it reminds me of when the snow would fall so heavily Axel and I would be trapped inside the mansion for days and Galvina, our head chef, would make us stew to eat after playing outside in the snow. I get six bites in when I hear, “Give me some.”

I cover the soup and pull it toward me.

“Quit being a fat hog-“ I scoot away from him. He clears his throat and looks down. Is Chase Prescottsorry? “Can I please have some more of your soup?”

I shake my head.

“Please?”

I shake my head again, covering it with the lid and jump out of bed when he tries to reach for it and he follows me. I fake holding it up over my head and when he reaches for it, because he’s a six-foot-four All American Quarterback much like Axel, and that would be stupid, I put it behind my back without thinking. He bends to grab it, a smile on both our faces and suddenly he’s all too close, his face in mine, hands around my hips to grab the soup.

My chest is heaving when he pulls me close by my hips, and the room is too small when he stands to his full height, his own chest heaving, blue eyes flicking from my lips to my eyes. There’s an intensity crackling between us, filling the room and for a moment, I can see how he could be charming… if he weren’t an asshole. I thrust the soup at him and walk to the door, opening it.

Angrily, he sets the soup down on my end table, slips his shoes on and walks out of my door. I slam it shut and lock it behind him as Damon’s voice rings in my ears.

“The Prescott’s and other members of the Syndicate… only gather for big events… christenings, weddings… funerals…”

I know Damon is right. I have to get my energy back up. I need to be able to get through everything I’m about to go through. Mentally… physically… I have to be strong. I’m not getting the answers I need here.

I’m going to have to find them with nothing but brute strength and cunning plans.

Chapter Fourteen

Chase Prescott.

I don’t trust Raven Monroe. Not even a little bit. As soon as rumors buzzed that she was on campus, I texted my cousin Tyler. Being a brother in the Syndicate, Riordan and I were privy to certainfailingsinside the brotherhood. We were eighteen when it happened, her face being plastered all over every news station.

The elite are never to be a hit but once a hit is called, it’s called. Except she had survived the hit, she couldn’t be touched again. It’s always a risk going after the same hit twice.

The cops were too close to the scene, too close to Syndicate properties, anyhow. When she was thrown into an asylum, and her case grew cold, we watched Tyler breathe easier. At first, we thought it was because she was his friend. We didn’t learn the truth until after our own initiation.

She still belonged to my uncle. It was a crime to go against a brother in the Syndicate, but because the person that tried to murder her was a legacy, they turned their heads at his indiscretion. Except my uncle is not a very forgiving nor a forgetful person.

I knew she was here seeking answers. I was to make sure she didn’t get close to finding any. My plan was that I was going to charm her, win her loyalty and get her to my uncle. But then Jonas had to go falling head over heels for her. I tried to put the doubts in his mind about her, but nothing worked. Nothing. Even Riordan liked her forhim. The fucking traitor. He knew what was at stake. Getting her alone was proving to be a difficult task. Even when she was alone, she made sure to be in the public eye.

And then, I had my in with her at the gym. All alone. Bending her delicious fat, natural ass over, I had to do something. Except when I was shoving her luscious thigh up and my dick landed on her fat pussy, I was a fucking goner. I tried to hurt her, I actually knew I was hurting her, except she kept bucking and my dick got so hard. I saw the allure of Raven underneath me, unable to scream out for help, it did something to me. Something… not good. It made my chest feel… weird.

Before she bucked me off, I saw Jonas and Riordan coming in, I needed him to catch us like this. I needed to plant that seed in his head that she wasn’t all good, innocent…

The less people she had around her, the better.

Except Riordan caught them kissing like two horny teenagers. I’d rolled my eyes, not hiding my disgust. Then the next day after standing in line at the Koffee Kart with her… she was so close, waiting for her order to be called out. Then I turned to see she was headed in the same direction I was, the empty library. She grabbed whatever books she needed then sat at a table close to the window. Her brows were drawn together, her lips pursed, tapping her pen against her bottom lip, occasionally biting the tip of it. She was so fucking cute.

And unsuspecting.

Perfect.

Except the books she had for the serial killer she was researching, were wrong. She wouldn’t find what she needed with those things. I brought her some back and she took them humbly with a half frown, half smile on her delicate, beautiful face.

Bitch.

I wanted her to push the books away so I could make her take them. I wanted her to rebel against me. Be angry with me, to show some kind of… I don’t know,emotiontoward me. But she didn’t. she took the goddamn books I offered with her nose scrunched and a half-smile and those cinnamon-whiskey eyes squinting at me and then treated me as if my presence didn’t affect her whatsoever. Like I was invisible.

Infuriating.

I hated her.

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