Nero(27)

“Just fine?”

“Yep. Fine, Chloe.”

“He kissed you, didn’t he?”

Silence met her answer.

“Oh, he totally did! Tell me, how was your first kiss?”

“Well, it technically wasn’t my first.”

“Oh, my gosh, what?”

“He kissed me earlier, in Art, in the supply closet.”

“That is so freaking sweet.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, Chloe, if you get to school before me, I can’t help you.”

“I know. I can figure out something, I guess. I’ll be there at the exact time we always are.” Elle hated that Chloe had returned to her usual non-happy voice, but she’d had to tell her.

“All right. I’ll try to be there at the same time, but we know Nero is late practically every morning.”

“I know.”

Elle felt terrible. She was going to have to figure something out.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Bye.”

Elle hung up the phone. She couldn’t say bye.

Her wheels started turning in her head about how she could solve this problem. She decided to think while she got dressed for work.

While she was thinking, something Nero had said earlier crossed her mind. ‘Do you realize how unsafe that is for a seventeen-year-old girl?’ She wondered how in the hell he knew she was seventeen. Actually, most of the seniors were already eighteen, besides her and Chloe. So, how would he know?

* * *

Nero started to feel confined at home, especially in his room. The job his father had given him had started to wear on his mind. This was his first job, the job that was going to adopt him into the family. Yes, his blood might biologically be a part of the family, but his blood didn’t bleed with the family. At least, not until the job is done.

He had always been aware, ever since he had been young, he was going to follow in his father and brother’s footsteps. He was going to bleed and die beside the family. No matter what it takes.

He wondered why Elle had been the one behind the garbage can that night. Any other girl would have been easier for him to crack—hell, the job would have already been done if she was like all the other girls he had been with. But not Elle. He couldn’t even get her fucking mouth to open to stick his tongue down her throat, let alone tell her secrets. She had sat in his car and even protected a piece of shit like Sebastian, therefore getting her to tell him what had happened wouldn’t be easy.

The thought of Sebastian pissed him off. He couldn’t get the image out of his head of him lunging for Elle. She just sat there and closed her eyes.

He’d had to get Sebastian, to get his hands on him. As a result, he and his crew had made sure to get him alone. They worked out a plan to offer him some weed once they dropped the girls in Spanish class. They gave Sebastian a total bullshit peace offering to say he was sorry, that the heat of the moment had gotten to him. The heat of the moment had gotten to him all right.

He punched the shit out of him behind the school. Little bitch took one punch and was cold turkey. That didn’t stop Nero and his crew. They each landed a kick on his helpless body.

Nero smiled. Elle hadn’t seen the nice bruises he was sure Sebastian had under his clothes.

Again, with the thought of Elle, he grew hard. His body was out of whack. Typically, some girl would be in his bed to remedy his situation, but after his father banned him from girls other than Elle, he couldn’t risk it. Kissing her had definitely set him off. The little nothing of a kiss in the closet had even set him off.

Usually, that would have been a joke of a kiss, but something about it had made him want more. Subsequently, when he had arrived at her house, he had kissed her again, harder. She hadn’t even kissed him back, which made it that much worse. No girl had ever not kissed him back. He knew he was a good kisser—well, he used to be really sure of it.

When she had pushed him, it had been everything he could do not to set her ass in his backseat and do as he pleased, certain he could get her to comply.

He grinned at what she’d called him earlier, ‘the big bad wolf.’ Elle was right; he was the big bad wolf. He knew it worked perfectly to describe him because, every time he looked at Elle, he saw a cute, helpless animal.

He liked Elle’s size; she was a good match for him. She wasn’t tall but wasn’t short. Her ass and boobs were the same in proportion, both a little bit more than a handful, and he liked that. But her hair and eyes were his favorite things about her.

Her darker-blonde hair had a hint of pink in it, and it had a nice wave to it throughout without being curly. Her eyes were huge and blue like the ocean. That was why she was this cute animal to him, because every time he looked into her big blue eyes, the big bad wolf wanted a taste. More than a taste.