Page 16 of Nikola

He didn’t even flinch. “Avoid family functions.”

“That’s the best you got?” I asked incredulously, then scrubbed a hand down my face. “If I do that, I’ll be upsetting my mother.”

“Who knew you were such a softy underneath all that scary exterior?” He laughed.

“You’re lucky we’re friends?—”

“And I’m your uncle.” A detail he never failed to remind me of.

“I fucking hate how incestuous our families feel sometimes,” I muttered as I flipped him the bird, then got on my motorcycle.

Just as I knew it would, the motorcycle ride cleared my head.

Usually, I was of the opinion that nothing could beat riding at supersonic speed, the wind beating at you from all sides. It was the very reason I kept a sports motorcycle here on campus, one in our Siberian residence, and one in New Orleans.

But ever since that cursed night when I kissed Skye against my bike, I couldn’t find quite the same pleasure in riding it. I couldn’t even look at it without thinking about her.

I found myself in front of the dorm Matteo, Gabriel, and I had shared for the past few years. Matteo’s room now sat vacant, seeing as he got hitched and now lived midway between Maryland and New York, maintaining a delicate balance between keeping his in-laws and his own parents happy.

Either way, the campus wasn’t quite the same anymore since Matteo’s departure.

I fished out my cell phone and scrolled past Skye’s messages, pausing at my group chat with the boys.

Me: How’s married life, Matteo?

Gabriel: He’s getting laid every day. How do you think?

Me: Funny, I didn’t know your name was Matteo, Colombiano.

Kostya: Do you two ever stop bickering?

Cassius: I think those two need a life.

Dominico: Obviously they’re not getting laid enough.

Me:

Gabriel:

Kostya: Boo. Is that the only emoji you guys know?

From the corner of my eye, I spotted the bane of my existence.

Skye Leone.

Forgetting all about my phone, I zeroed in on the woman with long dark hair, the one who’d been haunting my thoughts.If I was smart, I’d head straight inside and erase her from my mind.

It turns out, I wasn’t smart at all.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

I couldn’t possibly let her roam around by herself at night, could I?

I stopped in my tracks when I realized she wasn’t alone. Penelope DiMauro and Amara Brennan flanked Skye, all three dressed as if they didn’t just spend hours out in the woods in the middle of November. All three wore short minidresses that covered too little and high heels that made them stumble too much.

The three of them got into Amara’s car, giggling and unaware of my presence. They had to be up to no good, sneaking out in the middle of the night.

Besides, a campus-wide curfew was implemented last month: no student was to leave the campus without a bodyguard. Not only did we have the threat of the organ traffickers, but the FBI was also snooping around. Special Agent Lloyd, who worked undercover, had been making waves among the traffickers, but not enough to make a dent or protect anyone from the scum. The straitlaced agent refused to share any intel with anyone in the mafia, but what we’d managed to uncover revealed that the organization that restarted Belles and Mobsters had many more players than we initially thought. Unfortunately, their identities remained a mystery.