Page 151 of Phobia

It was obvious by the blatant look filled with promises of retribution that Judah hated this situation. I knew guys like him from my college in Seattle. Rich little pricks who were used to things going their way. They hated those who dared to stand up to them, because their worlds were created in such a way where they thought they had the upper hand over everything and everyone.

Their parents raised them to think like that because they were exactly the same—if not worse.

And Judah Blackwood—he was the worst of the worst. He was dangerous. The rich pricks I knew before weren’t part of secret societies, using their family name to spill the blood of those who had no idea what they were getting into.

Judah’s hands twitched, the tick in his cheek getting more and more prominent, but he pushed that fake smile to his face, showing his teeth as if everything was okay.

“We got another candidate.”

“Candidate?” I asked, looking up at Lazarus who looked close to murdering the motherfucker. “What candidate?”

“We talked about this,” Lazarus said. “You can’t brainwash people like that. It won’t work.”

Judah crossed the distance between him and us in milliseconds, getting into Lazarus’s face. “And I told you that I don’t care.”

I didn’t like the way he looked at Lazarus. I didn’t like his tone, his posture, or the way he fucking breathed. My hand tightened around Lazarus’s, ready to pounce if needed, but one squeeze from him told me to relax. Instinctively I knew that he could handle Judah, but everything in me wanted to protect him.

I wanted to protect this little glimpse of peace I got tonight by simply being with him. It was something I had never felt before, and selfishly I wanted it to last. I wanted it to be a permanent part of my life, and if that meant that people who threatened the very existence of my peace needed to be taken out, then I would do it.

But one look at the man I loved and the easy smile on his face told me I had nothing to worry about. He had this.

That didn’t mean that I missed the way Gabriel rolled his eyes when Lazarus lifted my hand to his lips, pressing a chaste kiss to the top of it. Or the way Gabriel practically drilled holes in the side of my skull, from how much he kept staring at me.

What?I mouthed at him when I looked at him, taking a step away from Lazarus as he spoke to Judah.

Whatever it was that Judah needed obviously didn’t sit well with Lazarus, and that was saying a lot, considering that he wasn’t above doing whatever was needed. But I had a feeling that it wasn’t about the act that he needed to do itself, but the fact that he didn’t want to help Judah.

Keeping him close obviously also meant keeping an eye out on the man in question, but that didn’t mean that he was going to do what Judah needed. It only meant that he was going to keep him on a tight leash while Judah thought that he was pulling all the strings.

“Can I talk to you?” a voice from my right suddenly said. As I turned, looking away from Lazarus, I saw Gabriel’s pleading eyes and the years of regret reflecting in his eyes. He was worried about me, and I could understand that. But if he wanted to apologize to me for the last year, there was no need.

I didn’t hold grudges against any of them.

The reason why I despised Judah had nothing to do with the night when my eyes finally opened after so many years of darkness and sorrow. No, the reason why I hated Judah and those similar to him was because they always thought that they ruled the world. They thought they could get whatever they wanted just because they held the power they didn’t earn.

All these men sat in their ivory fucking towers, looking down on us mere mortals, controlling every single aspect of our lives when they never knew a single day of hardship. They had no idea what it was like waking up in the morning and knowing that you had nothing to eat, struggling to do anything in life because the jobs you were working weren’t enough to cover all the necessities.

So it was either school or food, and many people would rather choose school because it meant working toward a better tomorrow.

But what a lot of people didn’t know was that the better tomorrow never came, because we didn’t hold the strings of our lives. People like Judah and his family did. People who had no right to all this power were the ones pulling all the strings, and they didn’t give a fuck about those less fortunate.

Gabriel belonged to the same category, and no matter how much he tried to do better, and it was obvious in every single action he made, he couldn’t right the wrongs. He was trying, but it simply wasn’t enough. He was still listening to Judah, following him, when he should’ve done something to stop this all from happening.

I had a feeling that the candidate Judah mentioned was just another poor girl, just like me last year, that was optioned to be a part of the Red Maidens he was creating.

“We have nothing to talk about,” I simply said, my eyes automatically finding Lazarus who was just a couple of feet away from me, his arms crossed over his chest, still talking with Judah.

“Danika, please.” Gabriel’s soft voice grated on my nerves. “I know you don’t owe me anything, but I really need to talk to you. I need to tell you—”

“Gabriel!” Judah suddenly bellowed, stopping Gabriel mid-sentence. “Bring her up.”

“Fuck,” Gabriel muttered. “Please let me talk to you later. It’s important.”

“I have nothing—”

“Five minutes, Danika,” he whispered. “Just five minutes and then I’ll leave you alone. That’s all I’m asking. Five fucking minutes of your time and you won’t ever have to talk to me again.”

He sounded… desperate. Almost afraid. Whatever it was that he needed to talk to me about had nothing to do with last year or the fact that I was with Lazarus. Judging by the constant flickering of his eyes toward Judah, I had an inkling that it had everything to do with him.