Page 36 of Poison Touch (Monarch Vipers #1)

KINSLEY

Two days later, during biology my phone vibrates with a string of texts.

A name I haven’t heard from in weeks flashes across the screen.

Adam. He’s my insider to the UG fights. After what happened at the last one, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever hear from him again.

I texted him last week to see if he knew anything coming up, but he never responded.

I don’t blame him. Hell, he probably thought I lost my damn mind.

Unable to wait until the end of class, I read the messages and freeze.

Adam:

UG coming

That’s all it says and all I need to know… for now. I’m hoping when he knows more, he’ll tell me—like when and where the fight will be. Because I’ll be there.

This tiny piece of insight leaves my head in the clouds for the rest of class.

I wish that were the only reason for my lack of focus.

Since I pulled out of the dojo’s parking lot, I’ve barely been able to concentrate on anything or anyone that isn’t Edge.

My thoughts have found little reprieve from the way his warm mouth felt on my neck, his rough hand sliding up my thigh, or his breath against my skin.

Since then, he’s made a point of ignoring me.

Conflicted feelings come and go as frequently as the tide.

That kind of attention from him is the last thing I need.

But when I try getting my body on board, she wants to bitch slap my head into next week.

Now, I need to be patient until I hear from Adam. Yeah, my focus is shot.

Brielle has been especially distant. None of her friends have even looked my way. I guess I’m not as easy a target as they expected. Unfortunately, it took my motorcycle and her car seat to make that point clear.

All in all, the week has been relatively quiet.

When the day’s last class comes to an end, Eden says bye and that she’ll call me later.

This is a new development. She’ll either call to go over homework or text me something random she thinks I’ll find funny or interesting.

I must admit, I like having a girl in my corner.

For so long, it’s just been Luca, who I wouldn’t trade for the world, but a girl sees things differently.

I pack up my books and head for the gym. Taking a shortcut down a nearly deserted hall toward the locker room, I hear footsteps fast approaching. Out of habit from my training, I turn and raise my arms in defense.

Josh immediately throws his arms up as he backs down. “Hey, it’s just me.”

I lower my arms. “Sorry. I’m a little on edge.”

My choice of words only proves to be a reminder of my nightmare. Insisting that there’s nothing more to my word choice than anxiety over the text from Adam and having nothing to do with the fact that Edge is on my mind, I shove the obsessive part of my brain back into the shadows.

Josh is waving his hand in front of my face. “Earth to Kinsley.”

I shake off the Edge-induced fog. “Sorry… again.” Do something normal, Kins. I tuck my hair behind my ear and force a smile. “What’s up?”

“Have you decided to go with me to the Halloween party?”

I don’t answer right away as a figure pauses behind Josh. Levi, Gunner’s twin, raises his finger to his lips. My stomach clenches with dread. His girlfriend, Estelle, isn’t at his side. Christ, what now?

I look back at Josh. Needing to get him to get moving along so I can find out why Levi is now stalking me, I blurt out, “Yeah. Sure.”

The guy’s face splits into a grin, and then he swoops in for a kiss.

I jerk my head and lift my hand to stop him. “Whoa, there. Too fast!”

He grabs the ends of his short hair. “Yeah. Yeah, sorry.”

The silent twin behind Josh narrows his eyes. If there’s something I should know, I wish he’d spill it already. Instead, he’s creeping in the background, waiting to pounce.

“I’ll see you in class.” Josh hikes up his backpack on his shoulder and walks past me toward the guy’s locker room.

Levi shakes his head as he steps out of the darkened hallway. “I thought you were smarter than that, Ninja.”

“What are you talking about?”

He, too, walks past me, going in the same direction as Josh. “Ask your friends about him.”

What the hell is that about? With so much to deal with, I have no time to think about Josh, Halloween, or Levi’s coded warning.

I rush to the locker room to change before class starts.

After shoving my crap in the locker, I change as quickly as possible and head out to the gym.

Since it’s raining out, some of the teams have decided to move practice indoors, including the cheer team.

The place is crowded as shit, but it’s still easy to spot Edge and the boys playing basketball. Gunner tosses the ball into the basket from a reasonable distance. It’s simultaneously weird to watch them do something so ordinary and impressive. Are they bad at anything?

A group of people surrounds them, primarily girls.

Some giggle. Others try the sexy approach with their hip kicked out, arms crossed over the chest to push up their tits, and the perfect pouty expression on their overly made-up faces.

None of the attention they’re vying for is thrown their way.

Edge and his boys are too enthralled in the game to notice or care about their fawning fan club.

The coach blows his whistle. When our class gathers around him, he instructs everyone to run four laps around the gym. I’m one of the first to take off. The sooner I start, the sooner I can cross the finish line.

When we finish and gather back in the same location, he throws a bunch of basketballs out. “Grab the rope, head to the weight training room, anything. Just keep moving.”

He’s giving us busy work for gym class. If I’d have known this, I would have skipped today. I grab a ball.

Josh catches my eye and starts to make his way over, but then he notices Gunner and Levi closing in on me. Josh smiles, then changes his mind and returns to his friends.

Perceptive Gunner notices the exchange of what just happened.

His grin is too proud and cocky as hell.

“Stay over there with the rest of your pussy friends,” he calls out to Josh.

“Fucker,” he mumbles more to himself. Then, as if nothing happened, his playful smile is back in place right before he knocks the ball out of my hand and dribbles it as he runs around me. “Want to play?”

There’s something I’m missing between Josh and these Vipers, but fuck if I know what it is.

I glance over Gunner’s shoulder at Edge, who shoots baskets alone. “What, are Edge and Kade too good for running and doing what the coach asks?”

Levi shrugs as he dribbles the ball. “Nah, Coach lets Edge slide because he’s trying to get him to join the basketball team.

But he’s wasting his fucking time.” He jerks his head to Kade, who’s sitting on the bleachers.

I swear it looks like he’s rolling a blunt.

“Kade doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to,” Levi explains.

For the next twenty minutes, we play a chaotic game of basketball.

I have no idea what I’m doing except knowing the ball needs to go into the net, but Gunner and Levi make it fun.

Asshole Edge ignores me the entire time.

I’m not even shocked anymore. The guy is a mixed bag of crazy and hotness.

Neither of which I know what to do with.

One second, I want to fuck him. The next, I want to knock him upside the head.

Who’s the fucked up one, Kins? Shut up, I silently tell the demons fighting on my shoulder.

One is terrible, and the other is worse. No angels, just corrupt little devils.

The coach blows the whistle, signaling the end of class. We rack the balls and head for the locker room. My phone lights up with a text from Bryc:

Meet Eden and me at the coffee house after school-my Treat!

In the next text, he sends me the address.

I respond right away that I’ll be there. It’ll be the perfect time and place to ask them about Josh.

I slide on my skirt and pull my button-down over my sports bra.

I toss everything else into my backpack.

As I’m heading out into the hall, my phone dings again.

I expect it to be Bryce, but it’s a notification that biology has been canceled.

My boots hit the ground with determination to get the fuck out of Monarch.

To my pleasant surprise, the rain has stopped for now. Hopefully, it’ll hold out until I get to the coffee house. That’s the one thing about having a bike, it sucks to drive in the rain or cold.

I tie the button-down shirt around my waist. “Fucking uniform,” I mumble to myself.

“There she goes again,” someone says while his friends laugh.

“Back the fuck off.” Another voice dominates the first.

I close my eyes and pray it’s not who I think. But that deep baritone is undeniable, and it’s exactly who I think it is when I glance up. The guys who blabbed shit are scurrying off in the opposite direction.

Edge is at my side in only a few strides. His gaze scans me slowly from my boots to my face. “Are you avoiding me, Ninja?”

“You’re kidding me, right?” I scoff and shake my head.

“And here I thought I was the one who was being ignored—not that I’m pining for your attention.

” I don’t bother saying he was the one who acted like I was invisible while I played basketball with his friends.

The two, I believe, are innocent of murdering my dad. Edge… the jury is still out on him.

It’s his turn to scoff. “You don’t pine?—”

“At least we agree on something,” I interject as I pull on the straps of my backpack, tightening them on my back.

“You don’t pine, you tease.”

“Tease? You’re full of shit.” I don’t give him a chance to answer. “Just because I’m not falling at your feet like every other girl around here doesn’t mean I’m a tease. It means I don’t have the time or patience for your fucking games.”