Page 134 of Twisted Ties

“Renzo Barone,” she says.

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Rhi

There’s a shocked silence,and I can hear the rustle of the branches above our heads, and the distant squeak of bats through the trees. I guess whatever they were expecting me to say, it wasn’t that.

“What the fuck kind of trouble have you got yourself tangled up in, little pig?” Spencer says, still pressing the full weight of his body against mine.

The bond in my gut spins frantically and I just want to be away. Away from these two men. Their proximity is confusing. I hate them; I really do. I don’t care if fate has other ideas. I don’t care if it’s trying to pull me towards them. I don’t care if their strong bodies so close to mine has little thrills of anticipation racing up and down every nerve. I don’t want them. I don’t want them to be mine. And they clearly don’t want me to be theirs.

“Maybe you ought to ask his cousin?” I say through gritted teeth. I don’t want Azlan to fight my battles for me, but I also know he is the one thing that might keep these dickheads from bothering me. I send a blast of my magic Spencer’s way. Not enough to hurt him, just enough to let him know I’m not playing.

He flinches, stepping backwards, and shaking out his hands.

“Little bitch,” he mutters.

“I’d rather you told us yourself,” Tristan says, still leaning against the tree trunk, his breath warm by my ear, making my body wilt ever so slightly towards him.

“How about you answer some of my questions instead? How about you tell me why the two of you were walking round like someone beat the shit out of you? And why you didn’t heal those injuries?”

Tristan leans in closer to me so his mouth is hot by my ear. “You tell us your secrets and we’ll tell you ours.”

“And let me guess, you want me to tell first.”

“Ladies first,” Spencer says, then chuckles. “Wait, is she actually a lady? After all, she does sleep with pigs.”

I give him the finger and push off the tree. I’m done playing games with these two. They may be bigger and stronger than me, but if they hurt me again, I will hurt them back.

“I’m going back to bed.” I start walking, pushing right past Spencer.

“We’re not done talking to you yet, Pig Girl,” Tristan calls after me.

“Tell someone who cares, like … erm … your cousin.”

I keep one eye over my shoulder the entire way back to the dorm, half expecting a bolt of magic to send me flying, but I make it in one piece.

Winnie’s sitting on her chair with Pip in her lap when I open the door.

They both start talking at once and I bend down to scoop Pip up and let him lick my face.

“I’m fine,” I tell them both. “Nothing happened.”

“What did they want?”

I frown. “Hmmm, I don’t actually know.”

The bad mood rolling off the two of them had been palpable and I half suspect they were just looking for someone to take those moods out on. And, hey, guess what? That lucky someone seems to be me more days than not.

The other half of me suspects more though. That I’m not the only one feeling the pull. Are they feeling it too? Is that why the pair of them can’t seem to leave me alone despite telling me on a regular basis how much they despise me, how revolting I am? They really are one fucked up pair.

“Can we forget about those jerks and go to sleep?” I add.

Not that I’ve been sleeping much these last few days. I’ve been too frightened to close my eyes and drift away, petrified those memories set loose in my head will haunt me.

“Sure,” Winnie says, “but I warn you, it’s going to be hard to escape those two jerks in the next few days. With the Cross-lantic match on Saturday, they are all anyone is going to be talking about.”

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