Chapter 37: Alluring Darkness: Chapter 37

I screech to a halt two steps inside the door. My stop is so sudden that the girl walking into the cafeteria behind me slams into my back. A huff escapes her throat at the impact.

“Sorry,” she mutters, even though it was my fault, as she slips past me.

But I don’t pay her any mind because my eyes are locked on the scene halfway across the room.

There is a girl with brown hair and tight-fitting black clothes sitting next to Eli at their usual table. She’s calm, athletic, and moves like a born assassin. In short, she’s everything I’m not. And she has her fucking hand on Eli’s arm.

Fury roars through me as I stalk towards them.

The girl is speaking to Eli, but his eyes are firmly locked on mine as I storm towards them. I shoot a pointed look down at the hand she still has on his arm. He makes no move to push it away. Instead, he just continues watching me.

“Leave,” I growl as I reach the table.

“Excuse me?” the girl says while turning towards me. When her brown eyes land on me, she flicks a dismissive glance up and down my body while contempt blows across her features. “Oh, it’s you.”

“You have five seconds to…” Pausing, I narrow my eyes at her and instead ask, “What’s your name?”

“Shelley,” she replies with a fake smile on her lips.

“Shelley, you have five seconds to take your fucking hand off his arm and get the hell out of my sight.”

She laughs. It’s a baffled and absolutely disbelieving sound that grates against my eardrums like iron nails. I squeeze my fingers into a fist as she flicks another dismissive glance up and down my body.

“Or what?” she retorts, clearly amused.

A vicious smile laced with utter insanity spreads across my mouth. “You really don’t want to find out.”

At the table, Jace is watching us with a wide grin on his face, looking like he just wishes he had brought popcorn for this show. Both Rico and Kaden glance between me and Eli. But the bastard himself only continues watching me while saying nothing.

Shelley’s chair grates against the concrete floor as she pushes it back and gets to her feet. She’s a good two inches taller than me, but she looks down her nose at me as if I was half her height.

“Are you threatening me?” she says, her voice cutting through the suddenly dead silent cafeteria like a blade.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that your ability to read between the lines was this far below the average level of the general population.” I give her a mocking smile. “Allow me to spell it out for you. Yes, that was me threatening you.”

Someone gasps. A few others snicker. I don’t need to turn around to know that most of the people in the massive room are watching us now.

Anger flashes in Shelley’s eyes like lightning strikes. Drawing herself up to her full height, she takes a threatening step towards me. “You’re going to apologize for that.”

“For what? Stating facts?”

“If you think that I’m someone who lets people get away with insulting me, you’re sorely mistaken.

I nod towards the empty seat two tables away that she presumably came from. “Can I suggest fucking off before things escalate?”

Another round of snickering ripples through the crowd. Kaden is one of them. That seems to be the thing that finally shatters her restraint.

Lurching forward, she grabs me by the shoulder while drawing her other hand back for a strike to my face. But before she can start swinging, she’s wrenched off me and thrown several steps back.

I blink to find Mr. Hansen, our sparring instructor, standing between us. His massive frame physically blocks Shelley’s path to me, but I’m pretty sure that it’s his hard stare that freezes her in place once she has straightened again.

“Knock it off!” Mr. Hansen roars.

Several people around us flinch. Shelley does too.

“The one time I decided to eat in this student-infested cafeteria, there has to be two fucking children squabbling over… Over what?” Hansen snaps. “If you want to fight, you do it in the sparring ring.”

“Oh, please,” Shelley scoffs mockingly, apparently now having recovered from her stunned surprise. A smirk lifts her lips as she gives me a nonchalant once-over. “I would knock your pretty little teeth down your throat in the first ten seconds if I ever faced you in the sparring ring.”

“You—” I begin.

“I said, enough!” Mr. Hansen stabs a hand towards the half full plate still waiting for Shelley at her table. “Sit back down and finish eating your damn lunch.” His hard eyes lock on me. “And you, get something to eat. You’re going to need the energy for the brutal training I’m going to put both of you through this week.”

Shelley stares daggers at me from the other side of his muscular body, but Mr. Hansen doesn’t move.

So in the end, she lets out a soft snarl and starts back to her seat.

“Watch your back, Raina,” she tosses over her shoulder at me. “Because I’ll be coming for it. So you’d better sleep with one eye open from now on.”

Mr. Hansen keeps his eyes on me, as if to make sure that I won’t try to follow her.

When I only slide my hand into my pocket and stand there as she walks away, he at last moves.

“Fucking children,” he growls as he strides towards the doors.

I remain where I am for another ten seconds.

Shelley has already reached her table and is once more sitting there, eating using only her fork. She flashes me a threatening smile as she picks up her knife as well and twirls it in her hand.

Then she flicks a glance towards where Mr. Hansen is disappearing out the door.

Once she’s certain that his back is turned, she locks eyes with me again and makes a show of drawing her knife across her throat.

A low oooh sweeps across the thoroughly enthralled crowd, and a few people chuckle in amusement.

I just stare back at her.