Chapter 6: Don’t Kick The Puppy
ADRIEN’S POV
If something doesn’t give, Orion is going to break me.
I can’t keep playing the scared-out-of-my-mind guy who keeps making mistakes— not when I’m playing that game with someone like the Basilisk.
I’ve watched him for five years...I won’t let him lead me around like a dog.
"Why do you keep glaring at me like that?" This man reminds me of a large, problematic feline. "I’m not the one who knocked you out...that was all Orion."
"Get your hand off my shoulder."
He has the nerve to look confused by my irritation when he’s the one who’s leaning on me like a long-lost friend.
"Did he knock the politeness out of you too? Or is this just how you normally are under all that...fear?".
Seriously, I’ve been touched more by these people in the last two days than in the last seven years—it’s honestly irritating.
"I am not afraid of any of you." Give me a gun and I’ll show you how afraid I am of you bastards.
"Is that so?" His brow rises slightly. "Then should I tell Orion you said he isn’t worth fearing?"
This problematic bastard!
"I never said that either."
"Really? I could’ve sworn you did." He slides into the seat on my right, deliberately jostling me. "My apologies, I’m bad at reading between the lines."
"Can’t you just leave?"
I’d be damned if I fall for his friendly act. I haven’t forgotten how my instincts screamed when he walked into the club.
"I can understand you disliking Orion, but why do you not like me?"
I try not to stiffen at the feeling of his head lying on my shoulder. This has to be the third time he’s touched me since I woke up on this jet.
"I don’t have to like you, do I?" When shaking off his head doesn’t work, I get up to switch seats.
His hand clamps down on my arm with strength that doesn’t even surprise me anymore. "Was Orion actually being serious? Are you really this stupid?"
"Let go of— "
There it is again— that sharp look in his eyes— the same one he had when he gave orders to clean up the dead body at the club.
’Chop it up, burn it, and toss the ashes in the sea’
It kills any whisper of rebellion in me.
"You’re in a place where you have no control and no allies, but instead of trying to kiss up or leverage your minor importance, you’re acting like a child."
His words sting like salt on an open wound.
Those amber eyes glint like serrated blades. "I understand acting strong so you can keep your shit together, but you’re weak. You know that and so do we."
The worst part of hearing this is that he isn’t going out of his way to be cruel, he’s just being honest. His grip doesn’t even hurt, he’s just holding me firmly.
If it were anyone else, I would think they wanted to help me. But not him. Not Orion’s right-hand man.
I will not believe in a man whose first reaction to a dead body is amusement with a hint of annoyance.
"Pick your fights wisely, Adrien or you’ll get hurt," he releases my arm, "and honestly, I don’t care enough to want to hurt you. It’d feel like kicking a puppy."
"I am not a dog." I’ll never be able to look at that animal normally because of their comparisons. Never again.
"You’re definitely not. At least dogs know when not to bark." He snorts.
I settle back into my seat quietly, knowing that somewhere on this aircraft, Orion is napping because he hates flying, leaving me with his weird-in-the-head friend.
I don’t even want to think about the last time I was in an aircraft with Orion. I don’t want to think about him at all, but meeting him again has stolen that choice from me.
It has stolen everything from me.
"Do you know anything about what I did after I left?" I keep my eyes on the window, watching his face through the reflection.
"Shouldn’t you be asking me for a favor or something?" He still looks very much amused.
"I’ll take that to mean you don’t know." I see his jaw tighten through our shared reflection. "I have no favor to ask, neither do I have anything to leverage, so please...leave me alone."
A shiver crawls down my spine as he sits up. "Who says you have nothing to leverage?"
"Me. I’m the one who says that."
"And what makes you think that?" He presses on, any trace of amusement gone.
"Because this was never an arrangement I could get out of anyway. No amount of favors or leverage would help me when this is over."
Orion’s ’plan’ would put me back on their radar— Louise and Mother’s. If my life were the only thing at stake here, I would accept losing it without a fight.
But it’s not that easy...it never is.
Orion already has his eyes on every single person I’ve let into my life, and I know him well enough to know that he never bluffs.
Orion Vassilis does not lie. No matter what.
"You say that like you can already see the end." He sneers.
"That would be impossible, because I haven’t been told what’s really going on. I don’t even know whose clothes I’m wearing right now."
I don’t know anything because no one cares enough to tell me anything.
"And yet, you want me to ask you for a favor?" I scoff bitterly. "How many favors would I ask for? How many things would I exchange just to get a grasp of what is going on?"
What can I leverage for you to protect me from Them?
"I think I understand why Orion chose you now." He smirks, amber eyes gleaming ominously.
"Because I’m a realist? Or because I’m just easy?"
"Because you’re fun." He smiles. It’s the weirdest smile I’ve seen— a smile so wide, it looks uncanny.
Then he turns my head to face him, leans forward, and captures my mouth in a brutal kiss. His tongue forces its way into my mouth, canines digging into mine.
I pull away from him ignoring the way his stupidly sharp canines drag across my tongue, causing me to bleed.
"You fucking bastard!" I slap him so hard, my hand hurts from the impact, even though his head barely moves.
I slap him again. And again. And again.Until my palms are stinging badly and I’m huffing trying to catch my breath.
"I’ll fucking kill you!— " I almost choke on my words due to sheer rage.
"Oh, you look so much better like this," he grabs my wrist with ease and pushes me away from him, "all that sad stuff was a serious bummer."
I want to tear him another one, but the stinging pain from my tongue and the blood pooling in my mouth stops me for a moment.
"My name is Niko, and I’m never going to kiss you again. You kiss like an angry dog" He sticks his tongue out, showing me my blood on his tongue, then he gulps it down with a smile.
He just gulped down my blood. He really did it. "I’ll kill you, you sick fuck! You’re the one who kissed me! And you kiss like a fucking wildcat!"
God, my tongue hurts.
