The guy beside Chase is also easily identifiable. Lance Cain takes a cigarette from his pack out.
“Security is going to give you shit again, Lance,” the third man says. She can’t quite make him out, although he has a large physique.
“Fuck the rent-a-cops,” he says back in a challenging tone.
“I almost want them to catch you,” the third man says. “All this shit could have been over by now, if you didn’t get in the way.”
“Like you have any chance of winning,” Chase says with a devilish smile. “Jaxson, you never had a chance. You may as well duck out now before you embarrass yourself. Your problem? You don’t have the balls to finish it.” Chase looks at Lance. “Same for you as well, which surprises me. I’m beginning to think you’re just a huge pussy, Lance.”
Lance takes the torch in his hand and uses it to light his cigarette. “The King is open to any challengers.”
Jaxson laughs to himself, but Chase continues to smile at him, not in a welcoming way. He almost looks psychotic with the flickering torch near his face.
“You fucked with me too, Lance,” Chase says. “Pull that again, and maybe this ends with you instead of her.”
Lance breaths out a large puff of grey smoke into his face. “Any time. Any where.”
Chase laughs. “My gun range, with pistols. We can do an old school dual.”
Danna’s phone—which she had placed on the bottom of the crate—starts to vibrate. She thought she had her phone on silent, and freaks out with every vibration her phone makes.
She notices the call is from Elle, and quickly rejects her call. She immediately turns off her phone completely.
“Elle, you have the worst fucking timing,” she thinks to herself. Danna looks through the peep hole, only to find Chase and Jaxson still there, but no Lance. She quickly looks through some of the other holes, but can’t see him anywhere.
A few more cloaked people walk into the clock tower. Jaxson nods at a few of them s they pass.
Jaxson looks back towards Chase. “Can you do it? Seriously? It’s all I’ve been thinking of since they told us what was expected.”
Chase continues to smile at Jaxson. With every word, his smile widens. “This is going to be too easy.”
Jaxson sighs. “So the Ritual, you’re cool with it? I mean, it’s pretty fucked up.”
Ritual?
Jaxson continues. “You’re telling me you don’t have any feelings for her?” Chase says nothing. Jaxson smirks. “You truly are cold hearted, Chase. A fucking psycho.”
Chase folds his arms. “Elle Maven is just a means to an end. I need to win this. Ever since Arthur Cain won against my father, he’s hung it over my dad for over twenty years. It’s my time now.” Chase looks off into the distance. “I don’t give a fuck if you heard that. You think you’re royalty around here. You’re just a loser who hasn’t realized he lost already.”
Jaxson shoves Chase. “You guys are like cats and dogs. Let’s go, Chase. Your dad’s going to be pissed if he thinks you’re late again.”
Chase gives another look towards the crate. Danna almost feels caught, until she realizes he’s looking past her. Chase and Jaxson walk towards a group of other flickering torches in the near distance.
Danna breaths slowly.
Danna feels her heart racing. It feels like it’s going to burst out of her chest. As soon as the Beasts meeting is over, she will tell Elle everything. Hell, she recorded it. There’s no denying what’s happening. She is the focus of everything. She is part of some Ritual that Jaxson, Chase, and Lance are in.
Just when she thinks she’s alone, she hears a deep voice. “They think I’ve lost. I’ll show them both.” Danna hears Lancelot Cain breath out smoke. Some of it enters through the tattered sheet. With her heart racing and respiratory system excited, the smoke quickly enters her virgin lungs. She can taste the cigarette as if it’s on her own lips. She feels like she’s about to cough, but manages to maintain her silence by squeezing her fingers into her mouth harder.
She feels a gust of wind on the backside of her neck as the sheet is removed above her. She looks up and sees Lance staring coldly at her in return.
He smirks. “How much of that did you get?”
Chapter 12
I finish putting on my makeup and check myself out in the mirror. I’m wearing a new black dress that fits my figure well.
I have no clue how to dress for Bryce’s gala, but feel like I look damn good.
I call Danna again for the umpteenth time, but it goes straight to voicemail. We were supposed to go together to the function, but she hasn’t texted or called me back in over a day. I don’t understand why she’s been so distant lately. When I text her, she sends me back one-word answers. When I call, she doesn’t answer. When I see her at school, she looks like she’s hasn’t slept in days.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with Danna. Even though she’s a new friend for me, I need to call her out on this kind of stuff. I plan on doing so at some point tonight, if she even shows up.
Since she was my ride there, I need to figure out something. I have a few more hours before the function starts. I consider taking a taxi instead of calling Thomas Winters for a ride. When I’ve called him lately, I can almost hear him swear under his breath.
The man is a driver for Arthur Cain, and gets all prissy when I need a ride? I don’t get it.
I look at my phone and see a text from Bryce, asking if I’m still coming. The man needs constant assurance that I’ll be there. I
