We Are Monsters | The Curse of Lykaon

Chapter 11 - Dog-Eat-Dog World

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Giannis' mouth seemed to hang lower than my own. He was voiceless yet screaming at a ghost. Imagine being in the presence of a Mavros – that is already jarring enough if you're not me. Now add that the fact that you were an old schoolmate, and you hadn't heard from your friend in years. It was always so strange to see these boys hanging out in the same group. To me, it looked like they had nothing in common. That there was an unspoken competition laid out under the façade of friendship. When the Mavros family dropped off from the face of the earth, Giannis took it upon himself to take over the role as the super masculine and super sexy man of town. He wore that crown well.

Now the dead had come back to life.

Or maybe that was just me projecting because Lycius, in my eyes, was always more attractive than Giannis. Now the competition was back and that very well threatened his existence – his pride as a man.

I was shaken for a different reason.

It was Lycius Mavros. Not the wolf but the man.

Arianna stepped out of the house and was struck by the same outrage. 'No. Way.'

'Is that... Lucky?' Giannis said barely registering us girls anymore. He paced to the car and froze like a deer in the headlights once Lycius climbed out slamming the door behind him. My gaze darted between the two very different men before me then turned to Ari, my eyebrows arched in question. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? She rushed forward eager for what trouble was brewing with a glass of water in hand. I didn't give myself a second to process the need for her to prove me wrong and turned back to the boys.

I analysed Lycius' attire and the set-up was enough to let my hand wander to the ribbon on my flushed neck. My eyes flitted to his leather jacket resting over a tightfitting black turtleneck, a thin silver chain lounged over the top. He wore dark jeans with silver buckles and belts strapped to his thighs, and some worn-out combat boots tying the smart-punk look altogether.

When he reached for the lollipop residing in his mouth, I noticed the silver rings glinting under the greying sky. My fingers trailed up to the nape of my neck, all of me was burning up. I wondered if Giannis was as flustered as I was.

The "am I a whore?" audio started playing in a loop in my head.

'Hey John,' Lycius said. He put the lollipop back into his mouth and casually strolled past Giannis to pick up the easel at my feet. Watching him kneel down in front of me shouldn't have sent a heatwave to knock me out. My supplies might as well have melted into the concrete with me. I was completely blindsided by the curve of his jaw, at the tongue swishing the lollipop about as he straightened my equipment and dared to look me in the eye.

My cheeks were hot, my whole body was roaring fire and here he was acting too calm and collected.

'I thought Calix was picking me up,' I said.