Into deception

Surely you know

📚

"I just mean she comes over here and acts all at home, like she's wanted. News flash, blondie, no one wants you here."

She rises from her chair, putting her weight onto the table, although she doesn't move any further than that. I know exactly what she wants; she wants a scene, something she can use to finally prove herself, and honestly, it's sad.

"I'll leave the second the sun starts to set, relax. Being here is the last thing I want, trust me on that."

"I don't. Not when all you do is fuck up things around you—"

"Take a seat, Himiko," Max orders, already beginning to work the dough for the pizza. I contain the smile threatening its way to the surface.

"Mind your fucking business, cunt—"

"Don't talk to him like that," I interrupt, getting pissed off now. Talking to me like that is one thing, but coming for Max is a whole different story.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mia. I didn't know you two were together like that. You hop around quite fast."

Bane has officially stopped whatever he was doing, and I don't know what to expect from him, but what I do know is that this bitch is about to get her tongue removed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I move forward slightly, standing right on the other side of the table. Bane stands too, walking around the island, and I catch myself following his every movement. Even if Max said he wouldn't hurt me, there's always a what if at the back of my mind, and that little voice has kept me alive for this long, so I'm not about to start doubting it now. He stops at the sink and sets his cup down inside, and it's only then that Himiko manages to steal me out of my concentration.

"You know what I mean."

I look back at her just in time to see her roll her eyes. "Please do explain, and while you're doing so, we'll all just pretend we don't know what this is really about."

This time she comes forward, and I don't move an inch as she stops right in front of my face. Deep down, I pray she swings. Please swing.

"Wanna clarify that?"

She's as tall as I am, maybe an inch shorter, but I'm satisfied when her eyes have to rise just a little too high for normal to actually look at me.

"We had this conversation at a ball, Himiko. Don't tell me you don't remember now."

I smile as I push every single button I can find, and just like that, I seem to have clicked a very specific one because she raises her hand and swings it straight toward my face.

Except it never hits me.

The hand around her wrist is so familiar that I know immediately who it belongs to. His chest brushes against my back, and I shudder inside from the feeling that comes with it. His grip tightens until Himiko's wrist turns bright red, and the look on her face is both priceless and heartbreaking because she's clearly hurt by this, by his choice of who to protect and the fact that it isn't her.

"Bane..." Her voice falters around his name, and then, just like that, she looks back at me with murder pouring through her gaze. The thing is, I've seen that look so many times on so many people's faces that it doesn't bother me anymore. Every person who has ever looked at me like that is long dead.