Lady Killer (Dead Girls Club #2)

7. Everest

Chapter seven

Everest

I f I had known going to class with Luz would be this fun, I would’ve introduced myself to her much sooner.

Luckily, I didn’t believe in regret, only opportunities.

The only question was, what snack to bring next time? Was popcorn too cliché? It would stink up the room and piss off Locke, which was always a bonus.

Then again, I knew Luz liked Sour Patch Kids, so maybe I should go with those.

Or both! Salty and sweet.

“ . . . just like last semester, you will have a weekly tutorial where you can bring any questions not covered in class to your TAs . . .”

Good old Locke prattled on in front of the class, a disturbing portion of which appeared to hang on to his every word.

Insipid little sycophants.

When he wanted to be, Locke was probably the most charming of the Blackwells. Idiots flocked to him like seagulls to trash.

Which made the fact that I knew the engorged sphincter was currently raging under the thin veneer of charisma that he wore even more delicious.

To be fair, Locke had some redeeming qualities.

The man had style.

Personally, the suits were too stuffy for me, attracted too much attention. But what he was doing worked for him, and I could respect that.

And he was talented.

His ability to extract information from people was downright alarming. Locke was a deceptively patient animal, despite his combative nature, and was willing to play a longer game than I could ever muster the restraint for.

Unfortunately for all of us, he was also a bitter, uptight, raging control freak whose very existence was anathema to my own. And since Lucian had refused to let me kill, or even maim, his cousin, I was forced to settle for doing everything in my earthly power to get a rise out of him.

“ . . . this term we will dive deeper into the application of the core concepts in addition to exploring some central debates of the field and how they shape contemporary economic discourse . . .”

Goddess, he was pretentious. Worse still were all the students around me lapping up his words like dogs eating shit.

At least Starbright wasn’t falling for it. She was far too smart for hero worship, especially of someone so wildly undeserving.

I knew that despite his smooth, confident delivery, Locke was no doubt losing his shit over my presence in his precious sanctum. I wondered how many different ways he’d fantasized about killing me so far.

It would be a healthy exercise in creativity for him. Locke was an excellent inquisitor but mind-numbingly routine when it came to actually ending people.

As an artist, frankly, I found it offensive.

I rested my hands against the back of my head and began humming the 1990s superhit “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C+C Music Factory under my breath .

Damn, they did Martha Wash wrong.

I was barely loud enough for Luz to hear me, but Locke’s eyes widened infinitesimally, as if somehow he just knew what I was doing, and it drove him mad.

Because he couldn’t kill me either.

I hummed a little louder. Luz looked over at me, her jaw clenched tight, incredulous rage written in her eyes.

Did I mention she was the best part of all of this?

Locke’s obsession with her ran deep, and I was the only one who knew the true extent of it.

I was following her the day of their showdown in his class and her subsequent visit to his office.

When I saw him stalking after her, the good professor had looked damn close to snatching her and gobbling her up. Luckily, for the both of them, I was there to remind Dr. Blackwell that someone was always watching.

As I slowly increased my volume, a couple students nearby picked up their heads, searching for the source of the sound.

I felt no remorse about flaunting my blossoming relationship with her to Locke.

Don’t get me wrong, protecting Luz and basking in her radiant presence was more than enough motivation for me to tag along, but I was still at my core a very bad man. She deserved nothing but honesty from me if this was going to work, so why pretend to be someone I’m not?

“What are you doing?” she whispered through gritted teeth.

Swaying in my seat to the rhythm, I gave her a languorous smile ( see, I can use big words too ) before closing my eyes and losing myself to the music in my head.

I could feel the number of eyes on me growing the louder I hummed.

It was only a matter of time before Locke exploded.

“EXCUSE ME!”

There it was, like clockwork. Nothing but predictable.

Shimmying in my seat, I cracked open one eye to see Locke frothing at the front of the class, standing at the bottom of the steps as if he was holding himself back from marching up here and confronting me directly.

“Is there a reason you are disturbing my class, Mr. Collins ?”

Ah, yes, the emphasis on my name, the constant reminder that he was a true Blackwell, and I was not. I had known the fussy bastard for more than half our lives, and he was still using the same old insults.

Boring!

I toned down my humming but kept dancing in my seat, shaking my head in time with the music .

Locke took a breath, and his expression soured as if he were huffing vinegar.

“Then I must insist you cease making a spectacle of yourself and sit quietly, or else I will need you to leave the classroom.”

And therein lay his dilemma, the reason he had tolerated my presence here today as long as he had.

Unlike the professor, I was anything but predictable, and he knew better than most that there was no telling what I might do if he tried to make me leave before I was ready.

Stab a security guard? Probably.

Burst into showtunes and put on an impromptu performance of Chicago in his classroom? Maybe.

Burn down the lecture hall? Not unlikely.

Would I get in trouble for whatever I did when he tattled on me to Lucian? Sure.

Would that stop me from doing it all over again? It hadn’t yet.

And at the end of the day, there was nothing Locke hated more than losing control and causing a scene that wasn’t of his own design.

Leaning even farther back in my chair, I spread my legs wide and stretched my arms out, careful to avoid Luz. She wasn’t the touchy-feely type, and I needed to show her that I may be a psychopath, but I was her psychopath.

“Sorry, Prof. I’m on security duty protecting this little lady here,” I said, adopting a Texas drawl as I jerked my head toward Luz. I liked to think I was giving off badass spaghetti Western vibes. It fit the whole showdown at high noon energy that Locke and I had going on.

Luz paled. I was positively tickled with delight.

Buckle up, darling, this ride is just getting started. Yeehaw!

“Seems here, some ne’er-do-wells round these parts been causing this pretty thing some problems . . .” I continued, doing my best Matthew McConaughey impression. “And I don’t know about you, sir, but I don’t take too kindly to the sort of riffraff that be thinking they can take advantage of the fairer sex. Ya know?”

“Mr. Collins—?” Locke tried to interject, but I kept going.

I was nailing this.

“Neither does the big man, if ya catch my drift, partner. You know who I mean—the head honcho, el jefe, the—?”

Luz’s hand shot out to grip my leg just above my knee. She drove her perfectly manicured nails deep into my flesh, and the slice of pain she sent through me made my cock jump.

See, Mom was right. All I had to do was be myself.

The muscles in Locke’s cheek twitched as the vein in his neck started to pop, but he stopped speaking. I could practically see the gears turning in his head.

He was currently calculating the odds that Lucian had ordered me to protect Luz.

Unfortunately for him, Locke had been spending more and more time away from the family pursuing his academic thingamajiggers. He wasn’t as in the loop as he used to be.

“ Mr. Collins .” His voice turned slick, oily, as if he, of all people, could cajole me to reason.

If that’s how it’s gonna be, partner, then that’s how it’s gonna be . . . Draw on the count of four . . .

“While I appreciate your commitment to whatever superfluous role you believe might be required of you, I would remind you that I am not required to entertain Miss Torres’s presence in my classroom if it disrupts her classmates. . .”

One . . .

Luz clawed her way even deeper into my thigh.

“Everest,” she whispered, and I could feel her eyes burrowing into my skull, begging me to look at her.

Just hold on, darling.

Two . . .

Locke continued to belabor his point, his confidence growing with each word as he assumed what felt like control of the exchange between us.

As if he could threaten Starbright in front of me and not reap the consequences.

Three . . .

“ . . . so unless you would like your charge to be dismissed from this course, I would suggest you compose yourself.”

Draw!

Faster than lightning, I jumped to stand and unholstered my girls.

Thelma and Louise came out guns a’blazing. Locke never even got the chance to pop off a single shot.

“Pew, pew, pew, pew!”

Four perfect finger blasters, straight to the chest.

Locke’s mouth hung open as I blew the smoke off my guns and re-holstered them.

The girls did good.

The entire class was silent as I tipped my imaginary cowboy hat to him and sat back down in my seat, giving Luz a quick wink and a click of my tongue. “You like that, little lady?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she said, disbelief written all over her face.

“Clinical, morally, or socially? ”

“Mr. Collins, I am going to have to ask to you leave,” Locke boomed, having found his voice again.

I cracked my neck from side to side and stretched out my knuckles.

Looks like we’re headed to round two . . .

Before I could do anything, Luz grabbed me by the arm and stood up. “We were just leaving, Professor Blackwell, my apologies.”

Well, I didn’t like that at all.

If anyone should be apologizing here, it was Locke for making her feel unwelcome. . . and for being such a piss-poor sport when it came to finger duels.

“Not a word,” she cut out under her breath as she dragged me down the aisle with a strength that I wouldn’t have guessed her capable of.

She should really consider some more physical training as well . . .

“You know, if you wanted to get me alone, my darling, all you had to do was ask,” I said as we made our way out of the class, giving Locke the old two-finger salute as we stepped out the door.

“See you at home, old sport,” I shouted.

Once we were clear of the classroom, Luz let go of me but continued to march down the hall, forcing me to take a couple long strides to catch up to her .

“We didn’t have go, you know,” I began. “Locke is all bite and no bark, or is it—?”

“I didn’t leave because of Locke.”

“Then why did we just haul ass out of there?” I asked, genuinely confused. “I was just getting started.”

Luz ignored me, stalking through the entry hall of the old building and out the front doors, leaving me no choice but to follow her. She continued on outside, walking around the far side of the building.

Maybe she does want some time alone with the fastest finger blasters in the West, err, East . . .

I leaned against the wall, one hand behind my head, playing it real cool as she turned around to face me. “Well, hello there, darling—” I began, smoothing back my hair, but she cut me off before I could get any further.

“I just got another text from the killer. Melody is dead.”