It's a text from Sam I get. I read it with disbelief, rolling my eyes at how many gossip girls I live with.

I'm annoyed that this shit's spreading around. Even though it's only Sam and she already knows about my migraines and I know she would never tell a soul about them, I still don't like it.

And I swear if Gabrielle had anything to do with Sam finding out about it, I'm seriously not going to be happy about it. Gabrielle's starting to cross some limits and is becoming a little too close to me for my liking. She thinks I won't do anything, but she couldn't be more wrong.

I stare down at the text. And stare some more. What the fuck? Honestly, what the fuck?

Now I definitely know Gabrielle told her.

Not only am I going to kill Gabrielle, I'm going to murder Sam, too.

She put me in a really bad mood now. She knows how I feel about Gabrielle, yet she keeps making remarks like that. And to her, too.

It reminds of a few nights ago. When she dared Gabrielle to kiss me. While she was drunk out of her mind and didn't know what she was doing, Sam dared her to kiss me.

I have no idea why she did that, but it seems like she's determined to see us together. What she doesn't see is that she's too fucking good and innocent for me. I'd destroy her life and she'd hate me forever for it.

That kiss was still ... something. It shook me. Probably because I thought she wouldn't have the guts to do it. And now she probably doesn't even remember it.

That's pretty ironic.

But I think it's for the best that she doesn't. It's bad enough that I let her touch and comfort me a few nights ago in my room when I was at my weakest. And she wasn't intoxicated then so I know she remembers everything perfectly fine.

I don't even know what got into me then. She was there, she boldly caressed my hair and massaged my head, which helped me, so I let her do it. It's not a big deal. I just didn't want her to see me like that.

I didn't want her to know my weaknesses.

But it only seems that the more I try to scare her, the more she's pushing back. It's like I can't break her. And I don't know what to do to keep her away from me.

I get another text from Sam.

She's asking me about going to the race that happens every night. I rarely ever miss it and when I do, I have a pretty good reason for it. But like I said, it rarely happens.

And tonight, I'm not really feeling it. I don't have any particular reason for it, I just don't feel like going.

I'm really turning into a softie. What's going to be the next thing? Buying flowers for my Mum and helping Rosanna in the kitchen?

That's Gabrielle's job, not mine.

Maybe it would be a good idea to stay away from her awhile. Her character is starting to rub off on me.

I didn't go these past nights when I was at home, laying in my bed with a migraine, but there's no question of going or not going now. There's just no other option for me.

•••

The smell of oil and the sound of motorcycles puts me in the right mood. I start to feel the headache again. I've stayed in my bed for days, just resting because I basically couldn't do anything with that pain. It was bothering the heck out of me, but I was still powerless and couldn't do anything about it.

I don't have time for this anymore. It's time to get back in the game.

"Yo, Sin! Glad to see you're still alive," Roy, one of the boys in our group, greets me.

I shrug and lean forward on the motorcycle, resting my hands over the handlebar. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily," I state cockily.

Other guys come over to greet me with their significant statements. Nothing nice. Never nice. We don't know what nice even means. And we all know what everyone means with their words. We're blunt, we can joke, but it's never in a nice way. We still don't get offended.

That's how it works. Better this than to embellish the truth and wrap it in a fucking shiny paper. Because when you unwrap it, it means the same thing.

"Sin. Where's the babe from the other night?" Ripper asks.

I smirk and shake my head. "You aren't going to see Sophie with me anymore."

Ripper chuckles. "No, not Soph. The other one, that hot piece hanging over you at the Killa Mafia's party."

I stare at him. "There wasn't any other babe hanging all over me. If there was, I'd surely remember it."

"For fuck's sake, Sin, she fucking kissed you on a dare!" Ripper says, losing his patience.

I sit up straighter and glare at him. I point at him with my hand. "Watch your tone with me, boy. Things could quickly get out of hand here," I tell him in a dark voice that lets him know I'm not even close to kidding and that he better rethink his next words.

Ripper sighs and rubs his lips in frustration. "I need the name, Sin."

I raise my brows at him, deciding to torture him a little further. "Why?"

He looks at me as if I lost my mind. "Because she's hot as fuck? And I want to have a taste?"

I cock my head on the side and now it's my turn to look at him as if he lost his mind. I lean forward again, my movements slow and threatening. "And since when am I playing a Santa around here and sharing the girls with everyone?"

"The fuck, man?" Ripper asks in confusion and annoyance. "You didn't mind sharing Sophie. What are you playing at? Come on!" he urges me.

"Because Sophie loves going around," I say slowly, pronouncing every word if he might be stupid enough not to realise that fact.

"And the girl from the other night ... doesn't?" Ripper asks with doubt. He looks as if the thought didn't even cross his mind.

"No," I simply say. Thinking about Gabrielle being like that ... the thought is laughable. The nuns would admire her for her innocence.

"But you ..." Ripper looks lost. He looks like he's solving some problem inside his head. "You kissed her?"

"What the fuck do you want, Ripper? Say it or leave my sight, I don't have time for this bullshit," I bark at him. It's my turn to be annoyed now.

Why does he feel the need to remind me what happened with Gabrielle? I don't want to hear it. I don't want to remember that anymore.

She's not the first girl I've kissed and she's certainly not the last. Maybe I haven't kissed others in the way I did Gabrielle – or it's better to say that the last time a girl dared to kiss me was probably in the elementary school, in the first triad, but fuck, if people can't mind their own business, we're going to have a problem.

Especially if they keep throwing this bullshit at my face at every corner.

It happened. Move on. She's not something I could brag about. Case closed.

Ripper lifts his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, man." He shakes his head. "I just can't believe ... Who is she, then?" he wonders. If I didn't know him better, I'd say he fell in love.

Fucker.

But I know that's not the case. He liked what he saw, he'd like it even better if he could have it in his bed and then he wouldn't remember that girl existed any longer. Same ritual for everyone. And, yes, even for me.

Even when Sophie and I had a thing.

We weren't in a relationship. She was with others, I was with others and we were both happy at how things stood. Until she suddenly started having jealous fits about Gabrielle. That's when I had enough of her.

Well, I've had enough of her a long time ago. She was good in bed and that's the only reason she lasted as long as she did.

"Alexander."

Oh, Satan, you're really deciding to give me your whole attention tonight, aren't you?

I turn around with a sigh, doing it slowly so it looks like I'm really in no hurry to acknowledge the person behind me. "Gabrielle. What can I do for you tonight?" I ask with a sweet, fake smile.

"Gabrielle. So that's your name." Fucking Ripper. Of course he didn't leave when he should have. That boy's not as smart as I thought he was.

I look at him with a warning, but he has eyes only for Gabrielle.

"And you are?" Gabrielle asks sassily, lifting her eyebrow.

I look at her, standing there looking all badass. I see she's not wearing clothes by Sam's choosing tonight because she wears ripped jeans and a simple grey shirt. And her face is bare of any makeup.

"Ripper. So nice to meet you." He gives her a flirtatious smile, looking her from head to toe.

I roll my eyes and sigh in disappointment. Did he lose all brain cells or something? Since when are we chasing girls around here?

"Ripper!" I get his attention to me with my harsh tone. "Why don't you go prepare for the race and save yourself from further embarrassment, huh?" I let him know that this is not advice, not even a request. It's a demand.

Ripper looks at Gabrielle again who's looking down at the floor now. She looks shy all of a sudden.

"I really want to kill you right now," Ripper says under his breath.

I chuckle loudly. "You can only try," I say with amusement, knowing he wouldn't dare to even lift a hand on me. What a sucker.

"Later. Gabrielle." He nods in her direction, smiling like an idiot. I want to smack him across his head and ask him what the fuck his problem is. He's acting like an idiot.

I turn to Gabrielle with a glare. "What do you want?"

She puts her hands in her jeans pockets and puts the pressure on one leg, bending the other knee. She looks casual, pushing her head high up, but I see the bile she swallows down.

I can barely hide my smile. She's not as brave as she makes it look, after all.

"I want to talk to you. And since you were avoiding me all day today at home ..." she trails off, cocking her head on the side.

"Avoiding you?" I ask out with laughter. "Little one, do you think you're that important that I even think about you and where you'll be so I don't see you?" I sigh mockingly. "And what reason do I have to ignore you? Huh?" The laughter is just bubbling inside of me.

"I want to talk about what happened the other night," she says.

The bubble of laughter explodes. You know shit is serious when I have the need to ask, which night? Because there are two nights now that some things happened I know shouldn't have. "And what happened the other night?" I ask her, making it sound casual.

I hope she had some other reason to speak to me than that. And if I had to choose, I wouldn't want her to bring any night up since I don't have any good explanation for the things that happened.

Well, one night she kissed me. I only returned the kiss. And the other night I was in pain and didn't really have much choice but to stay there and do nothing.

"The kiss, Alexander. Don't tell me you don't remember it because I know you'd be lying," Gabrielle states boldly, lifting her eyebrow up at me, daring me to object.

Fuck, do we really need to have this conversation now?

"And you thought I'd want to talk about your drunken mistake ... why?" I ask her with fake kindness.

"Police! Clear out, clear out!" someone to my right suddenly shouts.

The words nobody ever wants to hear. And I mean ever.

The chaos starts in only seconds after the words are shouted out from some boys who notice the police coming.

Fuck. This day is going to complete shit.

I start my motorcycle and look around to make sure everyone heard it and they're all clearing the place, trying to get away from here as soon as possible.

Then I chance a look at Gabrielle who's just looking around her, looking a bit panicked and lost.

I look through the crowd, unsuccessfully trying to spot Sam or Snake.

I don't have time for this bullshit. I have to get out of here. And if Gabrielle gets in trouble, she could rat us all out.

"Jump on," I yell.

Gabrielle turns her big, round eyes at me, not knowing what to do.

"Sit on or I leave without you," I tell her with a growl.

She looks around her once more before she decides she doesn't have any other choice. Smart girl that she is, she climbs on behind my back.

As soon as she wraps her arms around me, I speed off.