Slow Agony (Assassins, #2)(89)

Keep reading for a sneak peak at The Toil and Trouble Trilogy, Book One.





The Toil and Trouble Trilogy, Book One



Chapter One

“Why’d you drop out of school, Calabrese?” asks Brice. He’s lying on the bench inside the dugout of the community baseball field behind The Shakespeare Theater. It is close to midnight. Hours ago, Brice and I were in the opening night performance of Macbeth . Most of the other members of the play are over twenty-one, and they have all abandoned the opening night party for bars. Brice and I have been drinking backstage for over an hour. We have been drinking too much and too fast, but we don’t realize this, because right now, it feels too good to be buzzed drunk in the night air.

I am sitting up, looking at the dark baseball field through the chain link fence around the dugout. “Family stuff.”

School gets in the way. No one takes you seriously when you’re always trying to do algebra homework. And I’ve been trying to convince the family that I’m serious about taking over the family business while my dad’s in jail.

“Too bad.”

“Why? You sad you never got to ask me to prom?” I ask. Brice is one of those guys who really spreads it around. A real ladies’ man. Player. Whatever you want to call it. Generally, I’d steer clear of him, but tonight, I need a distraction. And being seduced by Brice Ventresca is better than thinking about watching Joey Ercalono gasp on his own blood because my first shot didn’t do the job properly.

He chuckles. “Maybe.”

I snort. “Whatever. No one asks me out.”

“Because they’re afraid of your cousins,” says Brice. “You’re always walking around with half a dozen thugs. You think a guy doesn’t get the message that if he gets within a foot of you, those guys will break his face?”

I look down at him. I haven’t ever thought of that before. Maybe my cousins do scare off guys. “I just figured I was butt ugly.”

Brice sits up a little bit to crack open another beer. “Yeah, that’s part of the male gender’s evil plan. We’re in a conspiracy to convince all girls that they’re unattractive. It makes it easier to get into their pants.”

I shove him. “Asshole.”

His beer spills. “Hey!”

I just laugh.

Brice pushes himself into a sitting position, rubbing at the beer that’s spilled on his shirt. “You should apologize, you know.”

“I’m sorry you’re an *.”

“Hey, f*ck you, Calabrese.”

I keep laughing.

Brice takes a big swig of his beer. “I was going to tell you that you were the farthest thing from butt ugly that I could imagine. But now that you’ve insulted me and spilled beer all over me, I don’t think I will.”

I open another beer too. “Well, that’s sweet of you, Ventresca.”

“Why don’t you call me Brice?”

“Why don’t you call me Olivia?”

He shrugs self-consciously. “Teachers at school always called you by your last name, I guess. Besides, it fits you. You’re all tough and everything.”

I start laughing again. “Oh, tough, huh? You know, Brice, I really expected you to be better at this, given your reputation and all.”

He leans his head against the back of the dugout. “What are you talking about? Better at what?”

If I weren’t so drunk, I’d be too embarrassed to say any of this. “At, you know, getting in my pants.”

He sits straight up, and beer sloshes out of his can again. “That’s what you think I’m trying to do?”

“You’re not?” I feel disappointed, but not mortified, the way I’d be if I were sober.

“No, back up.” He sets his beer down. “You thought I was trying to put moves on you, and you were cool with that?”

I shrug. “It’s been a bad day.”

Brice is staring at me. He doesn’t say anything. He picks his beer up and takes a drink. Then he sets it on the ground. He scoots closer to me on the bench.

I can smell the beer on his breath. I tense up, but don’t move away.

Brice’s arms come around me. It seems so natural the way one arm encircles my shoulders and his other hand settles on my waist. His face moves closer.

I slam my eyes shut. This is happening , I think drunkenly. This is actually happening.

Brice’s lips are against mine. His tongue is in my mouth. It’s nice. It makes me tingly. Tentatively, I move my tongue against his. Ooh. Nice. Even more tingles.

Abruptly, Brice pulls away. “What did you mean, my reputation?”

I struggle to even remember what he’s talking about. My first kiss has dazed me. I’ve thought about kissing guys before. Sure I have. But if I’d known it was going to be that nice, I would have tried to make it happen before. Plus, I’m thinking, if I’m reading everything right, that all I had to do was tell Brice I wanted to, and he was all about it. Maybe this whole thing is way easier than I thought. I stare at him blankly. “Reputation?”

“You said I had a reputation. What are you talking about?”

Oh. Right. I had said that, hadn’t I? What does it matter? I just want Brice to kiss me again. “You know, you’re Brice Ventresca. You’re always with girls. You’re like a player or whatever.”