“Do you know something?” Gemma’s question made me pause for a second. I wanted to squeeze my heart to make it stop beating so fast. “Last night…you—”
I cut her off by pulling her to her feet and grasping her chin tightly with my hand. “You’ll be gone soon.” My teeth clenched as I felt her body tense in all the wrong places. “I have everything you need. I’m just waiting on one more document.”
Her perfectly arched brows crowded, and I zeroed in on her parted lips. “What do you mean? All I asked for was a new ID and some money…” She glanced away, mumbling under her breath. “Part of me doesn’t even want it.”
“What? Why?” Surely, she wasn’t planning on staying. Not after the shit I just saw in that basement.
Her voice broke, and I felt the trembling of her chin. Fuck. This was exactly why we were leaving the library. I didn’t want this tonight. I didn’t want to watch her break and feel the world caving in on us. If anything, we needed to cave in on it. Gemma and I together could put stars in the sky. That was how it felt when we touched. It was…intense and powerful. All-consuming. Like the fucking universe swallowing everything in its path. My ribs felt like they were ready to crack open at any given second with her in my arms.
It was terrifying.
“I… It makes me feel like this thing between us was just part of a shady deal. It all started with you needing someone to cover for you and tutor you, and then I asked for something in return. It feels like I’m being paid to…”
“To what?”
She swallowed and brought her attention back to mine, bypassing my question. “What other documents are you getting for me?”
I breathed out a loud sigh, conflicted over the fact that she just held something back. I wasn’t going to push her, though. She’d been pushed enough, especially last night as I claimed parts of her body that I knew had been touched by Richard. I shifted on my feet when heat shot to my thighs. Last night was more than just hot. The way I brought her body to bliss was fueled by more than attraction and lust. The things I said to her...
“Isaiah?”
I cleared my throat, dropping my hand from her chin and pulling her away from the table. “I’m getting you everything you need to disappear, Gem. You’ll need more than a fake ID and some money to get away from a man like Richard Stallard.” Her fingers clenched down on mine, but I kept moving us toward the door. She stopped for a second and pulled her hand away from mine and went and grabbed her journal from the table. We left everything else, which were just the books that neither one of us planned to open. Once she was by my side again, I intertwined our fingers and walked to shut the lights off. “You’ll have a new social security number, a birth certificate, a license—even though you really need some driving lessons...” Maybe I should teach her how to drive before she leaves. “A passport…” I trailed off, glancing down the hall before we stepped into it. I didn’t want to say any more in case there was someone skulking behind a hidden corner. Bain’s plans were still unknown to me, but I knew they had to do with Gemma, and I didn’t fucking like that.
Just a few more days.
“Oh.” Her whisper was a mix between shock and confusion. “Where did you get all that stuff from?”
Jacobi’s face popped into my head at the thought of our phone call. My older brother. The person I’d hated for so long yet still held a tiny amount of admiration for. I admired the selfishness he had. If I were as selfish as him, maybe I wouldn’t feel the sharp pricks of dread in my back every time I looked at Gemma. “There are people that work for my father who would do anything for money, despite their loyalty to him.”
She stayed silent as we continued down the quiet hallway. Most of the faculty members were still awake, but as long as they didn’t see Gemma and me actually leaving the school, they would just think we were walking back to our rooms after tutoring. Though, the SMC was hardly a thought in the back of my mind. They could expel me all they wanted. Jack was no longer a loose end for my father to use and taunt me with. In fact, I hadn’t heard from my father in days. After the whole thing with Gemma, he’d checked in and wanted to know what Bain’s reaction was. After I fed him some bullshit, I told him Bain would likely no longer be messing with the Covens, which was a total fucking lie. He believed it, though, which meant he trusted me, and it was always good to have your enemies’ trust in your back pocket. It pushed him to look into his other business relationships that he felt Bain’s father was trying to steal. It got him far away from the situation that would soon be in my grasp.
And it was no surprise that he hadn’t called to inform me that Jack was no longer at home and in the care of Mary, our nanny. Jack was on vacation as far as anyone knew, and my father didn’t even notice.
Fucking piece of shit.
“Not to change the subject,” I said, most definitely aware that I was changing the subject, “but I have some ground rules for tonight.”
Gemma paused, both of us tucked behind the door that led into the side entrance of St. Mary’s. “Rules? What exactly are we doing? Isaiah, if the duty teacher sees us...”
I clicked my tongue, stepping back to give her a look. “I thought you liked breaking rules, Good Girl.”
She scoffed, rolling her eyes playfully. Even through the shadows, I could see the pink on her cheeks. “Fine. What are we doing, and what are the rules?”
“We’re having fun.” I winked at her and grabbed her hips, pushing her up against the wall. “Because we deserve it.”
“Finally.”Shiner tipped back his flask, swallowing whatever liquor he had in there. “Where have you guys been? You have the only working lighter, and it’s fucking cold.”
I stepped over the crunchy leaves and pulled Gemma beside me. She was clearly confused as she ran her gaze around the small wooded area, locking onto our friends—Shiner, Brantley, Cade, Sloane, and Mercedes—as they all sat on logs.
“What is this?” she asked, whipping her adorable face over to me. She was excited. Her eyes sparkled underneath the stars, and her mouth split in two. She turned back to everyone else. “Did you all just say screw curfew or…?”
Sloane laughed, popping to her feet and running over to Gemma, taking her from me but not before scowling in my direction. I chuckled, half-annoyed that she didn’t like me but half-pleased because I knew the only reason she didn’t was because she knew more about me and Gemma than anyone else—or at least I suspected.Sloane was protective over Gemma, and I was okay with that.
“Girl, we used to do this all the time before…”
A twig snapped, and we all glanced at Cade. He was building the fire we were about to light, and his jaw clicked back and forth like a ticking time bomb. “Before I went and fucked everything up,” he said dryly before looking over at Sloane. “Sorry, I just knew that’s what you were going to say so I might as well say it myself.”
I dug into my pocket and threw the lighter to Cade who caught it with a cat-like reflex and went back to his fire-building. Ready to sit down, I tipped my head to Brantley who remained silent as he watched the girls who sat on the same log together, laughing about something.
“We used to have these small fires on the weekends when there wasn’t a claiming party.”
Sloane started again, ignoring Cade and his remark. “It used to just be me and Journey and maybe an occasional girl for Shiner over there.”
I chuckled when he wiggled his eyebrows.