“We can just say we’re studying the stars if they catch us walking back into the school later. Astronomy.” I fought the smile wanting to crawl onto my face.
From the corner of my eye, I could see her shoulders slump. “So that’s why you brought me? You’re still using me as your cover?” She paused. “Do you even take astronomy?” I didn’t, but that was besides the fact.
I caught her staring at me intently, and instead of answering her, I threw a question at her. “Aren’t you using me too, though? You need fast cash and an ID, right?”
She quickly glanced away, unable to come up with anything to say because I was right, even though we both knew that it was total bullshit, especially now after crashing our lips together for the world’s hottest fucking kiss to ever exist.
Bain made another left turn, and I was beginning to think we were going in circles again until he made another turn, and we started on a winding road. There were three cars in between us, making it difficult to keep my eyes on his blacked-out Bentley, so when I spoke next, I kept my attention on the road. “I’m not using you.”
Her voice was soft, and I could hardly hear her over the sounds of the car. “You’re not?”
“It’s a shame that you even have to ask that question after what just happened. And I wouldn’t have brought you if I thought we’d get caught.” I swallowed back the regret I knew my next words would bring. “I brought you because I like having you near.”
“Oh,” she whispered, glancing down at her intertwined fingers. It took a moment for her to speak again, but when she did, there was a swift change in the air. “Why do you have to follow Bain for your father?”
Gemma’s hands unclasped, and her arm brushed against mine as she placed it on the center console. Even through our clothed arms, I felt the heat. “That’s a question I can’t answer.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
My response was quick. “Won’t. Just like you won’t answer any of the questions I want to ask you.”
A moment passed before she nodded. “Fair enough.” And then an easy silence came over us. It was as if she knew that we were crossing over into those dangerous depths of questions and answers that neither of us wanted to get into. It was so fucked of me to bring her tonight, and even more so if I were to start filling her in on everything that my life entailed. It was better if she were left in the dark on this one.
“So…” I glanced at her, and she caught my eye. Need pulled deep in my stomach as my arm brushed hers again. “Are you liking St. Mary’s?”
An abrupt, choppy, squeal-like laugh left her lips, and I snapped my attention over toward her for a second before putting it back on Bain’s Bentley. “What?” I asked. “Why are you laughing?” And why did I feel my lips turning upward at the sound?
Her light laugh filled the car again, and it was like an awakening. Why haven’t I heard her laugh before? My chest was twisting, and I suddenly wanted to make her laugh again.
“Because…” She dropped her head so low that her hair fell forward, but I could still hear the amusement. “We go from talking about sneaking out of school to follow Bain on some secret mission, and now you’re asking if I like St. Mary’s?”
My fingers flexed on the wheel. “Don’t forget the whole kissing and touching thing before all of this.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed how she brushed her hair away from her face, and without even looking, I knew her face was flushed. “Right. How could I forget that?” Then, she began again. “Let’s see… My first few days here, I’ve been shoved inside a closet with the school’s most popular bad boy, had a rumor started that I was the new slut of St. Mary’s, then I was dragged underneath the school to my first-ever party, and someone attempted to claim me before I even knew what that meant, and I ended up with a concussion later that night. Oh, and then I was shoved in another closet after curfew. And I somehow started tutoring said bad boy from that first day of school…which really isn’t tutoring at all, so...”
I finished for her. “So basically, you fucking love it.”
Her laugh was loud, and I grinned. “Actually…” She leaned her head back onto the head rest. “I do.”
“Let me guess.” I sat up a little taller, squinting through the mist that fell onto the windshield to see where Bain had pulled into. My stomach knotted, but I didn’t let Gemma see my concern. “Your favorite part was being shoved into a closet with me on the first day. Am I right?”
Her smile lit up the whole goddamn interior. There was a glossy gleam to her eye, and at some point, she’d raised the hood of Cade’s jacket, making her look adorably mischievous. Most of the time, she looked so focused and stoic, almost sad at times. But tonight? There was a glow around her. A carefree spirit that was just begging for a taste of life. Maybe it had something to do with what had happened earlier.
I wanted to kiss her again.
In fact, I wanted to do a lot of things to her.
Putting the car in park, Gemma glanced out the window. “Where are we?”
My fingers flexed around the wheel. I glanced through the windshield once more and held back a growl. “Somewhere I hope you never learn about.”
The Covens.
Why the fuck was Bain at the Covens? Was his father supplying guns here now? This was my father’s domain. The Huntsman’s. This entire city was my father’s, and when he learned that Bain had been over here, he would go on a rampage to find out why. This was grounds for a fucking war.
Gemma’s voice brought me back down to the ground as my thoughts began jumping. “The Covenant Psychiatric Hospital.” Her head turned away from the window as the sign for the hospital glowed brightly against the wet glass. “Why is that so familiar to me?”
Ice coated my veins. A hand squeezed around the muscle inside my chest. No. “Maybe you’ve driven past it?” A million and one questions rushed to the tip of my tongue as I began fishing for information. It wasn’t common for someone to know of this place. It was a psychiatric hospital, yes, and in the front, it looked like any normal facility for the ill. But on the backside? Underneath the floors of those who truly were sick, it was hell. Pure fucking hell. If Gemma knew what the Covens was, then there was a lot more to her than I thought.