Giving me the space I desperately need. Craved, almost. That is what would show they care. Not smothering my request.
“What about what I want?” I spit out in a hushed whisper. Eyes still focused forward.
The warmth of his breath fans the ends of my hair. Hitting me in the face as he opens his mouth. I swat them away at the same time his jaw snaps closed. The teacher interrupting my question with one of his own.
Smoothly, he leans back into his seat instead. No longer overcrowding my own as he answers in perfect Spanish.
That one small thing. The fluency with which he speaks spiking my blood pressure from boiling to overflowing.
Further proving the point that he is only here to keep an eye on me. Not because he needs the lesson.
I slouch lower in my chair. You can’t get a hellhound without expecting a little hellfire. That morsel of knowledge the one thing keeping me from snapping at Finn in my next class.
Before the break I didn’t have a single class with any of them, now I have the pair on rotation.
By the time the last class of the day rolls around, I don’t even bother looking to see which one it is anymore. Wordlessly sinking into the front row.
That singular point being where I fuck up.
I thought I had been smart in choosing this spot. Like so many times before, I’d been wrong. Stupidly giving Iceman more range to sink his intense gaze from the very back of the room.
Finn and Eli had only been the warm-ups. I had no idea he’d be in this one. Them I could handle. This one, not so much.
This is the closest I’d been to him in weeks and although I refuse to look back, I can’t deny it. The familiar magnetic electricity that sizzles around us jolts straight to my chest.
It’s as numbing as it is energizing.
I feel so charged that by the time the bell rings, I’ve hatched a new plan. Dodging everyone as I charge from the room.
It probably looks like I’m trying to leave as fast as I can, but really, I need to track down Hailey. First, find her. Then Hardin.
No one wants to respect my wishes and play by my rules, so I’ll make my own.
eleven
Rory
“Whereareweoffto?”
I nearly jump out of my skin and topple down the stairs at Finn’s voice behind me. The ironclad grip I now have on the banister saving my life.
“You’re paying for my heart transplant,” I snarl.
It’s three in the morning. Finn shouldn’t be up for at least another two hours and that’s only because he needs to for weight training. Otherwise, he’d be sleeping in until school.
I’ve been tossing and turning most of the night and thought a run might clear my head. Nerves, I guess.
I hadn’t expected company.
“Why are you up so early?” I whisper-shout. “Go back to bed.”
“I will if you will.”
“I will when I get back.” I want to go for a run.
“Well, then so will I,” he suggests. Bouncing on the balls of his feet.
I am so not in the mood for this right now. It’s too early.