“I love you too, baby. If you want to make this work, then we’ll do it. It’s that simple.”
This day was shapingup to be a weird one.
Aiden kissed me goodbye, giving me puppy-dog eyes like that would make me let him skip class again. Neither of us could afford many more absences, and we were only a few weeks into class. We needed to get back to normal before someone came knocking.
Someonebeing Rafe’s fucking dad, the creep.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t skipping class to avoid him. He’d appeared more than once in a place I didn’t expect him, almost as if he’d been expecting me.
I didn’t know what his affinity was, but given how lame he seemed, it couldn’t be anything too exciting. Rafe was a crazy level of powerful, possessing an affinity not seen in over a century. If his father were just as magnificent, he wouldn’t have had to pursue a position as the head of the WAA.
A deep voice echoed from around the corner, and my jaw nearly dropped.
Speak of the fucking devil.
I slipped into an alcove, wishing for the first time ever that Rafe was following me so he could shadow us. A moment later, Alex walked by, his hands in his pockets while he spoke to…
River Mac.
Oh, my God.
I could not get away from this guy.
Not that it was a hardship seeing him all the time. He was gorgeous, and not just because his eyes were beautiful. His jaw could cut glass, his dark hair a little long on top, intentionally messy. Today, he wore another deep blue hoodie that fit hismuscular form a little better than the one from the other day, and–
“No offense, but you’re not my dad. So fuck off.” River said.
My eyebrows hit my hairline.
“River, please,” Alex sounded bored. “I’m only trying to help you. Your father–”
“Is dead,” River said, cutting him off. “Tellhimto back off.”
Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair.
“You’re not making any friends. He’s worried about you.”
“I’m not a teenager. He doesn’t need to worry about whether or not I have friends. You should get some friends, though, instead of stalking people all over campus.”
I almost laughed, biting my lip so hard I drew blood to keep quiet.
Alex sighed, sounding exasperated. The two came to a stop in front of a bush right next to the alcove I was hiding in, and I cringed. I kept accusing River of stalking me, but what the hell would this look like?
And, because this day was weird, River looked past Alex at that moment, and locked eyes with me.
I froze, not knowing what to do. I could teleport, but he’d already seen me, so that was out.
Fuck. Too bad Zephyr wasn’t here.
“Just tell me why you’re really here.” River said.
Alex blew out a breath as he adjusted his tie. “The shields aren’t holding like they used to. I can feel him getting through, and I think he’s becoming aware of it.”
River winced, dropping his gaze from mine, and I took the opportunity to try sneaking away again. I had no idea what they were talking about, anyway; and outside of his blue eyes and strong jawline and defined abs, River wasn’t that interesting to me.
I was a master at lying to myself, clearly.
River looked back up at me, narrowing his eyes slightly as he replied to Alex.
