He just smiles, tapping away on his phone.
The doors slide open and we pile in, leaving the creepy freshman in the lobby.
Getting back to the apartment can’t come soon enough.
20
The elevator stops on the third floor, and the doors slide open to reveal my fiancée.
Just great.
“Where have you been?” Jordan screeches. “I thought you were dead!”
“Only on the inside, dearest. Only on the inside,” I mutter. Fuck, my tiredness is soul deep—if I had a soul that is. “But I’m back now. I’ve got to go clean up.”
“No doubt,’ Jordan sneers. “I was told you were in Amsterdam. You’re filthy. Did all your clothes get peed on by Red Light whores?”
As repellent as that sounds, I’d still prefer the piss-scenario to my current situation. I’d hoped to just slip into my apartment and shower off the filth of both the inter-realm travel and too much time in a Defectivum basement, but no chance of that.
Whirling around on a kitten-heel, Jordan points a shiny fingernail at first Donovan, and then Wes. “And you! What the fuck?” The twins look bored, not acknowledging her. It warms my cold heart.
“What about me?” Maximus asks, putting a whine into his voice. “Don’t I get a dressing down too?”
That’s not going to happen. Max isn’t powerful or wealthy enough for Jordan to bother with. No, she just likes the upper echelons of the Elite. She and I, as King and Queen of the Academy, but in her perfect scenario, Wes and Dono would be panting after her as well, maybe with the occasional four-way thrown in.
“COSMO!” I tune back into Jordan’s squawking.
“Look, I’m beat,” I tell her. “Catch up with you tomorrow.” I know I have to keep her at least somewhat sweet, so I pour some sugar on my words. “I went to the Netherlands because I had a meeting with a dealer at the…er…Royal Bakker Diamond House.” Summoning a smile from the bottom of my reserves, I give her an almost sincere look. “I’m sure you can imagine why I was diamond hunting.”
In an instant mood swing, Jordan clasps her hands together in a manner I could almost call glee. Other than the fact that everything she does is fake.
“Oh, Cosmo,” she gushes.
I blink a couple of times, then manage to continue smiling. “So, dearest, to prevent any spoilers, don’t ask me anything more about my trip, agreed?”
“Agreed.” Now she’s almost purring. “You poor thing, you look wrecked. I’ll come up and scrub your back.” As she gets close and nuzzles against me, my dragon shifts uneasily inside.
“Sorry, Jo-Jo,” Donovan says, slamming his body into mine so Jordan has to move away. “Wes and I got terrible scabies whilewe were in, er, Tunisia, and we kinda passed it on to old Cos. The only scrubbing going on tonight will be a cream the healer prescribed for the four of us.”
She shrieks, immediately stepping back, and the love I have for Donovan almost explodes.
Max meets my eye and grins. “Yeah, but, if you’re willing to take a dose of scabies for the team, you’re more than welcome to cream me up, Joey-girl!”
A roar of laughter comes from Wes, and my shoulders relax. I was worrying that Wes was… gone somehow. The relief is so profound I could weep, if that was something I ever did.
But then Wes’s laughter peters out, and his face turns blank again.
Jordan's glare returns, and she directs it at Max, Donovan, Wes, and finally at me. "Tunisia? Scabies?" she spits, the words dripping with disdain. "This is not a joke, Larsen. You’llallhave to be medically quarantined, and it’s the All Hallows Ball at the weekend!” Jordan couldn’t look more horrified if she tried.
"No need to bust a nut, Jo-Jo," Donovan says, looking earnest, which only makes Max's grin wider. "We’re self-quarantining.”
“You’d better be,” she snarls, moving even further away from us as she takes out her phone. “It says you’ll be clear twenty-four hours after treatment. Thank Gods for that. I would never have forgiven you if you’d fucked up my plans. And Daddy said there was going to be anextremelyimportant announcement at the ball. I overheard him telling Mother thateverythingis going to change. What if the WMO is introducing a monarchy, Cosmo? We really could become King and Queen.”
What the fuck? She’s delusional.
Though it’s true that I can’t ditch her and not go to the All-Hallows event. If my father got wind of me missing one oftheElite social events of the year, for something as pedestrian as scabies, there would be hell to pay.
Jordan raises her chin. “And I hope you’ve arranged proper transportation. I don’t want to arrive in your stupid Lotus, it’ll crease my dress.”
