As my mind flew back to her, I whipped out my phone and pulled up our empty chat conversation.
Cora
Today at 15:01pm
Make sure you’re at the assigned entrance after your class. I’ll be waiting there.
what did i tell you about this morning?
Jesus.
This girl was relentless. Seriously. For someone who never used her manners with me, she sure was hell-bent on turning me into something proper.
Fine. PLEASE make sure you’re at the assigned entrance after class.
congrats, you just gained a bit of your soul back.
and i will. i’m just going straight home tonight.
Noted.
I’d been around Cora for a little over a month now, and already I’d seen her change more than she probably realised. It was the little things that she wouldn’t notice until someonepointed them out. And every time I saw something different in her, it made her angst worth it.
If Cora was still reeling from what happened, if she was too scared that I’d turn out like Jamie, then I didn’t blame her. The only thing I could do was not give up until she was adamant that she was safe with me.
And if that letting her correct me and smiling as she did to make her happy, then so be it.
I quickened my pace when Cora came into view. And… oh shit. That stare did not bode well—
“You’re late. And it’s pissing it down.”
Great, as well as the fabulous weather the city had been graced with, Hurricane Cora was a Category Five and in full force.
That stormy look in her eyes hit like a lightning strike. “Have you seen what time it is?”
I shook the rain from the umbrella as I ducked under the stone awning where Cora waited, vines and purple wisteria dripping overhead.
“Sorry,” I rushed, looming over her. “Traffic was—”
“Uh huh. Yeah, great. Can we go?”
That fire, the one that only seemed to ignite when she was around me, roared to life. It was everywhere; her voice, hereyes, the way she stood. Her voice struck the truest. That thing was a weapon, and every time I got near her, it was pointed straight at me. Some naive part of me thought I’d be desensitised by now. Clearly I'd thought wrong.
I forced on my fakest smile and offered her my stiff arm. “Of course.” I lifted the umbrella. “After you, angel.”
Her dark eyes rolled hard enough that it felt like a stab in my chest. “Call me that again and I’ll put a restraining order on you, too.”
My chest rumbled with a laugh. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
Catching the very end of her glare, she speed-walked ahead of me, but with my long strides I kept up with her, protecting her all-black outfit from the rain until we reached the car and she was buckled in.
Our car rides had been oddly quiet since our brief heart-to-heart when I caught her with the other Rhodes twin. Well, if you didn’t count the steady in-and-out of her breathing, then it was quiet. The rain was covering it today though. Not sure why that made me feel weird.
Gridlocked traffic escorted us all the way home, and all she gave me was a flash of a smile before she got out and slammed the door, all before I could ask if she still needed me to take her to her evening shift at the bakery she worked at.
“Pleasure as always,” I whispered to the spot where she’d just been, before locking up the car and closingthe door—
“Shit.”
