“Why aren’t you in class yet?” I heard a deep voice behind us ask, and I turned to see Frosty frowning at me.
“And just how is that any of your business?” Jasmine tossed her braids over her shoulder and scowled at him.
He looked at her in confusion, like he hadn’t noticed the two people walking with me. “She’s mine,” Frosty stated in his no muss, no fuss tone of voice.
“Oh, this is going to begood.” Damien rubbed his hands together in glee.
Jasmine narrowed her eyes at Frosty, then asked me, “Is this one of the tall glasses?”
I shrugged, “Maybe?” It definitely was, but damn, I just needed a moment.
“Girl, you definitely have some explaining to do.” Jasmine turned to Frosty, “Just so we’re clear, if she accepts you as Faction, you arehers, not the other way around.” She raised her brow, “Don’t make me have to tell you twice.”
She motioned with two fingers, pointing from her eyes to his, “I’m watching you.” Jasmine turned and pulled me into her arms, giving me a tight squeeze. “We’ll talk later.” She whispered in my ear, then left with Damien to exit through the back doors.
I blew out a breath, “Frosty, why are you here? I told you I needed a minute.”
“I gave you eight, isn’t that a sufficient amount of time to catch your breath?” I wanted to be mad, but he looked bewildered by my anger.
“I guess it’ll have to be,” I sighed. There was no point in being angry with him. “Let’s get to the maze.” I put my arm through his as we pushed through the doors.
I stopped abruptly when I saw John and Jesse waiting at the bottom of the steps.
“You too?” I rolled my eyes. These men were utterly ridiculous.
Jesse laughed in amusement, “At least we waited out here. It looks like Frosty didn’t even have the patience for that.”
“I calculated the maximum amount of time someone would need to gather their thoughts. I then gave her an additional twominutes just in case my calculations were off.” He smirked, “But I’m never wrong, so that was just an extra kindness. I’m known for that kind of thing.”
All three of us just stood there with open mouths. Was he for real?
“It would be difficult to use mathematical equations to calculate how much time a person needs to regroup,” John explained quietly.
“Maybe for you.” Frosty snarked back.
“Maybe for anyone sane,” Jesse mumbled under his breath.
“Come, Adelaide. Let’s get to class. There are several areas that I think could use improvement in your preparations for initiation.” Frosty grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
I turned and gave the twins a pleading look, and they fell in behind us. Maybe Rue’s nickname should have been Bossy pants instead of Frosty, because that’s what he was.
Chapter 6
John
We arrived at the Maze, as we affectionately called it, a vast field containing tall hedgerows going in every direction. They shifted regularly and formed courses we had to run.
There were various apparatuses scattered throughout the area, along with predators just waiting for you to slip up. Emberhold wanted us to be prepared for every situation that we might encounter during initiation.
We found a spot off to the side and began stretching. Some of the guys we’d been hanging out with paused to glance at us with curiosity when they saw us around Adelaide.
Neither of us was known to hang out with women long-term.
Most Passives slept around, hoping to get lucky and find Faction members. (It wasn’t always as easy as a touch on the hand.) When it became clear that it wasn’t going to happen, we tended to move on—no harm, no foul.
Now and then, we encountered a stage five clinger who didn’t want to follow our rules. I didn’t sugarcoat it when thathappened, mainly because I made it clear from the start that, unless there was a connection, it was just a release.
My twin, on the other hand, tried to joke his way out of it to avoid hurting anyone's feelings. When that didn’t work, he was willing to get a little more aggressive.
