I lift my hand to my ribs, a steady ache settling into them with all the movement.
“Are you okay, Ro?” Jace walks between Luc and Drake, cutting off their staring contest. J cups my face, making me meet his grey irises.
“It’s just a little sore, it’s fine.” I brush off his concern.
“What did that asshole do now?” Drake breaks us up.
I sigh. “It doesn’t matter. It’s fine.”
Drake raises one eyebrow, calling me on my bullshit like always. I give him a withering look.
“How do you know Rory?” Luc interrupts.
“I spent a year at Cattle Creek with Hellfire.” Drake tucks his gun back into the waistband of his jeans. The guys look confused by the nickname.
“I saw some assholes drug Drake’s food at lunch—it’s a newbie thing they do,” I explain, my eyes flicking up to Drake. “I knew who he was but the shit they put in…I’ve seen what it does to people.”
“Remind me not to eat at school again,” Dominic mumbles.
“I was just about to start eating when some random girl sat on my lap and started kissing me.” I wince when Maverick growls at Drake’s words. Thanks, dude. “Before I could do anything, she broke it off and whispered in my ear that the food was drugged.” Drake leaves out some minor details, seeing the guy’s faces grow dark.
“For appearances sake, I said something about seeing him after class or something loud enough for people to hear andnot be tipped off.” I silently beg Drake not to say anything but apparently I’m not that lucky.
“Mmm, I’m not sure it went down exactly like that, Hel.” Drake says with a twinkle in his eye as he remembers exactly what I am definitely not telling the guys.
I slap his shoulder and he feigns hurt, grabbing his shoulder.
When we look up, nearly all my guys are scowling at Drake—other than Alec who’s watching him with a calculating, yet neutral, expression.
“Can we take this inside, please?” I ask the guys. “It’s freezing.”
Luc’s eyes finally soften, gradually losing the cold, unnerving glint in them.
Fuck, they must be half frozen. I’m wearing a jumper but the rest of them look like they rolled straight out of bed, all in pyjama pants or sweatpants—no shirts.
Drake hangs back, waiting for the guys to go through the door first. Luc inches closer to me.
“You first.” Luc holds the door open for Drake. He glances at me, clearing wary of having Luc behind him but strides in.
Luc glares at the back of Drake’s head, not moving from the doorway.
I brush his hand with mine and he snaps out of it.
Luc sighs at the nervous, wary expression I must be portraying and places his palm on my back, leading me in.
Alec’s fiddling with the kettle, Dom blearily activates the coffee machine, and the others are carefully watching Drake from the corner of their eyes.
Drake’s leaning against the bench, fiddling with something in his pocket–probably his knife. I notice that he’s intentionally far from the guys, continually shifting to keep them all in his eyesight.
“Tea, Sunshine?” Alec breaks me out of my study of the room.
“Yeah. Please.” I add, yawning. “What’s the time?”
Alec pulls his phone from his pocket. “Five.”
Shit, no wonder I’m tired. Mase and I stayed up working on our artist statements. Apparently Alec was only in Art so someone was with Mason so he switched to Biology with Luc. It’s late to be switching subjects but he’s definitely smart enough to catch up.
“Do you want anything?” I ask Drake. He shakes his head.
