Alec’s eyes fall to Eli. Ribbons of tension coil between them. This is new territory for me, this standoff. It’s like dogs fighting over a juicy bone. I’ve never been anyone’s bone before. The dark part of me – the same part that remembers the blood splattered on my reflection, the weight of earth pressing down on my tomb – likes it, but only if Eli wins.
“This isn’t your business, Hart.” Alec tries to smile, but it comes out more like a grimace. My skin buzzes with an electrical charge – a surge of power clashing as the two of them face off. Or maybe it’s Eli’s arm resting against mine. Maybe it’s the hint of danger in his friendly eyes – that carefully constructed facade of gentility crumbling away to reveal the feral animal beneath.
Eli tilts his head to the side, his tone friendly, his words anything but. “You’ve got your hand on a woman who’s not yours, and violence in your eyes. I consider that my business. Let go of her.”
Alec’s mouth twists up as he weighs his options. Two of his friends step forward, but from behind Eli, I notice a shadow move. Gabriel slouches up to my other side, peering down at Alec from over a pair of aviator sunglasses. With his leather jacket slung over his shoulder and the tattoos peeking out from his collar and cuffs, he looks tough as shit, but I doubt Gabriel would ever get into a fight and risk messing up his hair.
He doesn’t need to. At Stonehurst, power doesn’t come from your fists, and Gabriel has power Alec can’t buy.
A murmur ripples through the hall. Everyone has noticed who stands on my side. Alec’s two friends step back. Alec flings my arm down like he can’t stand to touch my skin any longer. “Well, Ice Queen. I see you put out for Hart and Fallen. Perhaps it is ghostslutafter all.”
A snarl escapes my lips before I can stop it. Alec laughs as he turns back to his friends, but they slink off down the hall. There’s a palpable release of tension in the air, and students turn back to their friend groups. A warm hand slides up my arm. Eli’s dark eyes are full of concern. “He didn’t hurt you?”
Gabriel throws his arm around me. “I think Alec was the one in danger from Mackintosh here.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to thank them, but Mackenzie Malloy doesn’t thank people who come to her rescue – they’re doing a public service. So instead I fix Gabriel with my superhuman glare. “Don’t call me Mackintosh.”
“Why not? It suits you. A macintosh is what we English gentlemen wear outside when Mother Nature decides to piss all over us. You’re just like a mackintosh because you scare the rain away with your sunny disposition.”
I can’t help it. A laugh leaps out of me before I can stamp it down. Eli looks taken aback, while Gabe looks delighted. Behind them, Coal-Eyes lingers, glowering at me. I wonder how long he’s been there, and if his presence has anything to do with Alec fucking off.
“You laughed.” Gabriel squeezes me tighter. My whole body floods with warmth as the Alec incident flees my mind. “That means your nickname is official,Mac. That’s the rules, right, Eli?”
Eli nods. He’s studying me in that way of his, searching for answers to a question I don’t understand. It’s hella intimate and kinda sexy in this possessive, fucked-up way.
“That’s a terrible nickname. I refuse to accept it.” I fold my arms and glare at them both, but there’s no fire behind it. I’m not supposed to be doing this, getting close to people. I’m not supposed to have nicknames. And yet, I can’t bring myself to fling away Gabriel’s arm. I’m only human. “Try again.”
“No can do, Mac. Those are the nickname rules,” Eli’s smiling too, and it’s this warm, bright smile that turns my insides out. I don’t think anyone’s ever smiled at me like that before. “You should be happy. The first nickname Gabriel ever gave me was God Almighty, because he thinks I sound like a TV preacher. I’msograteful he spread that one to the track team in our freshman year and then left for tour before I could force him to undo the chaos he wrought.”
Next to Gabriel’s aristocratic voice, the twang of Eli’s Southern roots is more pronounced. I get the sense that he tries to hide it behind an affected Californian accent. I never thought a guy like Eli Hart, who seems so popular and at ease with himself, would be self-conscious about anything.
At the mention of the tour, Gabriel stiffens. A dark shadow shrouds his eyes. I think of what I read in the news about the drummer from Octavia’s Ruin, and realize that for all his silliness, Gabriel was still dealing with the aftermath of that horror. The darkness is gone in a moment, and the fun, flirty Gabriel is back. “I can’t take all the blame for that one,” Gabriel claps a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I might’ve planted the seed, but Noah was the one who yelled ‘God Almighty’ when you won that meet and spread the name to all the other schools.”
They both glance over at Coal-Eyes. So, his name is Noah. It suits him, somehow. Gabriel’s eyes flicker nervously back to Eli. There’s a silent conversation going on between the three of them – a battle of wills over an outcome I cannot fathom.
Noah glares at his friends and, with a final fiery draft of hatred in my direction, he shoves past us and storms off.
“Don’t mind him,” Eli says, his eyes searching me again. “He thinks you’re responsible...”
He trails off, his eyes flicking back to Noah. An awkward silence descends over the three of us.
“I have to go.” I shrug Gabriel off. I can’t stand to look into Eli’s eyes any longer. This is too much, too weird.Responsible for what?
“See you in homeroom,Mac,” Gabriel yells after me as I disappear into the bathroom.
“Mackenzie, wait,” Eli says.
I don’t wait.
I hide in a stall until the bell rings. In homeroom, students slide their desks away from me. I carry a bad smell around this school – I reek of trouble. I’ve only been here a day, and I have the blood of their king on my hands. Wisely, they choose to avoid me.
Well, most of them. Gabriel slumps into the seat beside me, and I catch a flash of his wicked smile before I angle my body away from him.
“You can’t ignore me forever, Mac,” he whispers in my ear. “It’s better to give up now, because I have a black belt in annoying the shit out of people until they pay attention to me.”
I stare at my books. Why does he have to be at this school?
Gabriel Fallen isn’t supposed to be a person. He’s an idea – a wonderful, discordant, calamitouscreation. His music is the only thing that got me through the nights where the dark and loneliness clawed at me, leaving my skin torn in ribbons, my organs exposed. I’d turn on my headphones or the house speaker system and Gabriel’s voice made me feel… seen. He made me feelreal– like I could separate the pieces of myself from my stolen life.
