He turned and walked off the stage before anyone could do more than sit in slightly stunned silence, and then the noise in the auditorium swelled as students rose and started to make their way back out of the building.
"That was short," Camelia said, none of them moving from their seats.
James nodded once, squeezing her hand. "Attacks like this scare them. They don't know how to handle it in a way that won't piss anyone off, so the best thing is to keep the status quo, regardless of the practicality."
Camelia swallowed, the underlying warning in his voice making her stomach flip. "You think there's going to be violence on campus?"
Evan was the one to respond this time, his voice grim. "Without a doubt."
Chapter nine
James
The atmosphere on campus was different the next day. More somber, quiet. As if everyone was waiting for shoe to drop, or for something new and different to happen.
There had been no more reporting on the attack from the Alpha after the initial news burst, though James suspected that whoever had leaked the information in the first place had been on the receiving end of a swift pink slip. It was how these things went, especially when it came to topics as touchy as Alpha and Omega relations.
His instincts didn't like the quiet. The hairs on the back of his neck were constantly prickled as if he were being watched, and he found himself glancing over his shoulder more often than he wanted. He resorted back to his learned habits of checking exits, of cataloguing faces, of mentally listing potential dangers every time he walked into a room.
He hated it. He hated the fact that Camelia wasn't with him even more, but he knew that now, more than ever, the facade of normalcy was of the utmost importance.
A fact that was only emphasized by his father's call.
It came when he was on a break between morning and afternoon classes. Usually James took the time to get some food, but since adjusting their schedules – and lives – to accommodate Camelia, James ate a little later with her when she wanted food after classes were done for the day.
James stared down at his phone, wincing at it buzzed in his hand. The readout of his father's name was a glaring stab of guilt every time it vibrated. Ordinarily, James would have answered the phone by now but...
He pressed the 'ignore' button, and his stomach swooped out from underneath him as he tucked the device back in his pocket. He could just imagine the outraged expression on his father's face as his call was sent to voicemail, and James smiled a little to himself even as he knew there would be a horrible message for him to endure later.
"What are you smiling for?" Evan's voice was quiet but happy, the man himself falling into step next to James as he headed towards the quad.
"What are you doing? You have a class." James couldn't stop himself from reaching out and brushing their hands together, just for a second; since Camelia had come back to the house, the time that the two of them had spent together alone had suddenly become very limited. It wasn't bad; Camelia was the missing piece between the two of them to make their little trio whole, James knew it as surely as he knew that the sky was blue.
It was just an adjustment, and he couldn't lie to himself and say that he didn't miss Evan, a little bit.
Evan's fingers tangled with his for just a second before he let go, and he flashed a smile at James as the two of them pickeda table in the corner of the room to sprawl at. "Playing hooky. What about you?"
James rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his mouth. "I don't have class."
Evan nodded, one of his feet pushing across the space to touch James'. The touch was comforting, as if Evan was missing James as much as James was him, and it settled something in James' stomach. He put his phone face-down on the table, nodding at it as he said, "I just ignored a call from my dad."
Evan quirked an eyebrow at him. "Just didn't feel like talking to Daddy Dearest?"
James chuckled again, though the sound was a little strained this time. "Kind of." He paused for a second, chewing the inside of his cheek. The words that bubbled to the front of his mouth weren't ones that he had expected to say, but they spilled out nonetheless. "Ev. The...offer. Of helping me finish school. Financially." He winced a little, hating himself for needing to ask this. Knowing that Evan wouldn't judge him didn't cure the crippling shame inside of him. "Is that still on the table?"
Evan reached out and took James' hand in his tightly, heedless of anyone who might be watching. "Of fucking course it is," he said firmly. If he was surprised by the sudden ask, he didn’t show it in his tone or his expression. His blue eyes burned into James' when he looked up, helping to make the twist of shame in James' stomach a little less overwhelming. "Have you changed your mind?"
James squirmed a little, clutching to Evan's hand tightly as if were the only thing anchoring him. "I...I don't know," he finally admitted, his voice quiet. He stared at the table, unable to meet Evan's gaze as he spoke the next words. "It's...Camelia. I know my Dad doesn't like even the idea of her, and..." He let out a shaky breath, feeling intensely vulnerable and fuckinghatingit."I don't want to give her up, Ev. I can't. And if I have to make a choice..."
Evan squeezed James' hand, lifting it up and pressing a firm kiss to James' knuckles. The movement surprised James, who couldn't stop himself from whipping his head around and making sure that nobody was watching. Not because he was worried about any of their fellow classmates being homophobic; that was the never the problem.
It was his dad. Always his fucking dad, and the eyes and ears that he might have watching James at all times.
And, if James was being perfectly honest with himself, that was another factor that had prompted this long-overdue conversation with Evan. He was exhausted. Exhausted by the constant fear and constantly being on edge, constantly worried about what he did and said and thought, just in case there was aminutepossibility that it might get back to his father.
He didn't want to live that way anymore. He wanted to live his life, the way he wanted to. With the two people who...he was coming to need as much as he needed food to eat and somewhere to sleep.
"You won't have to," Evan finally said softly, interrupting James' internal revelations. He squeezed James' hand again before releasing it. James barely had time to be sad at the sudden lack of contact before Evanpulled his phone out of his jacket pocket, dialing a number and putting it on speaker phone as it rang.
