What I really want is to be in place when he passes by on the way into the school. Willhereact to my presence in any particular way? Since he’s a year above me, our paths haven’t really crossed so far this week.
I reach the patio tables just as one of the players hollers, “All good!” Not quite perfect timing.
Oops! There goes the strap of my satchel slipping off my shoulder.
My bag hits the ground with a spill of books and pens across the patio stones. I crouch down and wave off my friends. “It’ll just take a few seconds. Get to class and save me a good seat.”
If Gradydoesreact, I’m not sure I want them seeing it.
As I paw my belongings back into the satchel, not quite as urgently as I could, the players come sauntering by. Grady wipes the sweat from the back of his neck and grabs his discarded blazer. His knuckles are seeping blood and there’s a blotch on his jaw that looks to be bruising, but he’s walking steadily enough.
I glance over at him just as his gaze skims over me. His expression doesn’t show the slightest shift of emotion.
As far as I can tell, whatever Elodie saw in him, he hasn’t thought about her at all.
When I straighten up, he’s just brushing past the tables with a few of the other guys. “We could get some practice in after classes,” one of them is saying eagerly.
Grady dismisses the idea with a flick of his hand. “I’ve got somewhere to be. Maybe tomorrow.”
Huh. I think I’m going to have to find out where he’s got to be this afternoon.
I sling my satchel over my shoulder and head inside several paces behind him. My first class of the afternoon is a non-magical one: Global Economics. In other words, rich people talking about how rich people get richer.
Kill me now.
As I swing right toward the nearest stairwell, the sight of Asher coming around the corner farther down jars me to a halt. If I head that way, we’ll end up walking up together.
My heart skips a beat with a jolt of that annoying tug.
No, not a good plan. I’ll take the long way around.
Trouble is, I only get two steps in the opposite direction when a bulky blond figure barges into my path.
Phillip Lowell looms over me, grinning beneath a fringe of hair that’s sweat damp from the bloomblight game. He steps close enough that my heel hits the wall as I retreat. “Came to watch me play, huh, Elle? I knew you couldn’t stay away too long.”
Shit on a shikome. My pulse kicks up a notch with a flash of panic I will not to show on my face.
I reach for the same blank tactic that worked with my friends. “We just happened to be outside. I didn’t even notice you were playing.”
I try to push past him, but he sets his hand against the wall with his bulging arm blocking my way. A waft of acrid cologne clogs my throat. “Oh, come on. I think we’re past the point of playing hard to get.”
What the hell did Other Elodie do with this guy that he feels confident enough to talk to her like this? To get so close?
They must have messed around at least a little. Unfortunately for Phillip, even though I know there’s no risk of matching, I’d rather waltz with a wendigo than feel his hands on me.
I dial stuck-up bitch mode to max. “There’s nothing to get, other than out of my face. I never liked you all that much to begin with. Move on—it’s getting sad.”
I was hoping to embarrass him into retreating. Instead, Phillip’s face flushes red and he leans even closer.
His lips draw back from his teeth in a silent snarl. “You owe me another chance.”
Would a solid punch to the nose make this situation better or worse? I’m highly tempted to find out.
I make my voice even icier. “I don’t owe you shit. Let me get to class.”
I move to scoot away from him in the other direction, but he grabs my arm, hard enough that his grip sends an ache through my elbow. “No. No fucking way. I know you— You don’t really— You might be a Devine, but that doesn’t mean you get to throw people aside whenever you want.”
“Everyonegets to throw people aside whenever they want,” I retort, and wrench away from him.
