“Oh, right!” Recognition clicked into place. I took his hand and shook it briefly. “You were wearing a toga, weren't you?”
“Yeah. My frat was having a toga party the same night,” he replied. “Some friends and I just stopped by Midsummer first to say hi to a few people we knew.”
“Ah, cool.”
“Anyway, uhh…” His smile faded, and he rubbed the back of his neck like he was nervous about something. “I was talking to a friend the day after, and, er… he said he overheard part of a conversation you had with someone that night.”
My own smile disappeared. “Um… okay,” I said, not quite knowing what else to say.
“He said you’re Calista Hoffman’s sister. Is that true?”
I lifted my chin and looked him directly in the eye. “Yeah, it is,” I said stoically.
I was half-expecting him to be another Dionysus Club goon sent to rattle me. But instead, his smile returned, genuine and warm. “Wow, it’s so cool that you’re here now,” he said. “I actually knew Calista pretty well.”
“Oh.” My defensiveness eased slightly. “You were friends?”
“Yeah, she used to come to a lot of our parties back in the day, so we met at one of those,” he said. “She talked about you a few times, but she never showed me any photos. I had no idea you two looked so different.”
I gave him a small smile. “We’re half-sisters, so yeah, we used to get that a lot.”
“Right, I remember her saying something about that,” he said, nodding slowly. “Anyway, sorry to ambush you like this. I just saw you and... well, it's really nice to meet you properly. I miss Calista a lot. She was really cool.”
“Yeah, she was,” I murmured, my throat tightening.
“I’m guessing you probably don’t want to talk about her with a total stranger, but hey… if you ever feel like you need to, I’m around,” he added.
“Actually, I’d love to talk about her,” I said, brows rising. The more information I could gather about my sister from her friends and acquaintances, the better. “I’ve been hoping to meet all the people she knew and hear stories about her time here.”
“Oh, cool. I’d love to help you out with that.” Kane glanced at his watch. “Right now isn’t a great time, because I’ve got a class in ten minutes, but do you know Revs?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“It’s a burger and beer place downtown. They do a decent happy hour for cocktails too. Your sister used to love it,” he said, smiling fondly. “So we could go there one night this week, get some greasy food, and reminisce.”
“That sounds good. When are you free?”
“Not tonight or tomorrow night, unfortunately. Frat recruitment stuff,” he said with a slight grimace. “How about Wednesday night? I could swing by your dorm to pick you up around seven?”
“Wednesday works for me. I can just meet you at the place.”
“Great. Let’s swap numbers in case something comes up.”
We pulled out our phones, and I was typing his contact information in when that familiar old feeling crept up my spine again. I was being watched.
I looked up, scanning the quad, and found Julian a second later.
He was standing about thirty feet away, near the steps of the Hecate building. The same athletic guy from earlier was with him, along with another student I didn't recognize, but Julian wasn't paying attention to either of them.
He was staring directly at me… and he looked furious.
His jaw was tight, his eyes visibly stormy even from this distance. There was something predatory in his stillness, like a wolf watching prey that had wandered too close to another pack.
Kane said something else to me, but I barely heard him. All my attention was fixed on Julian, on the way his gaze flicked from me to Kane and back again, something dangerous still flickering in his expression. It wasn’t just anger. It was something more primal than that. A warning. A claim.
Was he actually... jealous?
No.That was ridiculous. He didn't even know me.
