Page 56

Riley frowned and looked at Blaire suspiciously.

“That’s all, huh? Suuuure.” She started laughing before marching over to the bed and shaking Lukas’s back.

Lukas spun and grabbed Riley’s arm.

“Hey!” she shouted, pulling away from him.

He let go and rolled over onto his back, rubbing a hand down his face. “Ugh. Don’t do that.”

“Me? How about you don’t grab people who try to wake you up?” Riley narrowed her eyes at him.

He sat up and huffed a breath. “Sorry. I wasn’t fully awake. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just… tired.”

Blaire sat on the edge of her bed, watching Lukas. His eyes held faint traces of darkness beneath them, and his movements had been dragging lately. The contrast worried her.

“What’s wrong?” Riley said, sitting on Lukas’s bed at his feet.

“Nothing.”

“Dude. You know no one believes that, right?” Riley motioned to Blaire. “Right, Blaire?”

“Ah… um… yeah. You do look exhausted,” Blaire said, looking down.

She wasn’t sure commenting on his appearance or anything about him would be a smart move. She did her best not to provoke him. Since things had been going smoothly, and given his temper, it could be like flipping a light switch. Cold Lukas would come out to play. She figured the best strategy was to avoid pushing him and let him come to her, even if she didn’t exactly want to at the same time. Professor Sinclair told her to give it time, but after last night, she longed for more.

Blaire worried about his fatigue, and she didn’t know how to handle it; much like everything else related to Lukas. She itched to know more about him and desired him physically. Her dreams were not helping.

Lukas looked at Blaire, studying her. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” He swung his legs off the bed and put his socks and boots on before standing up. “Meet you for the movie later.”

Saying nothing more, Lukas went to the door, and with one last glance in Blaire’s direction, he exited the room.

“That was weird.” Riley frowned at the door.

Blaire shrugged. “Seemed pretty normal to me.”

Riley shook her head. “No, he’s been acting all sorts of weird since you got here.” She rushed to add, “It’s not your fault or anything. I think he’s probably struggling with the bond thing.”

Blaire sighed and twirled the ends of her hair absentmindedly. She didn’t know Lukas before, so she didn’t know what he had been like. Before the school dumped her into his life, he was a different person. It made her curious how he was before. She wondered if her presence made things difficult. He ran hot and cold constantly. He was certainly different last night. She liked him like that. She wished he had stayed like that. But she’d only gotten bits of that before.

“So! We need to hurry up and get ready. The movie starts soon, and you’re still in your uniform.”

Riley had changed before arriving and sported a schoolgirl-style skirt in solid black with safety pins attached to the front. She wore a short-sleeved black t-shirt with the arrow cross logo for the band The Pretty Reckless on the front, paired with a long-sleeved fishnet shirt worn underneath that she accented with several black and pink rubber bracelets. She still wore the same ripped fishnet stockings and buckled boots from earlier in the day.

Blaire went to her closet and grabbed a pair of slim-fitting jeans and a sheer, long-sleeved teal blouse with a tank top of the same color to wear underneath. As Blaire unzipped her skirt, Riley spoke to her from outside the closet.

“You know, you guys are really lucky…”

Blaire tossed her skirt into the small hamper in her closet. “What? Who’s lucky?”

“You and Lukas.” The ‘duh’ she didn’t say came through clearly.

Yeah, Blaire didn’t know where on Earth she would be considered lucky, and she was sure Lukas probably agreed with her. Sure, it was easy to tell they were attracted to each other, but neither of them was having an easy time with whatever this was between them.

“I mean, you guys are lucky to have found each other. I’d give anything to find my pair.”

Blaire left the closet, pulled her long hair free from her shirt, and sat on the bed. “But you’re only just the age where you might find your pair, right?”

“True… but it still doesn’t mean I don’t want it to happen already.” Riley kicked her feet dangling above the floor. “Then there’s Aiden. He doesn’t have his pair either. He’s in the same situation as Lukas… almost twenty and still without a life mate.”