likes. Okay, I’m generalizing a helluva lot here because I’ve only seen one of North’s hookups and you can’t pick a man’s taste from a pool that small, but there’s something about him that screams ‘fussy, pushy billionaire with a taste for models’ to me.
I eat a little of everything.
The chocolate torte is a religious experience and I have to smother a moan of delight because there’s no way I want any of them knowing just how much I love it. I realize I must make some kind of noise because Gabe startles next to me and shoots me a look like he’s never seen me before.
Interesting.
“So, Oli, I heard you have no gift. That’s gotta suck.”
There goes my chocolate high. I turn in my seat to look at the giggling groupie who’s staring back at me like I’m a bad smell in the room. Gryphon is blatantly ignoring her, talking with North about new training programs he’s starting with the TacTeams, and Gabe is focused entirely on the plate of dessert in front of him. It’s actually the first time I’ve seen him eat something that isn’t super healthy and he’s scarfing it down like it’s his last meal on death row.
Nox stares me down from across the table like he’d enjoy nothing more than picking the meat from my charred bones.
Maybe he’s a shifter, because the look in his eyes is all predator.
I stare the girl down as I shrug, keeping my voice casual and unaffected, “I’m not losing sleep over it.”
She giggles again and I swear the sound of it is going to haunt me. “I just can’t believe it, being the Central Bond to these guys and having nothing. How shameful. No wonder they all get around, no one would stick around for a defect like you.”
My hand clenches around my fork again, but this time I can’t hold myself back from snapping back at her, “What’s your gift? When I stab you with this fork, will you heal straight away, or can you only do something shitty, like talk to pigeons or shit gold?”
Gabe snorts and then slaps a hand over his mouth like he’s been caught cavorting with the enemy, glancing at North like he’ll get grounded. I roll my eyes but I know how to take my wins where I can and I lean in to mockingly whisper, “She looks like the type of girl who can change her nail color at will.”
Gabe clears his throat and replies, “Ashlee is an Elemental. She can conjure water but only enough to fill a jug.”
I burst out laughing. I might look like a bitch to them all right now but I was always taught to not start fights, just be sure as shit to finish them. “Wow, that sure makes me envious of you, Ashlee.”
Her eyes flash at the sarcasm dripping from my words and she snaps back, “Big words from a girl with nothing. Do you really have no shame for being such a disappointment?”
It might be stupid but I shrug. “I guess you’ll never know.”
Gabe pushes the plate away from himself and clears his throat. “I’m heading back to the dorms. I’ll drop you back, Fallows… unless you want North to?”
Fuck no I don’t.
I try not to look as eager and relieved as I am as I push up from the table, gritting my teeth as I choke out a terse, “Thank you for dinner,” to North so he can’t accuse me of being a brat again.
No one else acknowledges that we’re leaving, so I turn my back on them all and practically run after Gabe. He might be an asshole to me at Draven but right now, he’s my only ally since he’s getting me the fuck out of here.
I barely take in any of our surroundings as we weave our way through the giant maze of a house. My phone vibrates in my pocket as I step out into the sprawling garage, just barely pulling my attention away from the millions of dollars’ worth of vehicles stored here. As I follow Gabe over to one of the motorbikes, I dig my phone out of my pocket.
I miss you, Oli.
I have no idea how to even answer that. No freaking clue at all, and then when I remember that North is reading all of the messages, my stomach sinks like lead a little more.
I shove my phone back into my pocket just in time to see Gabe grab a helmet from one