by a group of people chatting and laughing through the hallway, loud and oozing that familiar sort of joy that you get from people who’ve known each other since birth.
It makes my chest ache with jealousy and I guess that’s just the feeling of the night for me, goddammit.
I’m happy to just walk on past them to find Sage but one of the guys turns and calls out to Gabe, waving him over. I scowl at him but Gabe just hooks his fingers around my arm and tugs me over to the group, that easy grin of his plastered back on like we’re not still at each other’s throats.
It’s only when we approach that I see Riley standing there with them and freeze, totally out of place standing around Sage’s hallway, with Sage’s asshole Bond, as though this isn’t a complete betrayal to her.
Okay, I’m being dramatic but it feels like that to me, and I’m a loyal friend to the end.
“I thought you hated your Bond, Ardern, what are you doing cozying up with her?” one of the girls says as though I’m not freaking standing here with them all.
I’m too busy inching away from them all but then Gabe slings an arm around my shoulders and smirks again. “We had some teething issues but Oli has figured out where she’s supposed to be now.”
They all laugh like this is some big joke and I decide that I’d rather have North’s worst enemy pick through my brain than stand around with these assholes. I tug out of Gabe’s arms and start down the hallway, ignoring the jeers and catcalls that the group throws at me.
By the time I make it to the kitchen, picking a door at random and lucking out, Gabe jogs to catch up with me and gets his arm around my shoulders again. “If I’m being forced to keep you out of trouble, the least you could do is take a little heat. That shit was mild compared to what I’ve dealt with since you left.”
“I don’t care, and it’s your own fault for hanging around those types of people. I’m here for Sage and if you want to go hang out with fucking idiots, then go right ahead,” I snap right as Giovanna steps into my path and this is it, this is the moment I get kicked out of this party, because the look on that girl’s face sets my teeth on edge and my temper is ready to ignite.
“Idiots? They’re all the next generation of council members and leaders of the Gifted community. Every last one of them comes from distinguished families, Bonded that have earned their place here. You’re the outsider from sullied stock.”
I can handle a lot of shit, being here has proven that to me, but there’s no fucking way I’m having her talk shit about my parents. “Shut your mouth before I break your jaw.”
Gabe’s arm slides away from my shoulders only so he can hook his fingers into my arm again, tugging me back as though he’d be able to stop me from taking a swing at this bitch. Sage has told me everything about her gift and telekinesis means nothing to me right now.
It’s not like she’s strong enough to use it against me.
She clicks her tongue at Gabe condescendingly. “You should keep a better leash on her, she’s insulting the wrong family.”
I look her up and down, slowly and with contempt dripping from every pore of my body. “If your family is so important, then the community is fucked because you’re the most vile, petty little bitch I’ve ever been forced to interact with.”
Her lips curl and I note with a detached little kernel of victory that the slash of red lipstick is a shade too orange for her skin tone. “Why would the opinion of some little runaway whore matter to me? You’re nothing to the community, to me or my Bonded.”
Bonded, even the word is a slap in the face because she’s taken that away from Sage. Gabe tries again to tug me away but I’m too angry now, too out of control of my mouth, and I snap back, “I’ve done more for this community than you will ever do, you pathetic, attention-seeking little whore.”
Her hand snaps back to strike me but before she has the chance to swing, a wall of a man steps between us and all I can see is leather, but my bond purrs in my chest at Gryphon’s