Sage, both of them ushering us out. My legs are steady underneath me and, surprisingly, so are Sage’s.
When we get to the house, Gabe scoffs and shakes his head at me, leaning in close to murmur, “You’re too fucking good at lying, Bond. Only a pro knows how to get past Gryphon like that, even North was convinced.”
Chapter Seventeen
Be ready at 6.
The text from Gabe wakes me up at five in the morning and my head is still full of pain and gross and no thank you. I drink some water because I refuse to believe this is a hangover and dehydration must be to blame instead.
After yesterday, I can’t bring myself to be angry at being woken up by him, but I’m still not excited about being around Gabe this early in the damn morning without even a goddamn reason.
He’d walked me up to my room after the party last night, seeing me safely to my door and not judging me for groaning and stumbling up the stairs, so I think we’ve found a real peace agreement, like now that I’ve proved myself by lying and covering for him, he’s actually going to give this friendship a real go and stop lashing out at me every second he gets.
I get dressed in casual clothes because nothing on campus is open except the dining hall at this time in the morning so it’s not like I’ll need to impress anyone down there. I take notice again at the way my shirt is billowing on me now I’ve toned up a lot and I really, really need to find an income to get some new shit.
I can’t even show off all my hard work, dammit.
I stomp down the stairs, making enough noise to wake the entire building up because they’re all gossiping bitches anyway so no skin off of my nose if I ruin their last sleep-in of spring break. I get to the front of the building at the same time as Gabe does, bouncing straight over to his motorbike when he holds out his spare helmet.
I’ve become a pro at getting it strapped on right and swinging onto the bike behind him so in under a minute, we’re flying down the road with a roar of the engine. The morning sun is bright already in the sky, but the chill of the early morning is still biting into the bare skin of my hands where they’re wrapped around his waist. When we finally pull up in front of the TT center, Gabe kills the engine and holds his arm out so I can climb off without landing on my ass.
It’s not where I was expecting to end up but Gabe has a key to get in and leads the way, turning lights on and ducking into the guy’s locker room to grab out his bag. I duck into the ladies to do the same, the new pair of sneakers that magically appeared after the bloodbath of the maze still shiny and white, where I’ve only worn them once.
I didn’t realize the college had a budget to replace damaged items but I guess Draven charges a shitload of money for tuition for a reason.
Gabe grins at me as I join him, looking way too freaking perky and I drawl, “You got me out of my dorms at the crack of dawn, before my curfew lifts, to work out? How did you get this past North’s obsession with keeping me locked up?”
Gabe grins at the rough, gravelly tone of my voice as he slings his bag down on the ground by the wall and strips out of his shirt. I do everything in my power not to watch the rippling of his insane muscles but I’m only human, and fuck, he really is too hot for words.
Fuck. Nope, I need to stop looking before my bond comes out to play.
“North didn’t enroll you into TT as a way to torture you, no matter how badly you want to believe that. Bonds are being taken off of the streets by the Resistance everyday. The ones we hear about aren’t even half of the actual cases. You need to know how to defend yourself, especially since you don’t have a gift of your own to use. You’re doing well in TT, but we haven’t actually covered anything about self defense yet and when I told North that I’m going to help you to train and workout, he agreed you need all the help