House Rules - Chloe Neill Page 0,54

of a safe house than a headquarters. But it serves its purpose. Excuse me a minute.” He walked to the spiral staircase, put a hand on the rail, and called up the stairs, “We’re here! Come on down.”

With a cacophony of shoes on metal treads, eight men and women came down the stairs, most wearing some version of Midnight High School gear. MHS was the unofficial (and secret) calling card of RG members.

Jonah joined me again, and the group assembled in front of us. A few of them looked familiar; I’d probably seen their faces in crowds at events the RG had seeded with members.

One of them looked more specifically familiar. Horace, the Civil War veteran from the warehouse, stood beside a shorter, curly-haired girl with dark skin and smiling eyes. He still wore antique-looking clothes; she favored Converses and jeans, which made me like her immediately. Their hands were intertwined, their feet just touching as they stood beside each other.

They gave off a good vibe, and they weren’t the only ones. All eight of the members stood together in pairs, presumably by partners. Another of the couples held hands, and from the closeness of their bodies, it was clear they weren’t just being friendly.

Jonah had once confessed he’d had feelings for me. Seeing these vampires together, I wasn’t sure which had come first—whether RG members had sought out their partners because of their skills and the romance had followed, or romantically intertwined couples simply made good RG spies. Whatever the reason, there seemed to be more than just business between the partners. And here Jonah and I were, the only noncouple in the group of obvious couples.

Awkwardness growing, I gnawed my lip.

“Everybody,” Jonah said, “this is Merit. You’ve got a big evening yet,” he said to me, “so we’ll save the formal introductions for another time. Suffice it to say, these are Chicago’s Red Guards.”

I waved a little weakly as my heart thudded uncomfortably. Jonah had bowed out when he’d learned I was in love with Ethan . . . or had he? Was he holding onto hope that we’d somehow end up together? Because as far as I was concerned, and much like Lacey and Ethan, that just wasn’t in the cards.

That would be such an uncomfortable discussion, but there was no way around it. There was no way to avoid the issue, not if I was going to fully commit. To put it frankly: I could commit to the RG. I could commit to Jonah as my RG partner. But I’d already committed my heart to Ethan, and I wanted to make that crystal clear.

I turned to him. “Could I speak to you for a moment? In private?”

Jonah smiled a little, as if he’d been anticipating the request. “Of course.”

He shifted his gaze to the vampires behind us. “All right, show’s over.”

There were good-natured grumbles, but every vampire made a polite good-bye to me and Jonah before they headed up the spiral staircase or out the door.

He waited until we were alone before looking at me again. “I’m not propositioning you.”

I felt simultaneous embarrassment and relief, and my cheeks flamed hot enough to light up the room.

“I know. I mean, I didn’t think you were. I just . . .” I cleared my throat, the sound just as awkward as the moment. “I just want you to know where I am.”

“I know where you are,” he said. “It’s not unheard-of for RG partners to become romantically involved. We call it the Moonlighting effect.”

I arched a very Ethan-esque eyebrow. “From the TV show?”

“Yeah. For the years of their membership, they work together, often undercover. You don’t sign up to be someone’s partner if you don’t have a rapport.” He pointed at me, then himself. “We have a rapport. But it doesn’t have to be romantic.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, Merit,” he said with a smile. “It’s not all about you.”

I rolled my eyes, glad we were back to sarcasm. Sarcasm was definitely within my comfort zone.

“So we’re good?” he asked.

“We’re good.”

Jonah nodded. “Then let’s get this ceremony started.”

“You don’t want to invite the rest of them back in?”

He shook his head. “We’re partners. This part’s just for us.”

Jonah picked up a wooden box from a table beneath one of the windows. The wood was deep and red, and from the faint tingling in my hands, I guessed it held steel. It was an aftereffect of the tempering of my own sword: My blade had been tempered with my blood, and as