just ate the canary. “Lunch.”
“Mmm. With Asher, Cam, and Dmitri, right?”
“How is that any business of yours?” I ask, grabbing my backpack and slinging it onto my shoulder. I’m not going to sit around and be interrogated or insulted.
I walk over to the door and push it open to step out into the hallway, but the girls follow me. Kendal’s hovering in the back like she thinks I might bite or something while Megan and Cristina are tittering like sparrows, leaning into each other, their heads almost touching.
Alyssa’s right on my heels. “Don’t think that we don’t know what you’re doing.”
I ignore her.
“Stringing them along like that? Talk about a bitch move. They deserve better.”
Okay, that gets my blood up. I stop and turn around. “What are you talking about?”
Alyssa puts her hands on her hips. She’s a pretty girl, honestly. Great curves, heart-shaped face, bright eyes. But there’s something nasty and petty in her expression that just ruins it all. You look at her once and think, oh, she’s pretty. You look at her twice and all you can think is, ouch.
“I’m talking about how you’re stringing them along,” she spits out. “Snaring just one of those poor men for yourself? Bad enough. But you’ve got to have all three of them wrapped around your little finger—are you that slutty, or are you that worried about getting a husband?”
“What the actual fuck are you talking about?” I demand. “I’m not looking for a husband, genius, I’m not even twenty-five.”
Megan scoffs, stepping up beside Alyssa. “Don’t play dumb. That’s why you’re here.” She makes a gesture that seems to encompass the whole school. “That’s why most of us are here.”
I openly stare at the four of them. “Okay, I am really fucking confused here.”
“It’s because we’re Unpredictables,” Kendal blurts out.
The other three slowly turn their heads and stare at her, their disappointment practically a flashing neon sign over their heads, but Kendal plows on. “Our—our families don’t usually like that we’re, you know, uh, like this.”
“Just say we’re freaks, Kendal. God,” Cristina mutters with a roll of her eyes.
Kendal’s face goes bright pink. “Right. Well, most of our families are well known in the magical world. So it’s important we keep up our status and, well, if you’re Unpredictable, you don’t get a lot of job options, so…”
“So you find a guy from a powerful, rich family and marry him, and you get to keep your status,” Alyssa finishes. “It’s called survival, sweetie, and if you’re really serious about not knowing what you’re doing with those men? Do us all a favor and back the fuck off from them. Some of us actually need to get hitched.”
“I’m not stopping you,” I shoot back. “You want to talk to them, go right ahead! Good luck with Dmitri, though, he’s a real pain in the ass. I’m sure he’ll know just how to sweep you off your feet, seeing as I’m pretty sure if he even looked at a romance novel, he’d spontaneously combust. But Cam’s friends with practically every person here, and Asher’s a sweetheart who tries to find a redeeming quality in everyone—so knock yourself the fuck out.”
“We would,” Alyssa sneers, taking a step toward me, getting up in my face, “if your skank ass wasn’t in the way! Leading them on and making them wait to see which one you’ll choose—”
Okay, that’s it.
I drop my backpack, my voice pitching into a low growl. “I’m warning you, slut shaming is so very last decade.”
“What are you gonna do about it?” Alyssa taunts.
I can’t help but smirk as my hands curl into fists. “You ever been in a bar fight, sweetheart?”
“Elle! There you are!”
I turn just in time for two strong hands to lightly grab my shoulders and… a pair of lips to land on mine.
Asher.
I know it, because I’ve made out with Cam and done a hell of a lot more with Roman, and neither of them kisses like this. Soft and sweet, lips lingering as he pulls away. I expect that to be the end of it, but Asher moves in again, kissing me a little harder, like he’s got to make absolutely certain everyone understands what’s going on here. My hands come up to rest on his chest, and before I can stop myself, I open my mouth, letting my tongue swipe tentatively against his.
That’s all he was waiting for, and in a heartbeat, he’s tilting his head and deepening the kiss. Our mouths move in sync—slowly, but