Death In Her Eyes - Erin Bedford Page 0,42

everyone else? Great to know my childhood wasn’t ruined for nothing.” I huffed and stalked away, not caring if he followed me or not. He would anyway.

“You have issues, you know that?” Dex’s voice came from the left far faster than I expected.

I rolled my eyes. “You think?”

“Look, my mom wasn’t around either. She had me, dropped me off with my dad, and took off.” Dex explained his eyes forward as we walked. “So, I understand the whole being mad at your absentee parent but your dad…” he huffed a laugh. “He’s doing something unheard of. He’s changing the world. You have to see the bigger picture.”

“Yep, I got it.” I gave him a sideways look. “The many for the sake of one. If I’d been in his place, I’d probably have done the same.”

Dex nodded in satisfaction at my answer.

“Unfortunately,” I continued on, stopping before the door to my next class, “that doesn’t make up for years of neglect and letting my mom die in a horrifying car accident, but thanks for trying.” I gave him a big two-handed thumbs up and grinned obscenely from ear to ear.

I didn’t give him the chance to answer before I ducked into the gymnasium.

Pfft. Changing the world. Sure, fine. My dad can play superhero to the masses, but I’d stick with what I knew. A dad who didn’t care enough to save his own wife from a horrible death.

“Let’s all gather around,” the gym teacher called out, her shorts a bright fire truck red clashing loudly with the dark orange polo shirt. “We’re going to practice those powers of awareness today.”

I took one look at the pile of silk ties and balls and turned on my heel. Nope. Not gonna happen. We played that game at my old school. No way was I letting someone I couldn’t see throw a ball at my face.

I rubbed my nose in remembrance. Not gonna happen.

The teacher called out to me, but I waved a hand behind me as I walked out the door. Let them give me detention.

Thankfully, Dex wasn’t waiting outside the door. Maybe he had a class to teach after all?

Either way I wasn’t going to look a gift angel in the mouth. I booked it to the nearby side door leading out into the courtyard. I dug into my bag for my cigarettes and lighter and quickly lit up before I got caught. I wasn’t about to waste these precious moments or puffs on finding the perfect spot.

I hadn’t even gotten halfway through my cigarette before I heard, “You’re not allowed out here.”

Sighing, I didn’t bother look over at Dex as I took another drag of my cigarette. “Don’t you have class to teach?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in gym?” He stopped beside me snagging my cigarette out of my hand to take a drag from it.

“Do I really look like the gym going type?” I snagged the cigarette back from him with an arched brow, taking a pointed drag of it before blowing the smoke in his direction.

To his credit, he didn’t even cough, but he did take my cigarette again. “You really shouldn’t smoke. You’re too young.”

Getting tired of this game, I placed my hands on my hips and scowled. “I’m old enough. Besides, you have room to talk.” I gestured to his form. “You can’t be more than twenty-five.”

“Actually, one hundred and twenty-five, this year.”

I frowned. “Oh, yeah. The others mentioned something about that.” I shook my head, pulling my hair over one shoulder. “How is that possible?” I reached into my bag for my pack of cigarettes, shimming one out, I stuck it in my mouth and fumbled for my lighter.

“We don’t age like humans. A human life is only a fourth of our life spans,” Dex told me as he reached out and lit my cigarette for me.

I cocked my head at him, taking the cigarette between my fingers. “I thought you were a mind reader. How can you do that too?”

“I am, but I am also a fire element.” He let a ball of fire dance around on his palm and gave me a rare lopsided smile. “On my mother’s side.”

“Isn’t that incestuous?” I sucked in a breath of smoke, this time blowing it to the side. I wasn’t a complete bitch.

“Not really.” Dex shrugged. “They were created by the same person but not of the same line.” He lifted the almost finished cigarette to his lips, sucking it down before using his powers to burn