Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,70
and hauled me back to where he was still standing. “What is that?” he asked, his jaw muscle hardening as his eyes zeroed in on my bandaged neck.
I’d purposely left my hair down in the hopes that it would help cover the brand-new bandage on my neck, but apparently, I’d underestimated Trace’s ability to notice every goddamn thing about me.
“It’s nothing.” I waved it off as I searched my mind for a plausible excuse. “My injury was acting up, so I put a new bandage on it,” I said, emphasizing the word injury since we both knew I was referring to the huge holes in my neck.
He stared at me for a moment, long enough that I started fidgeting. “You’re lying to me,” he said flatly.
“What?” I scoffed at his very accurate assertion. “And you’re basing this on what exactly?” I shot back, sounding and feeling pretty defensive considering I was lying to him.
He pushed off the wall and crowded my personal space, speaking directly by my ear so that no one but the two of us could hear. “I’m basing this on the fact that your injury,” he said, stressing the word in the same manner as I had done, “was on the other side of your neck.”
Well, shit.
Caught off guard by his perceptiveness, I did absolutely nothing but stand there like a total mute.
He pulled back just enough to see my face when he asked, “Did you go see him?”
“Who?”
“You know who.” His jaw muscle ticked aggressively. “Dominic.”
I froze again, panicked and unsure of how to answer. On one hand, I didn’t want him to think I had ditched school to go play another round of Chicken with Dominic, but I also didn’t feel comfortable admitting it was Gabriel who had lost control. For one, I wasn’t sure how he would react to that and two, I didn’t want him to think that Gabriel was a danger to me. Because he wasn’t.
Well, not usually anyway.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said lowly, his mouth twisting with distaste.
I could feel the hostility rolling off him in waves, though I wasn’t sure if it was directed at me or Dominic.
“It’s not what you think. I can explain.”
He stepped back, his face expressionless and completely unreadable. “You don’t owe me any explanations, Jemma.”
“I know that, but I want to explain—”
“There you are,” said Ben as he rounded the corner and spotted us. “I was looking for you at break.” He slung his arm over my shoulder as he came to stand beside us, his gaze cataloguing me. “You okay…after yesterday, I mean.”
“Oh, yeah. Good as new. I just had some things to take care of before school,” I answered, smiling up at him.
Trace flexed his jaw muscle as Ben bounced a glance between the two of us. “Everything good? I’m sensing some tension. Should I give you two a minute?”
“No, everything’s fine,” I lied, forcing myself to keep smiling. “We can talk later, right Trace?”
“Yeah, sure.” His mouth thinned as he looked down at me.
“Let’s eat then,” said Ben as he gently shoved me toward the entrance doors, his arms still draped around my shoulder. “I’m starving.”
Trace followed closely behind as Ben and I walked into the crowded cafeteria. The fluorescent lights beamed down above us as a cacophony of excited chattering and clanging cutlery rang throughout the dining hall.
“Over here!” called Caleb, his voice taking precedence over the others.
Ben nodded and then steered us toward the back table. Normally, I would’ve dug my feet in the ground and refused to break bread with Nikki, so to speak, but she appeared to be a no-show at school today, yet again.
I supposed carrying Lucifer’s spawn around was starting to take its toll on her physically.
Not that she didn’t deserve it.
Pulling out a chair, I sat down in between Ben and Trace, with Morgan and Carly flanking Caleb on the opposite side. Morgan’s eyes glanced up from her phone at the sudden commotion of sliding chairs and gave me a proper look.
Thus far, we were the only two at the table that knew what was really going on with Nikki. As far as everyone else was concerned, she was home sick with the flu.
“I’m going to get some food,” informed Trace, his forearms flattened on the table. “What do you want?”
My appetite wasn’t exactly big these days, though after my morning with Gabriel, I figured I needed to put something nutritious into my stomach. “I’ll have a burger and fries,” I said