good, I liked Bel’s the most. Something about the way he looked at me gave me the impression that he was hungry and I was everything he intended to devour.
"So?" I asked the guys. "Think I’ll fit in with the college crowd?"
"No," Nick said. "I think you will put the entire college crowd to shame. Luke, you better take very good care of our girl."
Ron leaned towards Luke just a bit. "Very, very good care. Tonight, you have to be her stand-in boyfriend."
Luke just grunted at that, then pushed himself off the couch. "Well, gentlemen, gawk while you still can. I just had to make sure that she looked as good as I do."
And he did look good. Luke had changed out of his baggy T-shirt for one that may as well have been painted on. It was black, which went rather nicely with my outfit. His jeans were very dark denim and hung just right on his hips. Low enough to make any woman think bad things, but not enough to hide his ass. He looked amazing. Unfortunately, the asshole knew it.
"You ready?" He asked as he offered his arm.
I took it and wiggled my fingers in a goodbye to the rest of the guys. "Ready as I'll ever be. I guess we’re walking?"
"Probably safest," he admitted, "but tell me if you get cold. If nothing else…" He paused to reach for the door, opening it with a gesture for me to go through first. "I can always slip you a little closer. The goal for tonight, though, is for us to look like normal humans."
"Guess that means I should've started drinking first," I teased, walking backwards while aiming for the gate in the little white picket fence around their yard.
Stretching his legs, Luke caught up to me halfway there. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to a stop, then lowered his voice. "Sia? Are you actually okay with this? Something feels off."
"I'm nervous, okay?" And I gestured to the outfit I was wearing. "This isn't really my style."
"It should be," he said. Then he took a half step to get even closer. "Your name is Ayala. It is the word that early man used for the star that showed up first at night and stuck around to be the last before dawn. The Morning Star, Sia. Humans also translate it to be something like gazelle. A creature with sharp horns that is beautiful, agile, and impossible to catch. But those things are only concepts. They say nothing about who you are, or who you want to be. Don't let God, your boyfriends, or even me push you somewhere you don't want to be pushed."
I nodded at him in agreement. "I won't, Luke. I promise. It's just that I've spent my entire life thinking that there were certain rules I had to obey, and I just realized that it's all bullshit. That doesn't mean I don't have insecurities. Like, right now, I can't help but wonder if the thin fabric of the shirt is showing you every roll in my waist whenever I bend."
His eyes dropped, sliding down my body like a caress. "I don't see a single thing about you that you shouldn't be proud of. Is that all this is? Insecurity about being beautiful enough?"
"Insecurity about believing that I am everything you guys keep telling me I am," I corrected. "Beautiful enough, powerful enough, or anything else I need to be. Luke, there are a hundred thousand people on this world right now who are trusting me to stop this. Has it dawned on you that there's a chance I might not be able to? Or that wearing an itty bitty skirt and talking to drunk frat boys isn't going to get us anywhere?"
"Then we'll do something else," he promised. "But tonight, we’re going to play with angels. Angels who happen to know who you are. I should also add that they are angels who will be highly rewarded if they take you to Angelis. I don't want you to get so distracted by how short your skirt is that you let someone get their hands on you and slip you through the wards."
"I'm trying," I insisted.
He just nodded at me, but I couldn't quite tell if that meant he agreed, or simply heard me. "How do I help?" he asked.
"What if we stopped at Delta Alpha Kappa first?" I suggested. "Like a dry run. We can go mingle with some frat boys, you'll probably get