problem over again. Every time I furrowed my brow, she thought I wasn’t getting it. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her I wasn’t really that far behind. She spent her summer teaching me things I already knew, but it gave me the chance to memorize something else.
Sun-kissed raven hair. Warm brown eyes. Perfectly sloped curves.
I try to blink away her memory, but this time, it’s too tangible.
Beside me, I hear Carson sucking in a sharp breath, and my gaze follows his to the long midnight hair dipping down to the curve of a red and black skirt. My eyes collect details in rapid-fire. Her white knee-high socks. Shiny black shoes. A blazer draped casually over her left arm. It can’t be her. I’m certain it isn’t because Kailani is all curves, and this girl is nipped in at the waist like every other girl at BMA. I don’t want to believe it. But then she stops in front of her locker and cocks her head to the side, studying the message written there.
“Cute,” she murmurs, grabbing the lock and entering the combination like she was here just yesterday.
I’m transfixed on the side of her face, aware that everyone else is watching her too. We can’t look away from this train wreck. I’m still convinced I have it all wrong. This girl’s energy is more voodoo and less sunshine. She’s unperturbed, seemingly careless that every set of eyes is on her as she stuffs her locker full of books. She hasn’t even looked at me, and I can’t accept that.
“Did you not get the memo?” Audrey hisses at her as she walks by. “You were canceled indefinitely.”
Kailani tilts her gaze up to meet Audrey’s, and the entire hall falls dead silent. “Two years to come up with new material, and that’s the best you’ve got?”
The steel in her voice even knocks Audrey off balance. She wavers for a mere second before reclaiming her queen bitch status, glancing around the hallway to make her declaration to the underlings.
“Anyone talks to this demon slut, they’re going to regret it. She’s hereby declared nonexistent. Understood?”
“Audrey.” My voice echoes like a thunderclap in the hallway, and finally, Kailani turns to look at me.
Our eyes lock, and everything around us disappears. The sea and sky have returned. Filthy little liar. Adrenaline and fury rage in my veins. I want an acknowledgment. Something. Anything. She offers a dismissive smirk like it’s nothing. I’m nothing.
Audrey deftly maneuvers herself to my side, staking her claim on me as she tucks her body against mine. She can sense the shift in the air. Everyone can.
“Come on.” She tugs on my arm. “We’re going to be late for class.”
The bell rings, and I shrug Audrey off me like an insect. “Go.”
She hesitates beside me, and I can feel her gaze burning into my face. She wants to be my sun—the sole reason for my existence—but she never will, and it eats her alive.
Students scatter, disappearing in different directions as Kailani slams her locker shut and zips up her bag. She pivots on her heel and tries to walk right past me, delusional enough to believe she gets to come back here and ignore me.
I snatch her arm and stop her in her tracks. She holds my gaze, looking up at me like I never existed to her. Like nothing ever happened, and she doesn’t even know who I am.
“Can I help you?” She arches a dark eyebrow at me.
Her eyes are shadowed with powdery gold makeup that makes her brown skin glow under the hall lights. In those dark irises is a hint of the girl I thought she was, but she’s drowning, fading into the background as this new alter ego commandeers Kail’s body. I lean into her, towering over her five-foot frame. I’m so close I can smell the mint of her gum and the floral scent of her shampoo.
Goose bumps break out along her skin as I take a step forward, and she steps back. We continue the dance until she’s pressed against the lockers, and I’m caging her in with my body. She’s close enough to touch, yet farther away than she’s ever been.
“Why did you come back?” I growl.
Why did you leave me?
A smile I don’t recognize bleeds across her red lips, and she looks up at me with a hurricane in her eyes. “Oh, Killian. That’s so cute. Is this like a script from your show? The big, bad vampire and his flock thought