turn beet red is more than I could hope for. But I can’t gloat. I’m balancing on a tightrope here, and if I push him too far, I’m going to lose the game.
“Fine. I’ll try to be nicer. How about I take the rest of the day off and we spend it together?”
It’s impossible to miss the implication of his suggestion. Hell to the no, jerkface. You’re not sampling the goods until I have no choice.
“Let’s not be hasty. We’ll start with lunch.”
After a gruesome two-hour lunch where I tried not to stab Calvin in the eye with a fork, I stopped to see my sisters. I miss the brats, and I also knew Mom wouldn’t be home. It was good catching up with them, and they made me forget my fucked-up life for a little bit. But I also had another reason for my surprise visit. I had to plant the spell Elena Montenegro gave me in one of my mother’s books.
When I return to Bloodstone, my heart is heavy, and I have no desire to attend any of the classes on the schedule tonight. But I can’t keep blowing them off. Solomon will definitely keep me here longer if he thinks I need more training. In hindsight, it would postpone my wedding to Calvin, but that would be like spending another thirty days on death row in prison.
I run to my apartment to change clothes, then hurry to Hanson’s class—Keepers training. He’s another asshole I’d rather not deal with, but at least I don’t have to endure him one-on-one. Besides, he barely pays attention to me. I’m not there to become one of his brainless soldiers. In my opinion, Solomon should have never allowed this ridiculous program. Back in the old days, regulars trained to join the king’s Red Guard. They were warriors. The students in this class are the equivalent of mall cops. Pathetic.
A cluster of five regulars are chatting when I enter the gym. They stop talking at once to gawk at me. I should be used to the stares by now. There’s a lot of lore about witches that vampires fear, especially regulars.
I wave at them, grinning from ear to ear like a maniac. They look away without waving back. Sheep.
Hanson is not here yet, so I start with the warm-up exercises. The other students resume their chitchat, but it’s easy to tune them out. My deal with Elena is at the forefront of my mind. I hate that she cornered me into a blood vow. Magical bindings are not something anyone should enter without careful consideration, and even so it’s risky as hell. In my case, it feels like I sold my soul to the devil.
She ripped a page from her own grimoire and gave it to me. All I had to do was magically include the page in one of the grimoires my mother has access to. She can’t know where the spell came from or what I had to agree to in order to get it. That was one of Elena’s conditions, and she made sure it was included in the vow’s agreement.
I’m in the middle of a calf stretch when the murmurs in the background stop. My head is down, so I can’t see who disrupted the class, but tingles down my back warn me the regulars didn’t shut up because Hanson arrived. Saxon is here. I don’t know how I know it’s him.
I lift my head, and sure as hell, I find Saxon standing on the opposite side of the gym wearing workout clothes. My heart begins to thump faster, not as heavy as before. I stand straighter, caught in the desire to run into his arms or flee. Heat creeps up my cheeks and electricity seems to crackle in the air.
What the hell is going on?
I expect Saxon to walk over, but he veers toward the regulars instead. The two girls in the group perk up, and almost at once, they begin to play with their hair and smile like idiots. Jealousy hits my chest like a bulldozer. The words of a wicked spell gather in my tongue. One sentence and those two regulars will be shitting in their pants.
Oh my God. What am I doing? Am I seriously considering hexing those poor regulars only because Saxon said hello to them? He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a vampire I fucked.
Hanson comes in, stopping in his tracks when he sees Saxon there.