Page 10

9

Summer

“ W hy won’t you tell him your name again?” Her voice lilted in a gently teasing way. She knows the answer but seems to love making me say these things out loud. How do I know these things about her? And her about me? Is this what friendship is like?

My lips twitch slightly. My body warms at the thought of him, and I bite my lower lip. “It’s more fun watching him work to earn it.”

Alice snickers. “You want him so bad.”

“I do not,” I growl, but it’s without venom.

Alice moves closer to me, sniffing loudly. “You so do.”

I swat her away, chuckling. “Stop.”

Alice skips gleefully beside me. “If it helps, he wants you, too. Like so bad.”

I roll my eyes, trying to ignore how my core tingles a little. A girl likes to hear that she’s wanted. Sometimes it’s the little things.

As we walk back through the school’s boundary, our uniforms return. Alice pouts, brushing her fingers over her slacks. I can tell she’s already missing the jeans, and I do not doubt that the second we’re home, she will embark on some serious detective work to find out where to buy an identical pair.

We walk into our dorm, and it hits me how much this space already feels more like home than anywhere else I’ve ever lived. It’s safe, warm, and comfortable. I feel like I could be truly accepted in this space and with this vampire I have known for such a tiny portion of my life. She’s already more like family than anyone in my past.

I sit on the couch, and Alice walks to the fridge, grumbling about how the new one still hasn’t arrived. She grabs a bag of blood and rips the lid off, adding a sprinkling of some herbs she’d ordered from the pizzeria and a splash of what looks like hot sauce. She gives the bag a good shake and then takes a healthy drink before nodding in acceptance and joining me on the couch.

I open the pizza box, and the smell immediately permeates the apartment. I grab a slice and take a big bite.

“Can I ask you something?” Alice asks after taking another large gulp of her blood concoction.

Instinctively, I tense. Usually, when someone asks that, it means the question will not be easy to ask or answer. I take a napkin and wipe the grease from my mouth before nodding.

Alice watches me, tilting her head slightly. “I’ve noticed you don’t like to talk about your past.” I drop my gaze, picking at the cheese on my pizza, but she continues, “It’s because it’s bad, right?”

I remind myself that I am safe, but I feel myself start to shut down. I fight against the need to go into protection mode and build those adamantium barriers I’ve perfected after decades of constructing them.

Show me what you can do, Summer.

I think I trust Alice. And while I am grateful that she is offering me this space, opening up about my past causes more pain than it’s worth. The words flow out of me almost instinctively, and I barely register them as they pass my lips. “I don’t talk about it. And I won’t.”

The words are sharp, impaling, harsh, and unfair. I want to scream and burst free from my skin. Suddenly, the bite of pizza I’ve just swallowed sits as heavy as a rock in my stomach. I can’t even look at her, unable to acknowledge the hurt I’ve caused.

“I’m not going to push.” Her voice is soft, gentle, and understanding. I lift my eyes to look at her, and I’m surprised to see no hurt there, no anger or frustration. There is only care. “It’s your business, but just know you can talk to me if you want.” She pauses. “And don’t think I’m a dick for only talking about myself.”

The tension in my shoulders eases, and my lips quirk in a half smile. Before this conversation, similar ones have always ended in hostility and harsh words about lack of trust. I lean in against Alice, trying to show her that I appreciate her in the only way I can. The words won’t come, and at this moment, it is the only way I have of telling her she had done the kindest thing for me.

Alice lays her head on my shoulder. “I shouldn’t have stabbed him. Right? He just took me off guard.”

I snort. “Next time, stab his brother.”

Alice lifts her head, jabbing me in the side. “But you looooooooooove him.” Her phone alerts, and she grabs it from the table and opens the notification. “Oh, look, a new follower.” Her smile turns catlike. “Oh, I wonder who ConnorMorningstar is. Probably trying to find your name.” Alice clicks on his profile and quickly blocks him. “Not through me, bird brain.”

I burst out laughing at the pet name. “Well, that works.”

Alice tracks the profiles of his brothers. “I better block his clan, too. By the way, can we talk about their poor mother? It looks like they’re all enrolled here, so they must be like,” Alice counts on her fingers, frowning up at the ceiling as she calculates. “Holy fuck, some of them must be less than a year apart.” She blocks Luke, Rafe, and Zane but pauses when she gets to Zach’s account. Instead of pressing the block button, she selects the option to send him a direct message.

I chuckle at the message, and then Alice blocks him, too. “Yeah, their poor mom. She had five kids, five boys, five huge boys!”

Alice grimaces, squeezing her thighs together. “My box could never.”

“Fuck, I know. Luke, the youngest one, seems sweet. He seems different from his brothers.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that healing is a super rare angelic ability.”

“Well, Rafe is still my favorite.”

Alice snickers. “Because he hates you?”

I shrug. “He’s all angry and broody. Definitely my type.”

Alice pouts, sticking out her lip. “But I’m your angry friend.”

I laugh. “You are unhinged. Rafe is I don’t give a fuck angry.” I take another bite of my pizza, my stomach having finally settled. “You’re coming to the game with me on Friday, right?”

“Well, duh.” She smirks wickedly. “Want to piss off lover boy?”

I quirk a brow, intrigued. “What do you have in mind?”

Alice lets out the most malevolent cackle I’ve ever heard, and it only makes me appreciate her more. “I’m thinking we get some jerseys to support…” she pauses for obvious dramatic effect, “the opposite team.”

I grin. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Alice claps her hands together excitedly and grabs her phone. She starts researching the game and stores where we can buy custom jerseys.

“We should get them big and wear them as cocktail dresses.”

Alice gives another maniacal laugh, typing away. “Connor is the captain of the Avalon team.”

“Okay, I have so many ideas. We need the name of the captain of the opposing team. I’m going to write it on my cheeks.”

“There are so many articles about the rivalry between the two schools. This is going to be so fucking delicious.” Her thumbs are a blur as she types into her phone, her eyes darting over the screen. “We’re playing Irachmoor Academy. Their team captain is Hector Montgomery.”

I grimace at his name. “Is he at least hot?”

Alice pulls up a photo of him and turns the screen toward me. “Maybe in a hulking brute kind of way, I guess.”

I tilt my head, considering. “I can work with that.”

Alice smirks, ordering two of the jerseys in Irachmoor dark green, both with MONTGOMERY in large white letters on the back. “Oh, man, I can’t wait to see his face.”

“I doubt he’ll want to go to the party with me after this.” I chuckle, proud of us for thinking of such a petty and ridiculous way to get to the oldest Morningstar.

Alice holds out her hand. “I’ll take that bet.”

I narrow my eyes. “Five credits and… coffee for a week?”

“Done.”

I shake her hand, and we both burst out laughing.