Page 3 of Change

Chapter Two

Bianca

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“Who are you talking to?” Damen asked, trying to peer over my shoulder at my phone. “Is something wrong?”

I pressed the screen against my chest as I shot him my sternest look and walked past him. “You shouldn’t try to read other people’s messages,” I told him, leaving him to stare after me. You’d have thought he’d learned this by now, especially after everything that happened with his brother. “Come on, you’re going to be late for Dr. Stephens.”

“I’m not,” Damen said, although I wasn’t sure which of my statements he was addressing. “You just looked concerned, then you smiled…”

I stopped, studying his torn expression. Damen had been acting rather strange lately, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. There was something about his mannerisms that nagged at me, something that I’d never really expected from the handsome onmyoji.

Especially toward me.

The silent and brooding lurking, the foolish looks.

“Damen, are you…” It was almost embarrassing to ask, but I couldn’t imagine that it might be true. However, this was a safe place—mostly everyone had already left the building for the night. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

“What!” He jerked back, aghast. “I am not! Why would I be?” So he said, but really, he was acting like a sullen teenager. Where was the responsible adult that I knew him to be? “I don’t care if you talk to Miles,” he drawled, almost daring me to prove him wrong.

“Good.” I had no time for this nonsense, especially since he had no shame. He was the one who had a history of being an outrageous flirt. Besides, this entire setup had been his idea, so he should either say something or get over it. Besides, Miles had already replied, and I unlocked the screen of my phone to send him another message. “Because that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

Damen’s mouth dropped open, but I ignored him.

What game was Miles playing now? For someone who liked to go on about how much work he had to do, there was no way he’d been gone long enough to put a dent in it.

Which meant he was procrastinating again.

Still… I could give him some incentive. He seemed the type to thrive on rewards.

“Hey, Damen?” I put my phone back in my purse and resumed walking, knowing he’d follow.

He was still sulking as he fell into step beside me, but hummed in response to the sound of his name.

“What’s the most romantic restaurant around here?” I asked.

“Why?” Damen sounded almost hopeful, and he grabbed my arm, turning me to face him. His eyes were heavy as he gazed heatedly down at me. “Do you want to go out with me?”

Yes.

I stared up at him, unable to respond at first. There was always something about him I couldn’t resist when he got into one of these moods. But our last date had ended rather badly—considering he took me to Colette’s restaurant and I found out that they used to be an item—so I wasn’t sure this was a safe topic.

It was one thing for us to work, and be alone, together. We’d been doing that quite a lot these days. But usually that involved me trailing along after Damen in complete boredom as he ran around doing errands for Dr. Stephens. And while Damen taught in his mentor’s place—which was quite often, as the older fae rarely seemed to put any time and effort to maintain his tenure—I lurked at the library until it was time to go home again.

This job was surprisingly boring. No wonder Norman was so grouchy.

Although I would admit that things would probably be more exciting if Damen hadn’t been acting weird. The man hardly ever flirted with me anymore and he’d made no mention of the ‘arrangement’ between he and I.

Sometimes I felt like only a roommate, or employee. But then he’d do something like this—watching me as if he cared more than he normally let on—and I’d be left to wonder: Did I understand him as well as I thought?

But I couldn’t bother with any of that at the moment. Just because he’d decided to try to act seductivenowdidn’t mean I had to give in.

I was going to be nice to the one who treated me like I matteredallthe time.

Besides, he wasn’t even asking me on a date. In fact, I wasn’t even sure whatthatwas. A suggestion?

But, then again, neither was Miles, technically.