Page 133 of Pretty When She Breaks

Jade snorted and reached around his belly to untie his apron. He bent down so she could pull it over his head, his eyes wide with awe.

“I’ll finish them. Though why you decided to do them for everyone is beyond me.”

“We were out of plates,” Casey replied.

“Go to bed,” Jade said firmly, spinning him around and giving him a push. He started walking, giving us one last glance. “Walk?” Jade said, looping her arm in mine. We started toward the door.

“You and Casey?” I asked, when he was out of earshot. “Thought you went for more mature guys?”

She’d caught me up on her love life; most of her flings had been way older than us.

“Those weren’t serious.”

“So Casey is?” I asked.

She shrugged, glancing over her shoulder. Her expression softened. “I’ve never met anyone like him,” she admitted. Her cheeks were going a bit pink. “He’s literally the nicest person ever.”

“Does he still think you’re a guy?” I asked when the door to the dorms was firmly shut behind us.

“Yeah.”

“You should tell him. He really seems to like you. What if he’s gay, and you break his heart?”

“He’s not,” Jade said. “We had an adorably awkward conversation about it, and he swings both ways.”

“You should still tell him before it gets that far.”

Jade rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. By the way, is that skeleton boy’s beanie?”

I felt my cheeks go a bit hot. “Don’t change the subject. And I needed to hide my hair,” I told her. We’d reached aloose panel that was one of the ways into the secret crawlspace. “Oh, uh, are we going to the hangout?”

“Yeah. Safe space and all,” she said, slipping inside the wall.

“I may have taken it over. A bit. And it’s kind of my nest now,” I explained, following her.

She paused. “Should we go somewhere else?”

I hesitated. “No, but maybe we’ll just sit outside?” I said, trying not to think of her getting her scent in the main pile.

Before, I would have welcomed her, but since I’d bonded the Seo pack, I just wanted their scents inside it. I’d stolen Finch’s suit jacket when he’d left it in the VIP suite, and I’d brought it in my backpack today to slip it inside after I’d met with Jade.

We climbed up, slower than usual because of my shoulder, and were just one floor away from our hideout when Jade paused.

“You checked all Jule’s stash points, right?” she asked. “Even the one here?”

“There was one here? Since when?”

“Oh, maybe just Jule and I used it,” she said, walking along a dusty beam and opening a seemingly empty box.

“Aha!” Jade called, pulling out Jule’s old school backpack. “Who’s the best?”

“Jule,” I said and she snorted.

She unzipped the bag, and I crossed over to look inside. She swore and slowly pulled out a long, grey scarf. Her face had paled.

“What?” I asked, concerned.

“This is my scarf,” she said, staring at it. I heard her swallow. “I thought I lost it. I guess he stole it.