Page 18 of Unspoken Lies

Forcing air through my lungs in an explosive breath, I shoot off a text to the message thread without Ignacio. Now that he’s in prison, I should just delete it from my phone, but I can’t do it.

I swear, one day, my sentimental bullshit is going to get me killed.

Me:

Rise and shine. How are things?

Elijah:

Coffee is saving my ass today. I’ll know what I think after this class. I think we all have an hour for lunch.

Jared:

Thank God for Calvin. He sent me off with a breakfast burrito.

My lips twitchbecause I didn’t get a burrito for breakfast. To be fair, I usually eat a muffin on the go, and Calvin knows that. Elijah and I went for a run this morning, while Jared hit the pool.

We’re falling into our routines at the new house, and it’s nice to be living together officially. We’ve always been in each other’s spaces, but this is more permanent. I don’t have to go home anymore after sleeping next to their warm bodies all night.

Me:

Let’s do lunch on campus then. I don’t care what it is.

The teacher clearshis throat at the front of the room, and I make sure my phone is silenced before I put it away. I’d prefer not to get on this man’s bad side this soon. Granted, I’m a heavy handed asshole, but there are new rules at this school, and I need to learn them.

I give the teacher a neutral look to show that I'm paying attention, and his gaze sweeps over the auditorium before beginning to speak. He’s engaging, but the start of his speech is what expectations he has and how his class is structured. All of it is important, and he blows through it before continuing with his lecture.

I jot a few things into the margins of my PowerPoint that’s been provided on my computer, but most of it is selfexplanatory. Technically, I could just skip and simply attend the exams, however, I’ve never been that kind of student.

I don’t intend to start now.

The rest of the day moves quickly, and lunch is uneventful with the guys. It’s a nice change from all the drama and fanfare of our past school. It’s nice to be able to fall into the background, without others trying to use us for our influence.

There are a few girls who attempt to walk over to talk to us, but it’s quickly nipped in the bud by one of the guys kissing me or their arm draping over my shoulder. I don’t have a problem with public displays of affection, or being a free use hole. It’s giving “we are gay” vibes, and I’m perfectly fine with it. Elijah smirks as he leans against me to speak into my ear.

“Do you think we’re going to have a chance to choose a contractor after classes?” he asks.

Even though I have enough law under my belt to be able to handle the opening of our new business, we have a law group on retainer now. They’re the faces of whom anyone working with us for the club will see first for all of our business.

Contractors will sign paperwork through one of our lawyers, and it won’t be until later that they’ll meet one of us. It’ll keep them from trying to fuck us over or refusing to work with us because we’re “just a bunch of kids.”

Fuck that noise. We’re smarter than most old farts in business, we just may need a bit of help making sure we do normal things like eat or stock the fridge. There are many people who are in the same boat. We aren’t the only ones.

“Yeah,” I murmur without moving my lips. “I have it narrowed down, and then we can have the lawyer’s office offer them the job. I want to get moving on the renovations by next week.”

“That’s fast for a job like this,” he admits. “Think money will talk that much?”

“Oh yeah. Senator Thomas said that he’d help push our permits,” I remind him. “We’ve got this in the bag. I’m more concerned about the setup for the shop. I don’t know the first thing about it.”

“Maybe I should put out a social media video about looking for a manager for a witchy type shop,” Elijah says. “I obviously won’t call it that, but do you think it’ll help?”

“You know what, it would,” I decide. It certainly won’t hurt anything. “Thanks for taking the initiative, Elijah.”

“I have to head out,” Jared announces, glancing at his watch. “I swear, today is moving so fast. Is it just me?”

“Nah, I feel it too,” I admit. We all finish at the same time, so we all drove in together as well.

Calvin has the house on lockdown with furnishing things now that the moving truck is emptied and things are in their places. I’m starting to feel like our house is on its way to becoming a home.