Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 89074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
I haven’t even sat down yet before I notice Hunter. He’s sitting a couple of tables over, across from a girl with long, shiny black hair.
I want to be far away from him, but as always, something in me also wants to get closer, and it makes me fucking sick.
Noah catches me staring.
He looks back.
“So Knox finally has a friend,” Noah says under his breath.
“He found a girl as crazy as he is,” Weston says. “Saw them in front of Baker Hall the other day. She’s a new member of Luros, I think.”
I’m still watching her with Hunter.
He seems to be having a normal conversation with her.
In all my time knowing him, back in high school, Hunter Knox never really seemed to have a friend.
“What’s crazy about her? I ask Weston. “What was her name? Brienne?”
“Briar. All I know is that she’s new here too, she does fencing, and a few days ago at the Luros mixer she told me she raises caterpillars into moths and butterflies. In her dorm room,” Weston says.
“Not that weird.”
“It’s a little fuckin’ weird, bro. You want caterpillars, moths, and butterflies in your dorm? I can have it arranged for you.”
I take a bite of a strawberry. “Put caterpillars in my bedroom and I’ll drop-kick you off the balcony,” I tell Weston. “I’m sure Briar has one of those atrium things if she raises butterflies, Wes. They’re not going to be free-flying around her room.”
He shrugs. “Who knows.”
I glance over at her again. She looks pretty damn normal to me, and beautiful, too.
Is it possible that Hunter is hooking up with her?
Dating her, even?
They’re laughing about something now, and I realize I’m seeing true happiness on Hunter’s face.
So maybe there’s a heart somewhere in that chest, after all.
Hunter finally looks up and meets my eyes.
I look down and reach over toward Weston’s plate to steal a big bite of mac and cheese, ignoring Hunter’s gaze.
“Hey. Royal,” Roman says as he sits down across the table. “I’m going to contact my cousin. He can offer you protection. I think you might need it.”
As Roman leans on the table, his forearm flexes and the intricate tattoos along his arm shift. The back of his hand says honestas in a cursive script, and it’s one of my favorite tattoos of his.
Roman’s family line is from Russia, and he tends to offer their help, though none of us have ever known what that really means.
“No need, Roman, but thank you,” I tell him. “If they kill me, at least I’ll go out young and pretty, right?”
Everyone laughs other than Weston.
He’s still acting weird, looking around every minute like he thinks I’m going to get jumped.
In fact, he’s been acting weird all week.
He’s always a little more reserved and serious than the rest of us, but lately it seems like he’s put up an extra wall between himself and the rest of the world.
“Who the fuck would have it out for you, Rayne?” Wes asks. “I just don’t get it.”
“Think it’s Mikael?” Noah asks.
“Mikael sucks, and he cheated on me, but he wouldn’t try to kill me. Don’t think he cares about me enough to stalk or kill me, as sad as that sounds.”
Roman is giving us a hard look. “James, Ethan, and Ezra may not be as strong as we think they are. We have to accept that.”
“He’s right,” Wes says.
I narrow my eyes. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“I mean that I can involve my family at any moment, and these types of attacks will not happen,” Roman says, his gaze dead serious.
Oliver looks up, a frightened look in his eyes.
“We’re not fucking involving the mob, Roman,” Noah says suddenly, leaning over the table and giving Roman a serious look. “I don’t care if your family’s involved. Once we do that, there’s no going back. You realize that, right?”
Roman grabs his fork in his fist, and I swear for a moment it looks like the two of them are going to leap across the table and swipe at each other.
“You’re good at planning, scheduling, and spouting out Latin phrases,” Roman tells Noah. “I’m good at protection. Let’s stay in our lanes, okay, Noah?”
Their gazes are pinned on one another.
“Can we all chill, please?” I beg them.
Ollie sighs, giving me a sympathetic look. “I agree. I just joined Onyx and I want to get through at least one semester without worrying I’ll be attacked.”
Roman gives Ollie a curt nod. “You won’t be attacked, freshman.”
“Oh, shit, look up,” Noah says, rapidly changing the subject and nudging my shoulder. “Maybe Knox and that girl are more than just friends?”
I look up to see Hunter rubbing the top of Briar’s back, her long hair now flipped over her other shoulder.
Girls always did like looking at Hunter.
Something flares in my chest as I watch the two of them.