Wonderful, I’ve pissed him off.
“Will you be talking to him?” I push because it’s hard enough to have a conversation with him half the time as it is, but when he’s mad...
He sighs, his head falling forward, and his shoulders sagging. I almost feel bad. That is, until I remind myself that this is what’s best for all of us. We need her out so that we can relax and have our space back.
He’s feeling the pressure from his upcoming swim meet, and having her here isn’t helping. This isn’t my fault, but his father's; I’m just trying to ensure we get it fixed before it does us all in.
“I have a meeting with him in an hour.”
He stalks away into the locker room, and I let him go. I know he and his father have a pretty shitty relationship, and I hate to push him to do this, but I think he might be the only one who can.
I turn back to the ‘utility door’ and back out of the fifth bedroom to our dorm.
Julian had spelled it to hold a portal that allowed Nolan to get in more practice time, so despite there being one room left, he told us he wouldn’t fill it.
It was the dean’s way of ensuring his son continued to be the best, and so far it had worked.
Nolan’s never lost, but he isn’t the only one improving, and I fear what might happen if he lets his father down.
The guy is a top-notch asshole, maybe not as bad as my father, or so I’ve heard, but at least D and I are free from him now.
I make my way down the stairs and nearly miss being smacked in the face by one of the pillows that usually decorate the couch.
“What the fuck!” I shout, ducking out of the way just in time.
“SHHH!” Julez hisses from across the room, and I whip toward him, eyes blazing, only to find his hand out, finger pointed at something on the other side of the room, another pillow already ready in his other hand.
I know what it is even before I look, but I can’t stop myself from looking anyway.
Yet another reason she needs to go, as if she hasn’t haunted my mind enough over the last ten years. Ever since she beat me at the divisional spelling bee in fifth grade.
She’s curled up on the couch, and while I’m not the biggest guy, Nolan towers over me, but Wren makes me feel huge. If any of us tried to lie on that couch, we would be sporting stiff necks and probably waking up on the floor. But somehow she looks perfectly comfortable and at peace, which I didn’t realize wasn’t her normal until right this moment.
I stop dead, eyes glued to her, taking in the way her blonde hair escapes from her braid, falling over her shoulders and around her face. The soft rise and fall of her chest and the way her pink, pouty lips are slightly parted.
Damn, is she drooling on my pillow?
I’d left her a pillow and blanket the first night; despite how much I might want her gone, Dimitri would wring my neck if he knew I let her freeze.
Fuck, he’s going to be pissed when he finds out she’s on the couch too, but it’s not like I can do anything about that.
I bet I’ll never get the scent of her out of them.
I shake the thought away and turn back to Julian to find a shit-eating grin on his face, and I know he noticed my longer-than-necessary pause.
Great.
“I told her we aren’t going to tiptoe around just because she’s asleep. We have lives.”
His smile melts off his face so fast it’s almost scary.
Julez is almost always happy, but I know better than to piss him off. The fae are dangerous and powerful; even if I had control of my own powers, he’s got nearly a millennia of practice with his.
He made that portal for Nolan in less than three seconds with no questions asked, and it’s been stable ever since.
Do you know how hard that is for a sorcerer? I could practice for years, and it would still eventually become unstable, probably within a few months. And unstable portals are dangerous; anyone can hijack them, or they might send you, gods only know where…
Yeah, no thanks.
