It’s hard enough already.
No, I just need to hit the store this week, pick up some simple meals, and stick to myself, the way I always have.
Thankfully, I still have pizza in the fridge from yesterday, and that will have to do. Skipping the stove, I toss it in the microwave and eat it on my way up to my room. The house is quiet, the way it always is, and where I once reveled in it, I now find I kind of hate it.
I’d wanted to be free of my father, to ensure my brother was safe, but being alone wasn’t part of the plan. With Gavin in the dorm, what else was I to do?
Pulling off my clothes, I grab a quick shower and brush my hair out before brushing my teeth, pulling on boxers, and falling into bed.
Five years ago, it was hard to imagine a life where I was free from my father and wasn’t in jail.
He wouldn’t have cared either way, but I knew I was Gavin’s only hope. I had to get him out, give him a real shot at life.
I’d almost thrown it all away for Wren once; I’d been so tempted that night we met. But Gavin needed me, and it was my job to keep him safe. I was the only one who could, something I knew she would have understood with a brother of her own.
But what about now?
Gavin’s free, and here at the academy, my father can’t touch him.
He’s in control of his future the same way I am.
Is she worth risking it all, after everything I’ve worked toward all these years?
I lay back on the bed, my head on the pillow, as I let my eyes fall closed. I see her in my mind, feel her emotions as if they’re my own, and I know that some of that hurt she carries is because of me.
Yeah, she’s worth it.
Monday and Friday’s classes quickly become my favorite, the time between them feeling like an eternity as I try to find ways to see her more often. I could have her come to my office on Tuesday or Thursday for a second weekly check-in, but honestly, I’m already pushing it with once a week. Saturdays give us an unrestricted amount of time because those aren’t my actual office hours, but the days in between drag.
It took everything in me to bite my tongue when Julian came in with his arm wrapped around her on one of her earlier days. Of course, he noticed my annoyance because nothing gets past his senses, and now he thinks it’s a game.
One I’m going to lose if he keeps it up.
His arm on her shoulder was bad, but today he’d pulled her close, his arm around her waist as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and fuck me if she didn’t turn the most beautiful shade of red before she ducked her head and all but ran for her seat.
Worse, I feel her embarrassment and nerves, no doubt from him doing that so publicly, but beneath that, there's desire andsomething more blooming deep down that I’m not even sure she’s aware of yet.
It makes me want to punch him, and judging by the smug smile on his face, he’s well aware of what he’s doing, but I’m not the only one who took notice.
Gavin looks pissed, which doesn’t surprise me in the least, but Felix… Well, the fact that he’s paying attention at all is strange, though I have no idea if he’s upset or just curious; his face is just as cold and impassive as always. Though the fact that he’s even here is strange, not that anyone who doesn’t know what to look for would know that with him hidden in his shadows.
“If you're not in this class, you need to leave,” I say the moment the bell rings, earning a glare from Julian before his lips turn up in the shit-eating grin I’ve known for years now.
Technically speaking, Julian is much older than most of us because Fae have such long lifespans. Having grown up in the fae realm, he aged slowly, so while he’s about four hundred, he looks the part of a nineteen-year-old.
He fucking acts like it too.
“Whatever you say, D-man.” He backs out of the door with a salute, letting the door fall closed before I feel his magic fill the air.
He’s strong; his parents are both full-blood Seelie Court members, a rarity, and one their families were all too happy to arrange when it came time for them to get married.
Julian is the pinnacle of a golden child, except for his grades in his actual classes. Getting that boy to pay attention is like trying to teach a dog to write his name.
Mortals would simply get the chills as his magic shifts around them, their bodies unable to process it the way the rest of us with magical stores do.
For the rest of us, it’s like a shot of espresso; his power tops off our own for a momentary buzz, and given this is a mostly magical class, I now have a bunch of buzzing students.
Asshole.
