Page 67 of Slayer

I winced. Because of me. Didn’t qualify because of me.

He shrugged. “I’m over it. It is what it is.”

Was he? He didn’t sound like it, but maybe he was. Maybe he got mad, processed stuff, and then moved on. That sounded healthy.

We walked down the rest of the pathway until we reached two redbrick buildings. The one on the left was the boys’ dormitory and the one on the right the girls’. Ivy crept up the corners, and tall windows reflected the afternoon light.

It was total chaos. There were students and parents and boxes and bags everywhere. The registrar had said that the first day of school wasn’t really a school day. It was just to get your schedule, settle into the dorms, and get your hunter runes. Tomorrow was when the real classes started.

We dipped into the lobby of the girls’ dorm and came to a halt in front of a woman with a clipboard. “No boys past the lobby, Asher Voss.” She eyed him.

He dropped my duffel bags and nodded to the woman. Harper and Luna walked over to a girl with reddish hair and began animatedly chatting with her as I peered at Asher.

Black T-shirt, faded jeans, stake hanging off his belt. He was so unassuming. No flashy designer gear, his hair tousled and not styled. He was exactly my type.

“Thanks for carrying my stuff. My fingers are regaining blood flow.” I pulled them out of my pockets to show him.

He grinned and my knees went weak. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet, making no move to leave. I stood there awkwardly as I decided whether to leave or stay. Was he going to say something?

“I’m sorry for blaming you about my not passing the final exam. It must have been really scary to suddenly see a hundred bloodsuckers at your birthday,” he said. “I would have run too.”

Whoa. A heartfelt apology? I hadn’t expected that.

“Thanks. I’m sorry I kneed you in the balls when you were just trying to protect me. I hope you can still have children.”

He burst into laughter, a low, rumbling sound. “You’re funny, you know that, Stella?”

I shrugged. “Trauma response.”

He was smiling, like nonstop, and it made my heart beat frantically in my chest.

“I’m also sorry about saying that stuff about your mom and inheriting money. My parents didn’t leave me anything when they died, and the only way I’m going to survive is if I get hunter runes and graduate and become a licensed hunter. It’s a lot of stress and… I shouldn’t put that on you.”

Whoa. Heartfelt apology number two! Go, Asher. “I’m genuinely shocked that you know how to apologize so well,” I told him.

He licked his lips, the grin not fading. “Well—” He stopped talking, his gaze went to something behind me, and the color drained from his face.

“Babe!” a shrill female voice called from behind me.

Asher tensed as a pretty blond popped into sight and rushed to his side.

“Did you come to visit me? You’re so sweet.”

She was at least five feet ten inches, with long blond hair that fell in thick glossy waves to her perfect twenty-six-inch waist. She wore a buttery yellow sundress that contrasted her candied red lips, and I swear she could be a Taylor Swift vampire hunter version.

Babe?

It was like a knife had suddenly been imbedded in my chest and I couldn’t breathe.

Was this how Luna felt when looking at Byron and Chloe?

“Hi, I’m Daphne.” The girl extended her perfectly pink manicured hand to me.

“Stella,” I managed and shook it.

Her skin was so soft, and I could smell her perfume from here. It was like flowers and sunshine.

She was perfect. Daphne.