Page 20 of Legacy Elite

"You have a room."

"I have a room, Jessica. You have a suite. There's a difference and I intend to exploit it."

A few minutes later there's a coat over the ugly chair, Declan is on the floor with his back against the couch because there is somehow still not enough furniture for six people, Renzo has located a kettle and is complaining about it, Sophia has claimed a shelf in my bathroom without asking, and Freya has read four pages of something in the window seat and looks like she's been sitting there for a year.

It stops looking important almost immediately. It just looks like ours.

I sit on the arm of the couch and let that be true for a minute.

"Hey," Sophia says. "Important question. Does being impossibly huge when shifted mean you finally get custody of your lizard?"

"No."

"No?"

"The pet rules are not affected by my situation. I asked twice." I pull my knees up. "Pickles remains the professor's tenant."

"That's outrageous."

"That's what I said."

"You could turn into a dragon and they won't let you have a gecko."

"Exactly, it’s so messed up."

"Was Matthias upset about having lizard company again?" Renzo asks.

"Not at all. He offered to send me bedtime pictures."

Declan laughs so hard he hits his head on the couch.

Two seconds later the door — which I did not lock, because apparently I learn nothing — opens.

"There she is," Luke says.

And every part of me goes toward him at once.

He's across the room before I'm off the couch arm. Both hands on my face. He kisses me in front of all five of my friends like there is no version of this where he doesn't, and I get a fistful of his shirt, and four months of a phone against my ear turns into absolutely nothing at all.

Somewhere behind me a mug goes down on the marble too hard.

"Hi," I say, when I get my mouth back.

"Hello." His thumb moves along my cheekbone once. "You look well. You look tired. Both."

"It's been a summer."

"It's been too long," he whispers.

And then I notice the quiet.

I turn around.

Declan has stopped mid-laugh. Renzo is holding the kettle at an angle that is going to be a problem in about four seconds. Freya has closed her book on her finger. Torres is leaning in the doorway of the second bedroom with his arms folded and a smile on his face.

Sophia is sitting bolt upright on my couch.

"WHAT," she says.