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“Um… Okay. Okay. Sorry.” I lifted my hands, leaving them there in an ‘I surrender’ stance.
Lucy grimaced. “It’s okay, Marcus. Kin was just really excited. She wasn’t going to murder me.”
“You sure you’re okay?” Marcus kept his eyes on me while he directed his question to Lucy.
“Yes. I’m fine. If I need you, I will scream. Don’t worry.”
After another tense moment Marcus backed away and then disappeared as if he had a secret passage to hide in. I hadn’t seen him coming, but it was obvious he had to have been watching Lucy like a hawk. To hide my discomfort, I picked up a chicken strip with my fingers and dunked it into the container of ranch dressing I’d snatched from the salad bar. “Sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry.” Lucy pushed her tray away, her appetite apparently gone now. “Anyway, that’s why I’m the oddball here. This place has the best security in the country. There’s a team of security guards patrolling the grounds and halls at all times. But my dad, he won’t let me leave the house without Marcus. And because of my Aunt Em, the school has accepted him as my shadow.”
I chewed my bite of chicken before wiping my fingers and mouth. “I’m sure he has his reasons.”
She nodded solemnly. “Yeah. He has plenty.”
I took another bite of my chicken as I watched her face cloud over with what must have been bad memories. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realized who Lucy was when I’d first seen her. The girl was talked about in the rock world like she was royalty and, as the daughter of a Demon, she pretty much was.
I had gotten interested in Demon’s Wings music when I was eleven. Caleb was a huge rock fan and it’d rubbed off on me. It was around that time that I’d heard something bad had happened to a few members of the band because of some crazy fan. I’d tried to find out what it had been about, but there had been very few stories on it. Someone’s PR must have been working overtime to make sure that the tabloids hadn’t gone bonkers with the full story.
I wondered if that was why Lucy’s parents were so overprotective, or if it had been something completely different. But I didn’t feel like I could ask. I liked her and didn’t want to pry. If she wanted to tell me, then she would.
My new friend was quiet for the rest of the meal. I finished up my lunch and we walked together to toss our trash. As we walked silently out of the cafeteria, I pulled my schedule from my messenger bag and looked it over. A computer class. Boring.
“What’s the rest of your day look like?” Lucy asked as she glanced down at the papers in my hands. Seeing what was next for me, she scrunched up her nose. “Do you know how to type?”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?” It was probably way too soon in our friendship for me to admit that I’d gotten into trouble more than once for hacking. Computers were nothing to me thanks to the tutelage of Caleb and Angie. Angie more so than Caleb. My stepsister was more than just a pretty face, but it was that pretty face that had gotten her out of the hot water I figured most people would have to face for some of the cyber crimes she had committed.
“Then you’ll pass the class.” Her dark eyes scanned over the last class on my schedule, easily reading it upside down. “Awesome. The newspaper.” She glanced up at me, a grin on her face telling me that her bad memories were long gone, at least for the moment. “I’m your editor.”
“Great. At least I’ll have someone to talk to.” I put the papers away and turned toward where my locker was supposed to be. I hadn’t been to it all day so I figured I’d better at least find out where it was.
Lucy followed me, and it was only then that I noticed the slight shadow behind her. Marcus. Huh, so he didn’t have a secret passage. He just knew how to blend into the background. That was pretty cool. I lifted my head enough to met his gaze, tilted my chin at him in acknowledgement and then decided it was best to ignore him. I didn’t want to make Lucy uncomfortable by continuing to draw attention to her guard.
“Do you like writing? Not many new students want to join the paper. Especially with the way I run it. I’m a bit of a dictator when it comes to getting the weekly paper out.” Lucy had her phone in her hand now, her thumb skimming over the screen as she read through what I assumed was email or social media.
“I can handle dictators,” I assured her with a smirk.
Finally reaching my locker, I started working on the combination before answering her first question. “I like to write poetry and songs. I’m a huge music fan.” I lifted my eyes to meet her gaze, letting her know that I wasn’t trying to score points or blow smoke up her ass with what I was about to admit. “I’m a big fan of Demon’s Wings and OtherWorld. Drake Stevenson is a freaking god with the way he plays the guitar.”
“That’s awesome. Aunt Emmie will love you. She appreciates true fans of the guys.” She leaned back against the locker beside mine. “And Drake is something special.” Dark eyes brightened as she grinned. “I wouldn’t trade him for anything.”
My brows lifted as I got the locker open and I found a pink gift bag overflowing with pastel colored tissue paper inside. “What the hell is this?”
Lucy didn’t even move. “It’s a ‘welcome to Malibu Academy’ gift bag. It has the essentials, according to the captain of the cheerleaders. The boys get one too, but it just has cologne, a bottle of water, that stupid pamphlet and—if they’re cute enough—your stepsister’s cell number.” I snorted at the thought of Georgia and that stupid parking spot sign as I lifted the bag and peeked inside. “There’s lip balm, a bottle of water, some kind of sickeningly sweet perfume, and hair spray.”
I shook my head as I lifted the pamphlet from the bag. “And this?”
Lucy grunted and pushed away from the lockers. “That’s the list of clubs and other crap, but it’s more of a hierarchy booklet if you ask me. It shows how popular you are by which club or sport you happen to be in.”
Opening the booklet, I saw what she meant. It had the sports and clubs listed in the order you would expect popular kids to be in first and ending with Latin Club. What was wrong with Latin? Rolling my eyes at the list, I dropped it back into the gift bag and replaced it in the locker. I wasn’t likely to visit my locker often anyway, so this crap could just stay in there.
As I shut the door, the bell rang. Lucy pushed a few curls out of her face as she moved a few steps closer. “See you in an hour.”
Chapter 4
Jace
The smell of coffee filled my nose and woke up all my other senses. Groaning, I turned over in bed, grinning when I found a warm body spread out beside me. My heart lifted as I sucked in a deep breath, only to frown when I inhaled a scent I wasn’t expecting. The perfume was different.
