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Chapter 7
I watched Malakai elegantly move through the teaming, steaming crowd, a rum and Coke in one hand, and what looked like a straight whisky in the other. I had gone a year at Whitewell drama free, keeping myself to myself and Aminah, comfortable going from studio to class to dropping by at FreakyFridayz. Now I was sitting in Cuffing Corner, waiting for a guy to get me a drink. A guy with anextremelygood butt. I bit the inside of my cheek. I was the one who’d issued a warning about this guy and now I wasoglinghim like some kind of smitten First Year. This was just an investigation. Surveying the threat posed to the girls of Blackwell. This was due diligence.
Malakai passed me my drink as he settled next to me on the beat-up maroon leather sofa, our knees just inches apart. The level of the music was low enough for conversation, but here, at the corner of the party and opposite the DJ booth, it was even lower. Cuffing Corner was so called because it was where potential couples who were at FreakyFridayz for a date night came to chill. The light was dimmer here and there were coffee tables with fake candles on, for a bootleg grown-and-sexy atmosphere. It was the only place in the party for us to sit and talk in relative privacy; it was a practical choice but it still elicited a necessary eye roll when Malakai suggested it.
I took the drink and flicked my eyes across him. “You’re dangerous.”
“Dangerous how?” Malakai lowered his tumbler of something dark and strong from his lips, and something dark and strong in his eyes told me he already knew exactly what I meant.
“Dangerous, like, right now, without even looking I know there are probably at least six girls in this party that want to choke me out for even breathing near you, let alone sitting in Cuffing Corner with you.”
Malakai shook his head. “It’s because I’m new. I’m still fresh. It isn’t real. It will wear off in a few weeks. If anyone’s in danger, it’s me.”
“What are you talking about?”
Malakai laughed incredulously, and then faded into a smile when he realized my face hadn’t flinched. “Shit, you’re serious.” He nodded, bit his lip, and rubbed at his jaw in a way that was obnoxiously attractive and exemplified the aforementioned danger. Malakai shifted closer to me. “I promise you, half the mandem in this room are wondering how I got Kiki Banjo’s attention.”
I rolled my eyes and with it, pushed away the flutter in my chest that came with his proximity. “They don’t talk to me. They’re scared of me.”
“Those two facts aren’t mutually exclusive. They don’t want to put in the effort that it would take to secure you, because they know you see through their shit, so they make out like it’s impossible, that you’re stush. They’d rather act like there’s something defective with you than be the guy that’s worthy of you, because that would mean they have to face their own shit—and if there’s anything mandem hate it’s facing their own shit—so they leave you alone. And you? Well, you like it that way. No mess.” He said it all casually, voice even and matter of fact.
It unnerved me that there was nothing I could genuinely unpick. “How do you figure this?”
“The same way you know everything you talk about on the radio. We watch from the outside. We know how the game works. I don’t know you like that but I know enough to know that.”
I turned to him fully, folding my leg up beneath me and leaning my arm against the back of the sofa. Our knees knocked. Neither of us moved.
“Okay, Mystic Malakai. Let’s play a game. See how far your skills stretch. You down?”
“Hit me.”
“Zack and I are not a match. Obviously. In fact, if I focus too hard on his personality, I find myself actively repelled. Given these facts, why was I hooking up with him?”
Malakai rose a brow. “Is this meant to be challenging?”
My smile widened. “You’re kind of a dick, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Not a Wasteman, though.”
I rolled my eyes and swallowed my grin. “Answer the question.”
Malakai laughed and nodded. “Alright. You hooked up with himbecauseyou were disgusted by him. My guess is, you weren’t really looking for a relationship and you figured you might as well hook up with someone you have nothing in common with. No distractions. No risk of complication.”
I stilled.
As if reading my mind, as if detecting my discomfort, Malakai shook his head. “It’s not that you’re easy to read. Like I said, I noticed you. Wait, that sounded...” He faltered. “I meant, I know what to look for when I’m looking at you.”
I slid my head to the side and a smile tipped out. He paused again. Brought his knuckles to rest on the tip of his nose as he stared at me. “Fuck. I sound like a creep. Let me do that again.”
The insecurity broke into his voice, betraying a surprising softness that made me smile. “Hey. Don’t run away from your truth. Listen, if you want a lock of my hair, I’d appreciate it if you just asked instead of plucking it next time? It hurt when you did it while we were kissing.”
Malakai caught my grin and tilted his head like something had been revealed to him, “Oh wow.You’rea dick.”
I nodded and sipped my drink. “Ah, you noticed. So many guys judge me by my looksand not enough by the fact that I’m a huge arsehole.”
Malakai pressed a flat palm to his broad chest. “Not me. I see you. The real you. Angel face, demon heart.”
“Thanks for understanding me.”
