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I snort. “I’m so glad my plans are acceptable to you, Harris. Really.”
A low chuckle reaches my ear and I can’t help the shiver that works its way over my body. Dammit. I wish he didn’t have that effect on me.Shut it down, Rosalind Juliet.I clear my throat. “Well, I was just checking to make sure you hadn’t, you know, died or anything.”
“Worried about us, Sweeney?”
“Hardly,” I snort. We both know it’s a lie.
Another hum, followed by a curse. “I have to go, Ro, but I’ll see you soon.”
I frown down at my phone as he cut offs the call abruptly.
Over at the snooker table, Desi lets out a squeal and jumps up and down as she apparently does something well, and then she bends and kisses Sam. I flick my eyes away from them and then back to my phone. The screen remains frustratingly dark.
Dammit. Damn these boys who have apparently worked their way so far under my skin that I don’t have a chance of expelling them. Not even the slightest bit.
Six
The sea air is chilly, just like it had been the first time I took the ferry out to SSU. But today it’s accompanied by showers of rain that alternate between pouring and sprinkling. Lucky me. I’ve been standing outside for nearly an hour. I’m huddled under a shelter, my rolling suitcase at my feet, with water likely soaking through the bottom of it.
I’ve thought about going inside the cantina not far away. There’s a coffee shop and a few stores inside. I even wheeled over to the doors and peeked inside, but one look at the occupants of the building had me turning right back around. Julie and some of Morgan’s lackeys. Not Morgan herself, though. Still not worth risking a run in with the head bitch’s best friend.
The ferry should arrive any moment and I am looking forward to being inside and warm, with a hot drink in my hands, after nearly twenty hours of travel. The ferry itself will be much larger than the building housing the cantina, and I should be able to avoid almost everyone before we dock.
I shift from foot to foot, with my arms wrapped around my stomach, trying to keep warm, letting out a breath when I finally see the ferry out on the water. Normally I’d pull out my camera to get some footage for a vlog, but my fingers feel numb and I just don’t have the energy or the focus.
A yawn cracks my jaw as I watch the ferry chug closer. I’d snagged a few hours of sleep on the plane, but it’s never enough to feel rested. I’m running on fumes and won’t feel recharged until I get a full night’s sleep.
Trepidation hits me when students emerge from the cantina, crowding closer to me under my little covered area to stay out of the rain.
I’m not sure I’m ready for this, to head back into the vipers den like everything that happened in the last six months is forgiven, like I haven’t had nightmares about being chased through the woods, or of suddenly falling or… getting so sick I thought I was going to die. Though I suppose I can’t blame them for that.
Still not ready for this at all.
The ferry docks and I’ve just extended the handle and started toward the boarding ramp when a loud engine roars through the parking lot and skids to a stop next to me. I scramble back and away from it, sure that someone is trying to kill me again, but then the driver’s door pops open and Hardin grins as he saunters straight to me, like he doesn’t care at all if he’s getting soaked. “Hello, love. Miss me?”
The students around us burst out in excited chatter, and I know that within an hour on the ferry, the entire student body will know that Hardin is chatting up the trash. I scowl at him. “Are you trying to kill me?”
His brows jump. “I thought we talked about this, my Rosalind. We’ve always been keeping you safe.”
I don’t dignify that with a response and instead stomp up the pedestrian ramp, avoiding getting too close to anyone. “You could get in the car!” Hardin calls after me. “We can go together.”
I glare over my shoulder at him, made even more prickly than normal due to nerves and cold. He’s just standing there, hands in his pockets, watching me leave. I flip him off and keep walking without looking back.
As soon as I step through the gilt glass doors, I let out a little shiver of appreciation for the warmth. I leave my bag in the designated area and rub my hands together to get the blood flow to pick up. Not wasting any time, I head right to the cafe that Merritt and I had our first conversation in.
Guilt pinches my stomach that I haven’t reached out to her, haven’t apologized yet. But I think that is better done in person than via text. I mean, what would I say?
‘Sorry I didn’t believe you when you told me witches were real? Some asshole explained it to me and now I get it.’
Actually, that doesn’t sound too bad.
I order a latte and a sandwich and then retreat to find a space that isn’t full of other students.
I’ve just climbed into the elevator intending to go to the top of the ferry and find an alcove to tuck myself into, when my name resounds through the open space. I turn to face the doors and immediately start jabbing at the ‘door close’ button. Standing there looking right at me are all four of the Consequences, or the Effers or the witches. Whatever you want to call them, there they are, looking right at me.
The surrounding students look from them to me, and I have to grit my teeth against the frustration boiling through me. It’s bad enough that I’m going back, but I really don’t need them to draw attention to me. I just want to fly under the radar.
My finger aches with how hard I’m hitting the button, but the elevator doesn’t listen to me, doesn’t close the doors, doesn’t block my view of them…. Or their view of me.
