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They start forward, heading right to me. The eyes of the other students follow them. I try to sink farther back into the elevator to avoid their gaze.
It doesn’t work and soon I’m surrounded by too many big bodies. Fielder comes to a stop in front of me while the others spread out around me. The elevator suddenly decides it’s ready to work. The doors slide closed, cutting us off from curious eyes, but it doesn’t rise.
“Trying to avoid us, Sweeney?” He sounds so amused by that concept.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes, trying to get my frustration under control. When I open them again, I find Fielder smirking down at me, his green eyes sparkling with mirth, like he knows how much I’m struggling right now. “I’m always trying to avoid you, Harris.”
Hardin makes an exaggerated sound like I’ve wounded him, while Gideon chuckles. His hand brushes against mine, just a brief caress of his fingers, but it’s enough to send a shock through me. I jump, nearly drop my sandwich, wedged between my arm and my torso, and my latte swoops dangerously.
They all laugh.At me.Because I’m a nervous wreck. They make me a nervous wreck.
But can they blame me? Really?
Still, I straighten my spine and glare at all of them. “What do you want?”
Fielder tilts his head. “What do you mean?”
A frustrated sound escapes me and I nearly stamp my foot, but I just barely manage to keep my boots firmly rooted to the ground. “I mean, why are you cornering me in an elevator? What do you want?”
Ezra leans in on my right, carefully takes my sandwich from where it’s wedged, and pries my latte from my hand. I give him a curious look, and he grins at me cheekily. “I just don’t want you to drop them in surprise.”
My eyes roll extravagantly before I look back at Fielder, waiting. His lips quirk into half a smile. “I thought we’d made it clear, Ro. What we want is you.”
I… don’t know what to say. My cheeks heat and I feel flushed, the lingering chill I’d had vanishes entirely, chased away by… what am I feeling? Embarrassment? Frustration? Rage? What is this combination of emotions roiling in my stomach?
“And what do you expect me to do about that?”
His brows raise, and Hardin shifts until he can look down at me. “What do you mean?”
I glare at him. “I mean, what do you expect me to do about you wanting me? Am I supposed to fall all over myself now that you’ve decided I’m worthy of your time? Am I supposed to bat my eyelashes at you and beg you to fuck me in a shower? Am I supposed to just forget all the shit you pulled in the last six months because the intentions behind your actions were,” I lift my hands and use air quotes, “honorable? What exactly do you expect from me now that you’ve had a sudden change of heart?”
I’ve taken them by surprise. I know I have. I think they’d thought we left on better terms in London, but I’m nowhere near close to forgiving them. Not by a fucking longshot.
The elevator is silent and it finally, finally starts to rise. Making us all sway just slightly. Crossing my arms over my chest, I look away from Fielder, focus my gaze downward at the toes of my boots. “I’m here. I came back. Please don’t make it harder on me.”
A tentative arm slips around my stomach, pulls me back against a solid chest. “We aren’t trying to, love,” Hardin murmurs. “We’re here to help. To keep you safe.”
I swallow and shake my head. “No, you aren’t. This isn’t helping. Drawing attention to me isn’t helping. Bringing me back here isn’t helping. What’s Morgan going to do when she sees me? When she sees mewithyou?”
“Nothing.” Fielder growls out. “She won’t do fucking anything. Because if she does, she knows we’ll destroy her.”
I roll my eyes. “We know that’s not true.”
Ezra shifts, drawing my attention. “Ro, being at SSU is the best place for you. Now that we know you’re a witch, you need to learn how to use your power. You can try to do it on your own, but really having teachers is so much better and you’ll pick things up faster.”
I frown. “What about other schools? This isn’t the only one that has secret classes in witchcraft, right?” I can’t believe that sentence just came out of my mouth.
Gideon shakes his head. “It’s not, but it is the best. Especially if you’re Shadow and Veil.”
“You told me once that you knew you were supposed to come here, that as soon as you found out about SSU, you felt like you needed to be here. That wasn’t coincidence, Sweeney. That was the magic in you telling you where you needed to go in order to learn how to use it.”
I know that he’s not wrong. They’re all right, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I shake my head and look back at the floor. How is this the longest elevator ride in the history of elevators? “I just want to keep my head down and not draw attention to myself. I just want… I want peace and quiet and to not have everyone looking at me all the time. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
Fielder’s finger catches on my chin, tips my head up so that I meet his eyes. His green gaze scans my face while Hardin tightens his arm around my waist. “I know we fucked up, Rosalind,” he says quietly. “I know that for the last six months, people have been looking at you for all the wrong reasons. This time, though, they’re going to be looking at you for the right ones. Because you’re strong and capable and so damn smart. Because you have power.”
I swallow and shake my head, my chest burning at his words. “We’re only here to support you, keep you safe, Ro,” Ezra says, threading his fingers through mine and squeezing gently. “We want to make sure you have everything you need.”
I want to believe them. I really do. And that more than anything has me pulling away from all of them, stepping into the small space at their center, and avoiding touching any of them. I can’t just blindly trust them, no matter how much my heart wants to. “Can I have my food back, please? And whoever is keeping the elevator closed, can you please stop?”
