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I rubbed my eyes, a sudden headache bothering me. “Has anyone not threatened someone here?”
“I didn’t.” Bray took one look at Rune’s snacks and scoffed.
“You see—at least Bray controls himself. You could learn a lot from him.”
“That’s right. I just hacked into the grading information to ensure you had top marks.” He didn’t stick around—probably knowing he’d get lectured—before he strolled off after Nem.
Colton, Rune and Dane snickered, offering more ‘good jobs’ before walking off.
“I can’t believe them.” Even as I said that, it wasn’t really true. Didn’t I know them well enough to expect this sort of behavior from them? The reality was that in their world, people won by cheating. Of course they’d go that far for me.
That same old warmth filled me as I had to admit, their caring might be strange, but it was real.
Arms wrapped around me, a soft body pressing against me, lips offering a kiss to my cheek so fast that I struggled to identify the person at first.
“Give her room to breathe,” Jarrod said. Even though I heard his voice, I knew damn well he wasn’t the one being all affectionate like that.
Though it did let me know who it was.
Sasha pulled back, a wide smile on her lips. “I can’t believe how wonderful this all is! You are fantastic, Kenz. I had no idea you could do this!”
Jarrod wrapped an arm around Sasha, pulling her against him as though afraid she’d attack me yet again. His gaze was steady, and he didn’t offer any such large declarations.
Instead, Jarrod nodded. “Good job.” It was funny that even without such flowery statements, his praise struck me just as deeply. It was honest, and it was the way he expressed himself, and I knew he meant it. I gave him a smile in return in thanks—not just for coming, but for so many other things. For taking me in when he didn’t have to, for looking after me even when I wasn’t his own.
He scooted Sasha off under the guise of looking for a drink, giving me a moment to take a deep breath.
“Aren’t you popular?” Char snickered, the sarcastic little comment telling me he’d seen everyone ambushing me. In fact, I’d bet he enjoyed watching it while remaining safely out of sight.
“You’re supposed to rescue me, I thought.”
“I promise to rescue you from bad guys, not family.”
“To be fair, her familyarebad guys.” Vance strolled up to us, his smirkfartoo familiar to the one he’d worn early when he’d toyed with me.
“And you aren’t?” I pointed out.
“Harsh,” Vance muttered and set a hand on his chest. “I’m not a bad guy. I don’t know about the rest of them, but I’m an upstanding member of society.”
“Speaking of upstanding members of society.” I peered around the room again. “Where’s Tor?”
A moment of doubt struck me. Had he decided not to come? I knew he didn’t care for parties or crowds, and I would understand if this was too much for him, but the idea of him missing out on such an important event to me still hurt.
Char pointed toward the side, and standing there, ‘speaking’ to Colton and Sasha, was Tor. He would listen intently, then move his hands to sign back a response. As though he felt my gaze, he turned toward me. The moment our eyes met, the golden of his almost glowing even from that far away, I was struck by just how handsome he was.
He didn’t stand out the way others did, perhaps, but that didn’t make it any less true. He signed once more to Sasha, who glanced my way with a smirk, before Tor headed over to us.
He captured my chin, then wiped my cheek with a thumb from his other hand. He pulled that hand back so I could spot lipstick on the pad of his thumb.Thanks, Sasha.
He smiled, then left a kiss where the mark had been, as though covering that kiss up with his own. When he pulled away, I took a step back and was again surprised by just how good looking all four of them were.
They’d all dressed well, the small act enough to tell me this mattered to them, that they’d found this important enough to put the effort in for. They could have shown up in pajamas and I wouldn’t have cared, but them having treated this event with care made me smile, made me feel as thoughImattered to them.
Tor narrowed his eyes, the action catching me off guard. I turned to find one last person who I recognized, one who I sure hadn’t expected.
I took a step that way, but Hayden caught my arm. “Kenz…”
I gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s fine. I’ll be right back.”
