Page 90 of Pawn

“Ew, no. Tommy pees in that.” When she’s at the table, she pulls out the seat next to me, my feet falling to the ground. “I wanted to thank you.”

I arch an eyebrow while she struggles to sit in her poof of a dress. “For covering my ass and for having my back with the Allie stuff. And for coming to me first about Jo’s parents. Despite your exterior, you’re a good guy, Damien King and I’m happy to have known you in this poor excuse for Hades.” Her lip lifts to her nose when she looks around the room.

Looks like Allie’s actually turned Lea into a reasonable human.

“Just because you’re way too you for my liking, doesn’t mean I don’t get it. We’re from the same people, Huang.”

“Rich and psychotic?” That makes me chuckle. Her back hits the chair. “I can’t wait to go to New York. I’ll be at Columbia, Allie will be at NYU, and this will all be behind us.” Her eyes land on the key on the table before I can move it and Lea’s way too smart to not put this together. “What’re you doing in here, anyway?” She looks around before she asks, “Is this a grand gesture? Wait, am I messing this up?”

Ignoring that question, the flame lights my joint.

“Oh,” she says, settling back in her seat. “She didn’t show up, did she?”

“Mind your business, Lea.”

“That’s the problem, King.” She drops her hand to my knee, her done-up eyes meeting mine. “You push everyone away. Whether you mean to or not.”

Smoke leaves my lips when I speak. “Is this a pep talk or a lecture?”

She shrugs and if there’s one thing about Lea, she’s always kept it honest. “I’m saying, I’ve never seen you go after anyone the way you went after Jo, and next time you can be a little more sensitive to the fact that you have feelings.”

“Like you were?”

“If I can come around, you can too.” She pokes my leg with a long gold nail before reaching in her hair and letting it down. Placing the long gold pins on my lap, she inhales before she says, “Give into those feelings.” With a big exhale, she looks up to the ceiling like she’s leading a yoga session. Her time with Perez shows again. “Because we all have feelings.” She gives me a strained smile.

“Not anymore.” I laugh at the face she’s giving me. Not after this. This shit hurts way too much. “And stop smiling, you look like a puppet and I don’t mean the good ones.”

Her shoulders drop before she stands up, taller in her gold heels. “Anyway, thanks for not telling anyone what happened with Jordan.”

“Don’t you think Jo needs some closure with that?” I ask, not sure why I still care about what happens to the girl that left me hanging again.

“What’re you gonna do?” Lea shrugs. “Throw my brother in jail? Our parents have been fucking shit up for us before we even set foot on this earth. This is another example but prom takes us one step closer to our freedom.”

“Freedom would be burning this shit to the ground. I don’t want this legacy. I don’t want Jo’s memories of her parents to be tied to this school. Tied to my family name.”

She smiles, looking around the room again. “Well, it would answer the question about what happens if someone finds out about Jordan.”

“Then it’s settled.” Picking up one of the candles, I smirk, not even sure if I’m joking anymore. It’s likely I’m acting out, it’s likely I’m going completely insane from being stood up by Jo but I don’t give a fuck. “Let’s burn this place to the fucking ground.”

“Something smells really good,” Allie’s voice comes from beyond the shelves.

“It’s about to smell even better.” Opening the book in front of me, I hold it above the flame, burning a few pages before it sparks into a ball of fire.

“Oh my god!” Lea screams and I jump, pushing the chair away.

“Holy shit!” Allie exclaims.

“The fuck is this thing made of?” Climbing on the table, I kick it off. It lands on a book on the wooden shelf next to us before it’s like dominos, the book next to it lighting up too.

“King? What did you do!?” Lea’s voice is a shriek before I hear the doors to the library again.

This isn’t what I meant but I guess this shit is happening.

“Are we seshing?” Isaac’s voice comes from beyond the shelves before he and Christian come into view.

Christian’s green eyes widen, the fire flickering in them. “Woah, what the fu—”

“Pull the fire alarm!” I instruct, mesmerized by the flame, the way it’s catching everything on the shelf, spreading to other books in its path. Wait. I look around at the group. “Where’s Jo?”

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