Page 74 of Wicked Devotions

They’re both obnoxiously smart.

Declan should have had his foot looked at by the athletic trainers by now. I slide my phone out and send him a text.

How’s your foot?

He responds right away.

Declan

Had to get ten stitches

Oh no! How long will you be out?

Two weeks

That’s not too bad

Missing any time is bad

Emilia’s elbowjabs my ribcage, dragging my attention from my phone to my surroundings.

“Care to share with the class what’s so important, Miss Flynn?” the professor asks.

My cheeks burn as I lower my eyes and shake my head. “I’m sorry.”

“Let this be everyone’s only warning. If I see anyone on their phone moving forward, you will be asked to leave class. Am I clear?”

The class murmurs yes, and the professor goes back to tonelessly droning on about the points listed on the power point. For the rest of class, I keep my eyes focused on the presentation and my computer. I never want to be called out like that again.

“Do you want to grab lunch?” Emilia asks. “There’s a really good cafe just off campus that has the best wraps.”

That does sound good, and now that I have a little spending money from working, I could treat myself.

“Is it okay if my roommate, Cyrus, comes? He’s meeting me after class.”

“Of course, bring them all if you want.” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

The innuendo makes me irrationally jealous which also feels hypocritical. We didn’t really discuss whether they’d continue to see other people as well. I don’t want that, but I’m not sure I really have the right to ask them not to.

Cyrus is waiting in the hall when we walk through the door. Butterflies launch within me when I meet his eyes, and he grins at me. He stops short of embracing me when he notices Emilia.

“I’m going to have lunch with Emilia before we go home. Do you want to come along?”

“Yeah, where are we going?”

Emilia rattles off the name as we start walking in the direction of the little downtown area. She strikes up a conversation with Cy while I make sure to keep both eyes on my surroundings. I’ve obviously been missing something with whoever this guy is that’s stalking me. Maybe if I stay vigilant, I’ll notice something.

Every person on the street could be the one watching me. Or someone sitting in a parked car, pretending to be on their phone. Paranoia creeps through me, a thief of the peace of mind I was justfinding.

It doesn’t escape my notice that Cyrus also keeps subtly looking around. When we come to a crosswalk and have to wait for traffic, he grazes the back of my hand with his. His touch brings me back to the present, like an anchor in rough waters.

He waits at the counter to grab our orders when they’re ready while Emilia and I go outside to grab a table. Just as I’m finally relaxing, a loud bang from the street rings out. I jump out of my seat, ready to run, but as I look around, I realize I’m the only one standing to run. Everyone is looking around, startled, but no one thinks it was a gunshot like I did.

“Whoa.” Emilia stands and grabs my hand, pulling me back down. “You’re so jumpy. I think that was just a car backfiring.” She runs her hand up and down my arm in an effort to calm me.

“Thanks.” I give her a forced smile. “Must have scared me more because of being sleep deprived,” I joke.

“If it’s something that becomes chronic, I can get you gummies to help you sleep.”

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