Page 29 of Their Will be Done

I emerge from the restroom and immediately hang back as students stream into the hall from their rooms.

When the bulk of them have disappeared down the stairs, I merge with the remaining few headed for the dining hall, doing my best to ignore how they keep looking back at me like I’m some creature everyone thought went extinct with the dodo.

Extinction’s starting to look really good.

* * *

For the firsttime since I arrived at Saint Amos, there’s a queue to get into the dining hall. I crane to see past the boys instead of falling in line.

My mistake.

“Follow me.”

I flinch at Apollo’s voice. He’s headed in the opposite direction of the dining room. With a casual glance back in my direction, he beckons me to follow with a cock of his head.

My choice is to follow him or to go stand in a long line while everyone stares at me.

Apollo leads me outside the building and then around the back. We end up at the back door of the laundry. He takes out a set of keys and unlocks the door, ushering me inside with a hand on the small of my back.

Then he unlocks a metal door set in the side of the room beside one of the massive steel basins and leads me into the small courtyard I was in earlier today.

Seems like a century ago.

He closes the door behind us. “See, I can be nice too,” he says right by my ear.

A cluster of candles illuminates the concrete table and the two silver domes on top of it. A jug and two glasses stand to one side of the serving dishes, beads of water condensing on the side.

“Couldn’t risk bringing any wine,” he continues, snagging my wrist as he walks past, tugging me after him. Then he slips something out from behind his belt. “But I got something to keep us warm.”

He flashes me a silver flask, takes a sip, and then hands it over.

I wave it away. “You did this for me?”

“The candles give it away?” he says through a playful smirk.

I smile, but then immediately school my expression into disinterest. I bet he expects a kiss for going to all this effort.

Well…it’s kind of romantic, what with the candles and everything. I push away the thought, ignoring the heat creeping onto my cheeks.

I reallyama blasphemous little slut.

“Well? What d’ya think?”

“It’s lovely, thank you.”

There’s a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. Is he planning something, or is it just the candlelight?

Apollo offers me the canteen again. This time I don’t say no.

* * *

Despite having invitedme out here for what I assume is some kind of date, Apollo doesn’t say another word until our plates are empty. Dinner is accompanied by crickets chirping in the dark corners of the courtyard while cutlery scrapes against crockery.

Apollo grins at me as he collects our empty dishes, and tosses his hair from his eyes with a flick of his head. “I’ll be right back,” he says before disappearing into the kitchen.

I tip the flask against my lips, clearing my throat after the fiery liquid scorches its way into my stomach as I consider my next move. I could use this time alone with Apollo to my advantage. He must know how Zachary and Reuben ended up in the basement. Can I persuade him to tell me?

Apollo comes back with two bowls and sets one down beside me. I snag his jeans before he can move away. He wears them baggy, but thankfully they’re not falling halfway down his ass like some of the boys I’ve seen in the mall.