Page 94 of A Heart of Bluestone

Dray looks just as lost as I am. Brow furrowed, he glances between my brother and Serena before his gaze lands on me. The frown fades and is fast replaced with a hard, schooled look.

I blink at Serena. “Can I help you?”

Serena arches a brow. “Doubtful.”

As she always does at Bluestone, before she eats, she uses a cloth napkin to wipe her cutlery. Like nothing has happened, like nothingishappening, like she hasn’t just parked herself at my table, with me, and turned her back on the ones frowning at her.

And she stays there.

I finish my dessert, not taking my curious, bewildered look off her, and then down my chamomile tea. Serena just stays seated across from me, not talking, simply eating in peace.

I finish, then leave her—and my tray—behind.

I have gone almost a full two weeks without Dray’s torture. Just his stares.

And his stares areconstant.

Any time I turn around in class, the glint of blue eyes lures in my gaze. Each time I eat a meal (back to normal, with Courtney and James as my companions), he is watching me from acrossthe hall. Sometimes frowning, sometimes glaring, but most often, justconsidering.

Probably conjuring up all the ways to get back at me for his own attack on me. Fucking psycho.

But I notice how closely Asta sticks to him, now.

Does she know?

No, of course not.

And even if she did, she’s never seemed to care before that he fucks his way through the school, and that his favourite seems to be Melody Green. Favourite, I wonder, or the most available and convenient?

Maybe he just cares little for pursuing a waste of time to him,to chase. Maybe he hasn’t ever had to chase before.

Whatever her reasons are, Asta is hanging off Dray Sinclair like a bad smell on shit. That’s what I think of the pair of them.

And always, even with her leaning on him, stroking down his chest, peppering kisses over his turned jaw, ignorant to his detached tolerance, he watches me.

Is it possible to claw one’s flesh off?

Asking for a friend.

Still, count my blessings and all that nonsense, right?

Because since that night…

I mean, I don’t knowwhathe was thinking that night, but ever since…

Dray has left me alone.

It’s not reassuring, of course. Just a lull in his torture. There’s bound to be consequences for it. It’s just a matter of when, where, and how. Until he seeks revenge, I can’t relax.

And yet, I don’t want that moment to come.

I just want to be at peace.

Even now, as I pile in with the crowd into the dingy, musty mathematics class, my feet dragging beneath me, I feel his piercing stare burning into the back of my head.

James stalks ahead with Courtney right on his heels.

I take the only table that’s free, right in the middle of the room.

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