Page 191 of A University of Betrayal

Midnight Syndicate

A cool breeze brushed across my face, swirling through my now shoulder-length hair, and I felt like I was being watched. I looked around hastily, because even though it was completely dark, I was surprisingly aware of a lot. I felt as if shadows were scurrying along the walls everywhere. Maybe some students sneaking around here at night, just like us.

“We can still go back.”

I sighed.

“Believe me, Julian, if I had the choice, three guesses where I’d be right now.”

Julian snorted, visibly dissatisfied.

Did it make a difference to him to be in the same room as Larissa or Bastien? After all, both of them were the same species. Maybe I should have spoken to Larissa first...Maybe.She had run off before I had even had the chance to speak to her in private. It was already unpleasant enough that Julian knew that something was wrong with meat all.

What if something had gone wrong with me? Maybe it had something to do with the rite of passage?

“What is it you’re thinking about, Blueberry?” I looked startled at my annoying neighbor, who must have noticed that I had a lot on my mind.

“How miserable my life is right now,” I replied with a frustrated sigh.

A soft laugh escaped him.

“It’s not funny. It’s stressing me out.”

Julian gave me hisJulian grin.

“Can you actually do anything other than be amused by me all the time?”

The grin widened. “Every time I think my life is a mess, you come to me with something worse.”

I raised my eyebrows in fake contempt.

“Meanwhile, I feel most comfortable with you for that very reason.”

I stopped and looked at him in astonishment. He stopped too.

I hadn’t expected those words.

“You... I mean, everything seems so perfect about Emely, you know?” he continued, gesticulating, and a strange feeling that I couldn’t place settled on my chest. “She has everything you could have. A rich family, Nash’s guys backing her... She has the choice to go wherever she wants, even if she doesn’t use that chance. And then there is us. Chaos seems to be following us both.”

I nodded and studied his eyes, which shimmered like a deep lake in the lantern light and gleamed in the evening twilight. At the same time, I tried to sort out my strange feelings. What was wrong with me? Was it this town?

“By the way, I asked her today.”

The feeling in my chest became heavier and the smile, which was absolutely sincere, felt fake.

Concentrate, Bayla.He asked her, just like you suggested.

“So?” With all my effort, this question swung through the cool air.

How could a single word suddenly weigh so much?

I flinched violently as Julian placed both of his unnaturally warm hands on my shoulders. The desire to enjoy this warmth for longer flared up inside me.

God, Bayla, pull yourself together and bring more fucking clothes next time!

“She saidyes!”

The joy in his gaze instantly melted my heart. How could anyone not be happy for him? He had managed to ask the girl he had feelings for, for years now – without even knowing it – out on a date.

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