Page 75 of Firestorm
I’d thought maybe Aidendidlike me…and I liked him.
I liked Aiden because I saw past his playboy façade. I saw who he was underneath, even if it was only glimpses here and there. And his words hurt me more than I expected. Now that he’d left me the morning after the best, nightmare-free sleep of my life, his cruel words from the party kept rushing back to me.
I was kind of an idiot.
Wallowing for the seventh day in a row, glad it was Friday and I’d have two days free of class after this one, I startled as I turned into myHistory of Affinitiescourse.
Lana Iykos stood right near the door, offering me a nervous smile. Her thick fringe was perfectly shaped to her face like she trimmed it once a week so it never grew. Today she wore some mascara and a clear lipgloss. I noticed the smallest sliver of a scar going through one of her eyebrows.
I blinked a couple times, realizing I’d never seen her up close.
She hadn’t been in class all week, and now here she was, smiling at me? After calling me a bitch and threatening Aiden?
For some reason, remembering her threat on Aiden had me wanting to claw her eyes out and feed them to her.
I rolled my neck to release the sudden tension. My affinity seemed to writhe inside the muscles of my hands, and I squeezed them into fists, welcoming the pain from my nails. I didnotneed my affinity freaking out right now.
“Hi,” Lana said shyly.
“What do you want, Lana?” I clipped.
Lana looked slightly taken aback, but she recovered quickly. “I wanted to apologize.”
I almost laughed, but then my shadow was nudging at me, almost in warning, so I only pursed my lips instead.
Since when did I listen to my fucking shadow?
“Okay,” I dragged the word out questioningly.
“Look, I know I was super drunk, Landon was super drunk. We get crazy after parties, and it’s totally not okay, and I shouldn’t have been rude to you.”
I stared at her, dumbfounded. Even my shadow seemed confused.How did I even know that?
“Are you going to apologize to Aiden?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure why. The fucker was ignoring me, why would I care if he got in trouble? Even as I had the thought, my stomach soured.
“Of course,” Lana replied quickly. “I’m your GTA, it was super wrong of me to react poorly. I promise neither of you will have to worry about your grades or getting into trouble.”
I nodded slowly, somehow believing her. I was about to chance a quick glimpse into her mind to see if she was really telling the truth, but then we were interrupted.
“What the fuck do you want, Lana?”
Aiden’s deep timber seemed to vibrate through me as he appeared at my back. He didn’t hold me, but his chest brushed against my ponytail, and for some reason that felt way more intimate than his hands on my body. I held back a shiver of awareness.
“Aiden,” Lana squeaked. “I w-was just apologizing to Skye. For the fight. Landon and I were super drunk, and it was super embarrassing. I’m sorry you guys had to get involved. You were only trying to help.”
I felt Aiden go rigid behind me, and I furrowed my brow slightly.
Wewere trying to help? We weredefendingourselves against Landon.
“We’ve always fought, ever since we were kids,” Lana rambled. “We got super out of control this time. I should be thanking you for stepping in and stopping us, so…” Lana took a deep breath. “Thank you.” She held out her hand as if to shake.
I stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded, and then put my hand in hers, and we shook.
“You’re really cool, Skye. Maybe we can even be friends,” Lanasaid with an awkward grin. I only blinked. Lana’s green eyes flashed behind me to Aiden, and she blanched slightly at whatever she saw. “Okay, have a good class!” she squeaked, then fled.
I stood in shock for a moment, totally confused, and Aiden didn’t move from where he stood behind me like a silent sentinel, his chest still so close to me I could feel the rise and fall of his breathing.
As soon as Lana took off, my shadow returned, caressing my mind like it was…petting me. What the fuck? Did it think that was comforting?
