Page 92 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
The guys had realized that Malcolm had this uncanny ability to make me tell the truth. I wouldn’t put it past them to use that against me. I stared down at the blanket and said, "I don't get why you haven't ... you know ... made your move."
"Maybe I want you to make it." Z raised a brow.
"What?" I sat back, stunned.
"Yeah," Zavier bit into a strawberry. "That's definitely it. I want youto seduce me."
"We don't have time for that!" I exclaimed, a little alarmed. "Plus, I thought you said you were a wham bam, thank you, ma'am--"
"Nope. Recently changed that policy. See, can't be that guy anymore. Cause this chick I like has three other dudes hanging around."
"But dirty friends--"
Zavier cut my reply off by shoving a strawberry into my mouth. "Don't worry. I'll go easy on you. If you mess up in your attempt to make a grand romantic gesture, I'll forgive you. Once. But if you mess up twice," he shook his head. "It'll be awfully hard for me to focus on our job if I haven't been properly wooed."
"Wooed? Wooed?!" I threw the back half of my strawberry at him. Of course, the jerk used his Tock power and avoided it, moving fast as a flash. "Z, I'm about to have a heart attack right now. Malcolm says we can only pull this off next week!"
He shook his head. “Yelling isn’t very seductive.”
I took my spoon and flicked a noodle at him. He ducked that too. “Seductive, I’ll show you seductive!” I growled. I climbed to my feet and Zavier scrambled away from me, running through the trees and laughing. I chased him, which was an impossible quest, because any time I got close he’d extend a hand, blast me with power and slow me down until I felt like one of those ridiculous movies where people ran through a field toward one another.
Eventually, Z relented—once we were both panting, and I had a stitch in my side. He dragged me over to a dried-out creek bed and we sat on a flat boulder next to it, feet hanging down the tiny ledge.
I didn’t speak while I caught my breath. But when I had, I flipped our silly mood and turned it serious. I didn’t know how to seduce Z. But I needed him to know how much it meant to me that he’d said yes. That he’d done so quickly, and with so much less hesitation than Malcolm or Gray, that he was willing to risk his entire future for me … it made my heart swell and skip along like a sailboat full of dancing wind. At the same time, that knowledge loomed over me, made me feel like I was underwater, trapped in a submarine that was just one wrong move away from nothingness. It was so much pressure.
I grabbed a twig and started to strip the bark from it, feeling as naked as that little limb. “You know, I need you more than you need me.”
Z looked over at me but didn’t say anything.
I stared down at the twig as I dug my nails into it, trying to make sure I didn’t leave a single piece of bark. “It makes me nervous to ask so much of you. If anything goes wrong and happens to you or the guys …” My voice cracked and I broke my damn stick. “If I could do it alone, I would.” I tossed the stick into the creek bed.
Next to me, Z sighed and put his arm around me. I hugged him hard and tight. “Zavier.”
He hugged me back for a long time. He stroked my back. When he spoke, his voice was light and conversational. But I glanced up and saw his jaw was tight. “The last job I was on … there was a guy. We’d worked with him a couple times. Good guy. Guy I trusted. But when push came to shove, he left me and my cousin out to dry.”
My fingers tightened around Z’s waist. “What happened?”
“Alarm we didn’t expect got triggered. He got away, but we’d been down in the vault, feeding money up to him. We both got snatched.” Z sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I’d never been caught before. I get into a lotta shit here because of my vibrant … personality. But out there, I used to be what people in the biz call a whiz man.”
My heart and throat grew tight. Not that I was worried about Z disappointing me. Any one of us could fuck up any part of this job at any moment. But because Z was worried about disappointing me. He cared. My entire being gave a sigh of relief.
I had to reciprocate. He’d just admitted fallibility. He’d just admitted his weakness. I had one too. I leaned back and undid the top button of my shirt. Then I pulled my collar to the side.
Z tilted his head, his brown eyes curious.
“I’m gonna tell you something I haven’t told the others yet. Because … because it’s hard for me. But also, because it might be a weakness. Or a distraction. And someone needs to know. Claude …”
“The guy from the memory?” Z asked.
I nodded and grabbed Zavier’s hand. “My mother’s new husband,” I reminded him. I stared down at his pale skin for a second before I flipped his hand over so he could reach out and touch me. Then I raised his fingers and placed them on my neck. Slowly, I dragged them around. I let the pads of his fingers travel over my scars.
Z’s eyebrows shot up when he realized what he was feeling. His fingers tightened slightly on my neck before he relaxed his grip. Still, he swallowed hard before he spoke. “He did that?”
I nodded, pulling his hand down and setting it in my lap before I reached up to button my shirt. “Yeah. And I need you to make sure I stay focused. Because after everything … I really want to hurt him. Especially knowing what he did to Dad. But revenge won’t save Matthew. And the reality is I probably only get one shot at the Pinnacle before they’re onto me …”
Z grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together. I stared up into his deep brown eyes. I felt vulnerable, which was foreign and awful and joyous all at once, because it felt like I was about to jump off a cliff. But at the same time, I trusted Z would catch me.
I cleared my throat before I said softly, “I need you. I need your help. I need you to keep me focused. And I need you because you keep the dark away.” My eyes misted and I blinked back the tears. I refused to cry. “Some of those needs might just be for the job. But that last one? Z, that one’s always gonna be around.” I leaned forward and brushed my lips hesitantly against his.
