Page 30 of Dahlias, Sapphires, and Cool Autumn Dusk
I wasn’t focused on it, but since she mentioned it, I noticed my discomfort. “My arms hurt the most.”
“Yep. They will. That’ll stop.”
A girl marched out into the courtyard, and I gasped when I recognized Maggie, the shower screamer. I tensed and Jeremy squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t be scared.”
“Alatheia,” she said then pursed her lips. “I’m sorry for my behavior yesterday. I’m on some medication, and it has strange effects on me.”
I blinked, startled.What is happening here?
She put her hands behind her back. “Can you forgive me? Maybe we can even be friends.”
Jer shook his head. “She isn’t going to be your friend. Not ever.”
Maggie visibly swallowed. “Can you forgive me?”
Julian cleared his throat, and Phoenix shifted in his seat, glancing between us. “What did I miss?”
“A lot of stuff.” Julian shook his head. “Later.”
The courtyard had fallen silent, everyone apparently curious if I would forgive her. Maggie stared at me, her pretty blue eyes rimmed red and puffy.What happened to her since we last met?
I shrugged. “Sure, let’s just let it go.”
She nodded and then stared at Jeremy. “Won’t happen again.”
“I’m sure it won’t.” He squeezed my shoulder.
After she exited the courtyard, it exploded in volume, everyone talking at once. Bethany grabbed my arm. “How did you get Maggie to fucking apologize to you and what did she do?”
“I…I did nothing.” I would ignore that second part, since I didn’t want to discuss the shower incident.
Sarah crossed her arms over her chest. “That you, Lent?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jeremy went back to his lunch.
For their part, Phoenix and Julian whispered together and Phoenix widened his eyes. “She did what?”
Jeremy explained, “Yeah, I know, really bad. Normally, you would handle it, but if you’re going to go non-communicative at Joe’s place, then you’re going to miss things. It got taken care of.”
Phoenix grinned at Jeremy. “I forgot how brutal you can be.”
“Not me.” He shook his head, but I didn’t believe him.Not even a little bit.Once the buzz moved on to other topics, likea pep rally and an upcoming homecoming dance, I nudged Jeremy.
“Tell me the truth,” I whispered.
He chewed on his bottom lip then answered me in the same low voice. “I can’t tell you how much I want to kiss you right now. I don’t think I ever appreciated the amount of restraint in my family.”
He was being deliberately obtuse, so I scowled at him before admitting, “Same, I promise.” After kissing Julian last night, I planned to be more honest about it. He widened his eyes, and I kicked him under the table. “But you know that wasn’t what I meant.”
He sighed. “Daniel filters a lot of money to people trying to start high end businesses. Her father opens men’s fashion houses, high end stuff. I texted Daniel that I needed him to intervene on something, because Maggie went way out of line and needed her rope tugged. He tugged her dad. Then her dad tugged hers.”
I closed my eyes. “She is going to hate me even more now. She might have publicly apologized, but she won’t forget it. Trust me.”
“No, maybe that’s how it was in other places. But we learned how to defend ourselves with a good offense. We always have to be the biggest predator in the room. Julian might pretend he doesn’t know it sometimes, but Phoenix and I never forget it. And Barrett? With him, it depends on the day.”
I closed my eyes, knowing it would blow up in my face regardless of his assurances. I might not know when or how, but it would. “She was pretty convinced you were hers,” I pointed out.
He snorted. “Well, like she said earlier, she is on a lot of medications.”
