Page 48 of Spearcrest Knight

I know he’s not to be trusted. If this comes back to bite me in the arse, it’ll be completely my fault.

“Why is that even a secret?” he asks finally. “Is it a… dodgy job?”

“Of course not. It’s a job at a café.”

“Oh! Oh… well, what’s the problem then?”

“It’s against the Spearcrest rules, Evan,” I say, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at him again. “Not that I would expect you to concern yourself with something so insignificant.”

“Yeah, it’s a rule, but not arulerule,” he says with a frown. “It’s like the rule about the head boy being allowed to keep a mistress or Friday being the official day for floggings. The kind of old rule nobody gives a shit about.”

“My parents give a shit,” I say, unable to keep the resentment from creeping into my voice.

“Ah, yeah… they work for the school, right?” He taps his index finger to his chin. “Well, I’m sure they’re not going to find out. And now that I know your dirty little secret, Sutton, I can actually help you.”

“No, thanks. I’ve been doing grand without your help.”

I stand off my stool and stretch before packing away my things. I’ve been at Evan’s house for almost three hours now, which feels far too long. He stands up too.

“You don’t always have to be such a strong, independent woman and all that stuff,” he says in a serious tone. “If you need help, sometimes it’s okay to ask.”

“I know it’s okay, and if I do need help, I’ll ask one of my friends,” I tell him with my most polite smile.

It would have been the perfect line to leave on, but unfortunately, I end up sharing the taxi back to Spearcrest with him. I sit tucked against the window, my chin in my hands, watching the dark outlines of the trees and hedges framing the countryside roads.

Outside the window, rain and fallen leaves swirl in the air. Evan doesn’t say anything for a while, then his voice reaches me through the quiet music the taxi driver has got on.

“Are you going back there on Thursday?”

He’s talking in a whisper, which I guess is his way of showing he’s keeping my secret.

I nod. “Yes. Hopefully.”

“Oh.”

He’s silent for a while, and I thought he was done until he spoke again.

“You’re going to be working there Christmas too?”

I sigh. “I don’t know if I can. If I have to stay with my parents, then they’ll definitely suspect something, and I absolutely can’t let them find out.”

He nods but doesn’t say anything. We lapse into silence, and the lights and spires of Spearcrest have appeared in the distance by the time he speaks again.

“Do you want to stay over at my place during winter break?”

For a second, I think I’ve misheard him. I turn to look at him. The inside of the car is dark, and there are only distant streetlights to occasionally cast a pale orange light inside. In that dim light, Evan’s face looks perfectly serious.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,doyou want to stay over at my place during winter break? My parents are working over Christmas and my sister is going to New York to stay with her boyfriend, so it’s basically just going to be me. The house is close to town, and you can tell your parents you’re staying with a friend or whatever.”

“Are you serious?”

He stares at me. “Deadly serious. Why the fuck not? It’s a win-win. You can go to work whenever you want, and I get free coffee out of it. Right?”

I don’t say anything. The idea is so wild it doesn’t even feel worth dignifying with a “no”. Except that the more I think about it, the more it feels like it’s not so much wild as too good to be true. Itwouldbe perfect.

Except for the living with Evan part.

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