Page 58 of Fall

I shrug out of his arms and death stare into the abyss of his ocean-blue eyes.

“Can you please—and I mean please—stop following me like some amateur security guard? I understand that facing mortality must have been disturbing, but you can’t keep doing this. Now. I’m going to go upstairs to eat with Celeste, and you… you are going to go away.”

He smiles down at me. “I’m no amateur, Angel. But just so you know, that’s not what I’m doing. I’m going to the dining hall to have lunch with my girlfriend and her friends.”

“Great. Go have lunch with her and leave me alone.” I wave my hand to direct him forward, but he just chuckles.

“Can’t do that,” he says, brushing his body against mine before moving past me.

“And why the fuck not?”

He looks over his shoulder while he walks up the steps. “Because they’re one in the same.”

My eyes bulge and my face flushes. “Um, no. We’re not even friends. I’m NOT your girlfriend.”

“Of course, you are. You’re a girl and we’re friends.”

He waits for me to reach the landing and attempts to grab my hand, but I slap it away.

“I’m going to hurt you, Micah. Stop playing with me.”

I continue to walk in silence with my shadow in tow. When we get through the double doors, I’m almost grateful to see the rest of the Knights sitting at their table. I haven’t seen them since the initiation party, and while it’s been bliss without them, it’s also given Micah free rein to invade my space.

“Oh, look. Your brothers are here. You can go sit with them.” I sneer and walk towards the hot food to grab lunch, confident that he’ll do as he’s told.

After getting my food, I find Celeste and Taylor sitting at our table. Less than two minutes later, I hear the scraping of chair legs being dragged across the floor. I don’t even bother to see who it is. I just slam my hand on the table, blocking him from putting his tray down.

“This seat is taken,” I snap.

Micah bends so that his head is dangerously close to mine and whispers.

“I know.”

He proceeds to push my hand away so that he can place his tray down and slides his chair closer to me.

“Hey, Micah,” Celeste cheerfully greets him, and the urge to scream bubbles in my belly.

“Don’t encourage him, Cele.” I narrow my eyes at her, trying to get her to understand, but she just continues to smile. “He shouldn’t be sitting here.”

I shift uncomfortably as all of the eyes in the room slowly shift in our direction. I turn my attention to Taylor.

“His return was supposed to make things better. It’s not,” I tell him.

“Of course things are better,” Celeste chimes in, her coffee-brown eyes spark with excitement and shift to Micah once more. “Everyone knows you didn’t try to kill him.”

I audibly groan and roll my eyes.

Micah slips his hand on my bouncing knee under the table.

“Calm down. Everything is okay.”

I side eye him and grip my fork.

“I will stab you with this fork. Kindly, remove your hand,” I grind out, and Taylor laughs.

“I can throw knives pretty well, too, Bryant.”

Taylor raises his hands, palms facing me. “I didn’t do anything. Did you not get enough coffee today?”

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