Page 27 of Crush

I should shove him off and prove to everyone that nothing is going on between us. But he’s the only person in this entire room who’s shown any sort of concern over me being scalded, the only one who’s offered a hand. Screw what everyone else thinks. There’s no weakness in being kind.

“Thank you,” I whisper, and he pulls me protectively to his side.

“Just as I thought,” Aurora remarks to our backs.

Zeke whips his head in her direction while he escorts me out. “Jealous, babe? When will you accept that you are so last year?”

I hear Aurora’s gasp but can’t bask in the afterglow of the insult with my nerves being exposed on my chest. I take comfort in the amused rumble in Zeke’s as he ushers me down the hall toward the nurse’s station. “Aurora abuses you because she’s threatened. So either you fight back, or you ignore it. Both will piss her off.”

“She’s not the true danger,” I say, leaning into a moment of vulnerability within such soft, gentle concern. “Anything Thorne tells her to do, she does.”

Zeke brings us to a stop in the middle of the deserted hall so he can look deeper into my eyes. The arched, stained glass windows lining the corridor paint soft colors over his face. “Thorne did this to you? Let me see.” He whistles an empathetic sound as I delicately pry open the blazer. “Fuck, these whack jobs just get more insane the longer I stay away.”

At the creeped-out look on Zeke’s face, I have the shocking need to defend Thorne. “He didn’t specifically tell her to burn me. He probably just tells her to make my life miserable, and she gets creative from there.”

“Still his fault, though. He should know the types of dogs he keeps.”

I can’t argue with that, so I let Zeke coax me back into a walk. He asks, “Why would Thorne want to make your life miserable, anyway? You seem so sweet and quiet. Why would anyone want to target you?”

I respond with a hollow laugh, my voice roughened with pain and sorrow. “I’ve recently discovered I’m a Weatherby.”

Zeke goes silent for a moment. “Whoa. I sense a story there, and this is coming from a guy who, while never entangled in a decades-old feud with the Briars, is definitely on Thorne’s shit list and always the star of the gossip sites.”

I laugh softly. “Yeah. Thorne hated me on sight, simply for being a Weatherby. And inadvertently taking his girlfriend’s spot at this school. I don’t know.” No need to explain the sexual exploits he’s eliciting in me and the fact that I like it. It seems unimportant now that I’m wearing Aurora’s hatred. “It hasn’t made Winthorpe easy, but I’m not running the way they want me to. Or surrendering.” I infuse the last word with extra meaning.

“Right. Just scarring.”

I snort. He smiles and gives me a squeeze. “I forgot about Savannah. It’s fucking immature that they’re punishing you for taking a vacant spot. Sorry to be blunt. She’s missing, and it’s tragic, of course, but Winthorpe has its dues, and it’s been over a year. Maybe try to be less on their radar, yeah?”

“That’s … pretty much impossible.” I think of gaining the opportunity to see my parents again and defying Malcolm enough that he’s forced to return me to them. And my suspicion that Savannah’s disappearance has more to do with the Societies than not.

No, I won’t be flying under the radar anytime soon.

“Then it’s good I’m here.” Zeke gives me another squeeze as we slow in front of the student clinic. He pecks me on the forehead, and I step back, meeting his eyes in surprise.

Zeke winks in response. “I’m more attuned to them and their extracurriculars than you might think. Come to me if you ever need help or advice again.”

“I … thank you,” I breathe out. His kindness is contagious.

“Good luck.” He thumbs the door while backing away. “And for the record, there’s nothing Aurora can do to spoil your ridiculously gorgeous self.”

My lips tilt in a sincere grin.

It isn’t until Zeke disappears into another hallway that I realize, through his cute distraction, he might’ve been telling me he knows about the Societies.

I glance down at the angry red of my chest before knocking on the nurse’s door.

Knows and could possibly be more than happy to help destroy Thorne Briar.

12

Ember

One of the school proctors hands me a note while I’m gathering the rest of my things from my locker before lunch.

After dropping my bag at my feet, I unfold it while she walks away, my lips turning down the further into it I read.

Your presence is requested tonight at midnight. Your next challenge is in process. Fail to complete it, and you will never gain access into the Virtues’ Tomb.