I sleep away the rest of the weekend, waking up every couple of hours to guzzle down some water and hobble to the bathroom, but my body basically shuts down to process the healing Felix did on me. It’s annoying but my brain becomes nothing but the need to survive, so at least I don’t have to think about Gryphon’s little visit.
The moment Gabe arrives at my door on Monday I can feel the difference in the air between us.
I’m still ready to hate him and bicker like the whole world is ending and it’s his freaking fault, but he looks so freaking miserable and sort of like a sad puppy, even I’m not that much of a bitch to be kicking sad puppies.
As we walk across the campus to the dining hall, he stays close to me, his eyes sharp as he takes in all of our surroundings, like he really is guarding me from something. My senses go on high alert right along with him and when my bond reaches out to his, brushing against him for reassurance, he startles and glances down at me. I get it, I’ve kept it on such a tight leash that he’s never felt it before and I curse myself silently for letting it slip past.
His voice is a rough rasp, answering the question I haven’t found the voice to ask yet, “Three more Bonded were taken last night from one of the gated communities about twenty minutes from here. My cousin was one of them.”
Fuck.
My stomach drops so hard that if I had anything in it, I’d probably be puking on his shoes right now.
They’re getting closer to me.
I’ve been meticulous about not letting my gift slip, not even a small burst of power, so I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that they’re inching in on my location, or if that man has found a way to track me without using my gift as the beacon.
I’m too busy freaking the fuck out about the possibilities that Gabe gets us to the dining hall and fills me a plate of eggs before I make my way out of the panic to take the plate from him. It’s rude of me to not offer him condolences but if I open my mouth right now, Lord knows what will actually come out.
Probably me freaking the fuck out and begging for him to let me go, let me run the hell away before we’re all dead and rotting thanks to the Resistance and their never-ending mission for complete dominance.
We sit and eat in silence, Gabe’s plate is almost completely empty before he breaks it. “When you first disappeared… we all thought you were taken. There’d been a lot of clusters in the area and, well, I was too young to know the details but my parents were both on the Council, so I heard enough to be scared for you. Every time we heard about bodies showing up, I thought it was you. Every time there was news about kids showing up brainwashed, fuck, I hoped it was you so we could get you home and save you, and all that time, you were just hanging out in some city, living whatever life you wanted.”
It’s a sad little story but there’s a few very key things he’s gotten wrong. Most of them I can’t correct without causing a freaking shitstorm, but there is one thing I can set straight. “You know I was in the hospital because of a car accident, right? My entire family died in it. I was fourteen and completely alone in the world. I was terrified. It’s not like I just skipped away into the sunset to live a happy and merry life by myself. Maybe you should try to see past your own story for once, and things might go a little better between us both.”
He swallows and glances around the dining hall, but it’s still a ghost town this early in the morning. It’s why we both like it so much I think, neither of us have to worry about who is watching us eat.
“North told my entire family that you’d been spotted in Florida, working in a record shop, and without any markings or ties to the Resistance. He made it clear that all signs pointed to you just running away. How exactly am I supposed to just look past that?”
I shrug. “How would you take it if your whole family died in a single accident? If they were ripped away like that?”
He stares me down and then pushes his plate away from himself. “I don’t have to imagine it. My dad was taken two years ago and we found his mutilated body a week later. My mom stepped down from the council the next day but she’s still never really come home. If you’re asking me to look past my story, then maybe you should look past yours as well.”
There’s nothing really that I can say back to that and I try to focus on finishing my breakfast, the eggs tasting worse than they usually do now that the room is full of our grief.
It was much easier to hate him when I thought he was just a pissed off, jealous asshole Bond without a story of his own.
When I finish up with my plate and grab my bag to head off to our first class, Gabe follows me, the easy grin back on his face as he greets guys around us with his usual carefree energy. I stop myself from brooding on how much I hate this place for a second and just watch everything around us both instead. The football guys all love him, the girls they’re with all stare at him with heart eyes, and even the professors all greet him warmly.
None of them look twice at me anymore.
Sage meets us both at the doors of the Econ class, her eyes flicking between us, but she doesn’t comment. When Gabe sits next to me instead of his usual three chairs away, she raises her eyebrows at me but doesn’t say a word.
There’s a reason she’s my best friend.
I wait until the class starts and everyone is intently focussed on taking notes before I lean into him and whisper, “I don’t want to bond but I’ll stop going for your throat if you do the same.”
It’s the only olive branch I can give him right now, and it might be a bad idea to even go that far.
He huffs out a breath and doesn’t answer me until the class is over, hovering over Sage and I as we pack our papers and books away.
“That’s called being friends, Oli, and I’ll give it a shot if you will too. We can figure out the bond shit later.”
I scoff at him and sling my bag over my shoulder. “If this is some ‘nice guy’ ploy of pretending to be my friend just to fuck me and get your bond, then I’ll dick punch you right now and walk away without another thought.”
Sage bursts out laughing, slapping a hand over her mouth that does exactly nothing to smother the peals of laughter shaking out of her body. Gabe shoots her a look but it’s mostly exasperation. “At this point, Fallows, you’d have to beg me to fuck you. Friends with zero benefits, except that I’ll be watching your every move and you’ll be looking for a chance to run away from us all.”
I shrug at him and knock shoulders with Sage as we walk out together. “Sounds fine, but the first rule of Reject Club is that we hate Giovanna and want to murder her. If you can’t get behind that, then you’re out already.”
He shakes his head at me as Sage starts protesting, constantly putting herself down over that nightmare of a girl. “We don’t want her dead, we just wish she’d hate me a little less.”
I snort at her. “Fuck that, I want her dead. I’ve called dibs on her in the apocalypse. Gabe can take Riley out, and you can fuck Felix instead, he has my vote.”
We turn the corner to find Felix standing there, grinning like a freaking devil, and Sage instantly turns beet red.
“I knew running off to heal you would work in my favor. Thanks, Fallows,” he calls out as we pass by him, winking at Sage who is trying not to look as though she wants the ground to swallow her whole.
Gabe bursts out laughing with me and it’s freaking eerie to be standing around with him and not planning out his death. I know it won’t last, but even for a moment, it’s a weird position to be in.
Sage digs an elbow into my ribs and mutters, “It’s not up for a vote. We should hurry up, we’re about to be late for History and Nox will start a whole new smear campaign against you, Oli.”
Ugh.
Kill me.
I LEARN something very important the moment Gabe sits down with me in History and that is exactly how much power he has at this school. The moment people see us talking quietly with each other, there’s an immediate shift, like they’re all changing the way they’re talking about me now that he’s ‘forgiven’ me.
They don’t need to know the details to change their position, and Zoey finds herself very suddenly alone.
Sage spots it first and points it out, murmuring to me, “Serves the bitch right.”
I agree completely and when I nudge Gabe with a questioning look, he’s a lot less subtle about it. “She broke the rules Vivian set. You deserved the win and he’s already thrown her out of the class. Her parents are furious but Gryphon went to speak to them. You can’t join a TacTeam if you have no loyalty to your team.”
Well, damn.
It doesn’t even matter to me that it’s not really about me, it’s all about her integrity, it still feels like a win. Maybe being interrogated wasn’t so bad if this is the result.
My good feeling lasts ten more seconds before Nox walks in and sucks the good vibes right the fuck out. He looks good today too, hotter than Hades as he stalks into the classroom like some God of the Underworld, here to torment my goddamn soul.
I need to get out of this town before my hormones lead me straight to hell after him.
Nox’s eyes flick over to where Gabe is now sitting with me but he doesn’t react, no sign of whether he’s surprised or pissed off to see us both sitting here together. He just plugs in his laptop and stands in front of the class and waits until the room falls silent, his appearance is all it takes to command the room.
“Someone tell me about the Tier System.”
I’d rather die than raise my hand in any of Nox’s classes but there’s an entire row of girls all desperate to prove themselves to him, like answering this question will get him dropping his pants and feeding them his dick.
My bond squirms inside me at the thought but I torture myself with it for a second longer, like maybe I can convince it that he’s a total fucking waste of space as far as I’m concerned.
He picks Amy, whose name I know because Sage loathes her, and even the sound of her voice has my hackles rising.
“When the three Councils of the Gifted communities came together to create the centralized Bonds network, they created a system of categorizing the Gifted and their abilities. The strongest Gifted have three levels of power; primary, secondary, and incidental. Most Gifted have primary gifts, some have a secondary as well, and very few have an incidental.”
Nox nods at her and turns his back without another word, his constant strategy of ‘treat ‘em mean’ that the entire room is forced to sit through. Okay, so I’m sure I’m the only one obsessively watching it and hating every second, but it is what it is.
“Right. So the blood tests and DNA sequencing can tell us more than just who your Bonds are, it can also give signs of what your gift is. Testing is then done within specially considered parameters to gauge what Tier your gift is on. Why is this done?”
More hands shoot up but this is actually something that interests me, so I keep my snarky thoughts locked away for a moment so I can hear his reasoning.
Not that I think he’s always right.
There’s always a sugar-coated bullshit pill given out to the general public and then there’s the truth, and this is one case that I’m sure they’ll lie about.
“Bragging rights. Everyone wants to know who the top dog is.”
I don’t know this girl but her shirt is so low that I’m sure Nox is getting a great view of her nipples right now.
Not that he’s impressed. “You’re guessing and you’re wrong, don’t waste our time here. Anyone else?”
A lot fewer hands are raised this time, but Nox picks Gabe to answer. I’ve never actually seen them interact with each other outside of the stupid bond dinners we’re all trapped at, and I’m not enjoying having Nox’s eyes on me as he stares us both down.
“TacTeams are picked with the highest Tier of the Gifted. The Council was originally picked from the strongest of our community, but these days it’s also a tag-and-release system. If the Resistance takes someone, then we need to know how strong they are for when they’re sent back brainwashed. Nothing more dangerous than a walking time bomb wearing your neighbor’s face.”
Christ.
How close I’d come to being one of those brainwashed zombies put back into the community with the sole purpose of finding other high Tier Gifted and dragging them back to the Resistance, killing anyone who attempted to stop me… it’s terrifying.
The pen in my hand shakes as my fingers tremble.
Nox turns away and starts the lecture, highlighting everything Gabe said because my bond had gotten it right. Sage notices my mini freakout and shoots me a worried look, her hand knocking mine gently in reassurance, but there’s nothing either of us can do or say in the middle of class. Not without Nox losing his shit at me in another public spectacle that I have no interest in, so I take a deep breath and just work through it.
As I take notes, my hand creeps up to the back of my neck, rubbing at the bump under my skin where the killer GPS chip is buried, like a reminder to myself that no matter how badly I want to run, it’s not an option for me.
