My only plans for spring break are to study and explore the campus grounds a little more to attempt to find somewhere I can get a job.
If I can earn some money, then I can take the risk of having my brain explode from the chip. At this point, I’m fairly sure North wouldn’t actually kill me, not unless I did something terrible or became a danger to them all, but without money, I’m still freaking trapped here.
There isn’t a person in this closed-off community who doesn’t know who I am and the fact that a TacTeam dragged me back here, so there’s no chance of me hitchhiking my way out of here. I need money and I need someone to dig the chip out from under my skin.
There’s a cafe and the campus bookshop as potential jobs but when I drop off my CV, both of them shoot me down on the spot. I understand the bookshop because North probably forewarned them, but the cafe makes less sense to me until Sage shows up at my door to drag me to her place and tells me Gryphon’s sister owns it and runs it.
I had no idea he even had a sister.
The woman who had served me looked at least ninety years old, so at least I didn’t shame myself in front of his family member but, God, I guess I can’t ever show my face there again now.
Sage laughs at my embarrassment, shoving a drink at me the moment we get into her room. Sawyer is already there drinking and even though I don’t want to go to the party they’re both attending, Gabe has already messaged me to say he got me a free pass from North to attend, and I don’t want to have to speak to the domineering asshole to explain why I’d rather stay home.
Mostly it’s because Sage is now obsessed with the idea of me and Gabe working our shit out. She’s obsessed enough that the moment she starts her pre-party drinking, it’s all she can talk about.
“You’re going to end up Bonded to him. There’s no way you’re going to see Gabe shirtless at the party tonight and not fuck his brains out.”
I choke on my own drink so hard that it goes up my freaking nose, burning the whole way because Sawyer doesn’t know how to make a cocktail without the imminent threat of alcohol poisoning, which is why his mixes are always my favorite.
Once I can breathe again, I give Sage’s drunk ass a stern look. “I’ve seen it, and while there’s no denying he’s freaking blessed, I’m not fucking anyone anytime soon. I have cobwebs that no man is going to clear out for, you know, a century or two, at this rate.”
Sawyer pulls a face at me without looking in my direction, all of his focus on the phone in front of his face. Sage kicks at him, already stumbling across the line of tipsy and right into wasted, but it’s been a rough week for her.
Giovanna posted about her Bonded ring that Riley gave her.
Bonded rings are kind of a big deal at the best of times, the closest that someone in the Gifted community gets to an engagement, but the real problem here is that he gave her a family heirloom, one that he’d always told Sage he’d give to her. It was his grandmother’s, smuggled into the country during a war, and apparently it’s a Big Fucking Deal.
Just another freaking fracture he’s caused her and he’s now joined Giovanna at the top of my kill list. If they show up to the pool party tonight, I’m going to cause a scene.
From the look of Sawyer, he might be right there with me.
I don’t know whether it’s my charming ways or the fact that he’s been forced to hang out with me every day during our cramming sessions, but I think Sawyer has finally warmed up to me. I mean, I’m still clearly not his favorite person, but he no longer winces at the sight of me or cringes when I speak, so I’m taking that as a sign that we’re about to be best fucking friends.
My second phone buzzes in my pocket and I check it as I take another drink, the alcohol burning my sinuses.
Send me a photo of what you’re wearing tonight, Bond.
Atlas is also drinking, I can tell because he goes from sweet and kind to bossy and sexy in a hot minute. I can’t believe I find it hot considering North’s treatment of me, but there’s something about his ability to just ignore all of my attempts at keeping us at arm’s length that has me swooning a little.
If I get drunk enough I might ask him for a picture back tonight, but with far less clothing.
“If you and Atlas start sexting, I will confiscate your phone. If I’m doomed to be unloved and alone forever, the least you could do is keep that lovey-dovey shit out of my face,” Sage pouts and I scoff at her.
“He’s probably just horny, that’s not love. Besides, I’m staying unbonded forever, remember? No dick for me. Not even if Gabe is the six-pack hottie of my dreams.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, if the two of you are just going to get wasted and cry over boys and your sad sex lives, then I’m leaving you both here.”
Sage giggles at him, a great sound to hear even if she’s freaking plastered, and then leans forward to me to pretend to whisper, “Brothers are the worst. Sawyer’s just mad that his boyfriend isn’t coming tonight and he has to babysit us both without the promise of hooking up after we get back.”
Boyfriend, not Bond. It’s a small word choice, but a clear distinction in our world that makes all of the difference. Whoever Sawyer is fated to be with, he hasn’t found them yet, and he’s not waiting around for them. I get it, I found my own Bonds at such a young age, which skewed my own decisions on that front.
Sage also had her options ripped away from her.
“Who’s your boyfriend? Someone I know? Is he hot? God, please tell me you’re banging some freaking dreamboat so I can live vicariously through you.”
He scoffs at me but then he’s tapping on his phone and turning the screen around to show me a very hot hockey player with dimples and biceps bigger than my thighs.
“Holy shit! Sawyer you freaking badass. Please tell me his dick matches the rest of him.”
Sage groans at me and collapses back on the bed. “Don’t get him started on Grey’s dick. I’ve already heard too much about it and all it does is remind me of how desperately alone I am… getting zero dick. Or flowers and candies and teddy bears.”
Oh God.
When she’d seen the gifts from Atlas, I thought she was going to burst into tears over it. I felt guilty for half a second before she declared that Atlas was her favorite and we should take him with us when we run away. At this rate, we’re going to have to hire a freaking bus because Sawyer clearly isn’t letting his sister go anywhere without him and I wouldn’t ever let him dump Grey’s hot self just to come with.
Felix would chase Sage down, I’m sure of it.
I don’t want to think about my Bonds or running away or the amount of dick that I’m not getting thanks to all of this shit, so I grab my glass and tip it back, finishing the liquid fire in two gulps before holding the glass out to Sawyer again for a refill.
He takes it with a smirk.
Tonight is going to be messy as fuck.
I’M NOT WRONG.
Sawyer makes Sage and I both eat something and sober up a little before he drives us over to the Halliwell’s mansion for the pool party. Apparently it’s the social gathering to be at though, so we have to park down the block and walk up, cars double parked all over the streets. Most of the gated communities around here are full of Gifted families though, so no one bats an eyelid as we all pile out. My buzz is almost completely gone as the night air slaps me in the face. It’s surprisingly warm out and my mouth dries out completely. I need another cocktail, stat.
The house would’ve looked luxurious and amazing to me a few months ago, but after spending so much time at North’s place and then over at Sage’s, the whole mansion spectacle has worn off on me. I really don’t give a shit how many wood-paneled libraries and butler’s wings a house has.
I care about whether or not the people in them are assholes.
Sage swipes a couple of bottles of wine on our way through the house and even though wine tastes like ass, it feels like a win. Neither of us want to be here or deal with any of these people, so we’re both fully aboard the get-blackout-drunk train.
I decide straight away that the Gifted community is too freaking small because once again, there’s council members everywhere, which means North is probably here, lurking in a corner somewhere and drinking alcohol he hasn’t had to steal while he schmoozes with all of the other stuffy, condescending assholes here.
Sawyer tries to discreetly find wine glasses as we work our way through the kitchen and dining rooms but I’m not willing to wait around for that sort of luxury and drink it straight from the bottle, giggling with Sage like children when we find a storage room somewhere on the first floor to hide in until the council members all clear out of the house and into the garden.
We need to be as drunk as freaking possible before then.
Because we’re in an obscenely luxurious mansion, there’s a couch and table in the storage room. There’s also some stacked barstools, and the wifi is so good in here that Sawyer just pulls out a seat and fucks around on his phone while Sage and I both chug the wine down like we’re pros.
Sage clucks over her phone, “Felix can’t make it, he’s going to some study thing with the other pre-med students.”
I snort at her because she’s fooling exactly no one with her attempts at keeping him at arm’s length. I’m proud of myself when my words come out without even a little slurring, “You should definitely bone him. Just once, give it a shot, and if it’s not all that great, then go back to being awkward friends so you can both move on with your lives.”
She groans and guzzles a little more of the wine. Her phone buzzes again and she gets back to texting Felix, totally engrossed with it because she’s just as obsessed with him as he is with her. The only thing that’s actually keeping them apart is fear and the damage that Riley has done to Sage. I think with enough patience and gentle prodding, she’ll get past that and be much happier with the infatuated footballer.
Gabe finds us an hour later, cooped up and giggling over our phones together. He takes one look at us all and rolls his eyes. “Fuck me, that’s a thousand dollar bottle of wine you’re chugging back there, Bond.”
I shrug and hold it out to him. “It tastes like swill.”
He shakes his head at me, taking the bottle and then scoffing when he realizes it’s already empty. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to stand up and keep my legs under me if he insists we go out and socialize, but at least I no longer care about… well, anything.
“Did you guys bring swimsuits at least?”
Sawyer scoffs and rolls his eyes back at him. “Well, they didn’t bring fucking floaties and they’ll drown without them in this state.”
I decide that this type of slander against my ability to hold my liquor is unacceptable and I pull myself onto my feet, slow enough that I’m sure I won’t faceplant on the hardwood floor, and Sage groans at my decision to get a move on.
“If I’ve been forced to squeeze into one of Sage’s swimsuits and come to this stupid council-circle-jerk party, then you bet your ass that I’m going swimming.”
Sawyer has to help Sage get out of the storage room but when Gabe offers me an arm, I brush him off. He huffs at me and I very kindly keep it to myself that I could’ve told him to keep his fucking bond the hell away from me while I’m not at full capacity because my own bond is still straining after him in my chest. If he touches me, I might end up fucking him in the middle of the goddamned party just to catch a break from all of this… pining.
Ew.
It feels wrong to even think that way but, God, the aching and the straining every time I end up near one of my Bonds is slowly driving me insane. Maybe calling a truce with Gabe wasn’t a good idea because I’m barely holding my shit together.
When we walk past the kitchen, Sawyer curses under his breath and moves so he’s covering Sage’s tripping and stumbling ass. I startle when Gabe does the same for me, his shoulders somehow doubling in width and completely obscuring me from… whatever they’ve decided to protect us from.
I’m smart enough to keep my mouth shut about it until we’re outside, but Sage is too far gone and Sawyer is forced to slap a hand over her mouth, muttering threats and cussing her out.
When we find a spot outside that isn’t completely writhing with bodies and booze, Gabe murmurs to me, “North and Sharpe are having a disagreement over the protocol now that the Resistance is getting closer to the campus. He’s already made it well known that he’s not above coming after you. Hate North all you want, but he’s keeping you away from a whole lot of shit right now.”
Dammit.
I don’t want to owe that man anything, but even I can’t deny that he’s helping out big time with that shit
I pull the dress over my head and fold it up, carefully bending to slip it into Sage’s bag because my tits are a little bigger than hers and there’s a real danger of a nip slip happening tonight. When I straighten up, I find Gabe staring at me like I’ve grown an extra head and I have to glance down to make sure I’m not actually flashing the entire freaking party my goods.
“What? What the hell are you looking at?”
He grunts at me, shaking his head and muttering under his breath as he jumps head first into the pool, “I fucking hate you.”
Well, what the fuck have I done to him now?
Sawyer knocks into me as he shifts around to cover Sage while she strips. “C’mon, Fallows, you’re not that drunk. Give the guy a break.”
I’m lost, utterly freaking lost, but then Sage steps up next to me and giggles, “Guess he had to cool down a little. We might need to get you a swimsuit that actually fits your amazing tits.”
I scoff at them both because it can’t be that. There’s at least ten other girls here rocking a better rack than mine, and Gabe has probably fucked them all, the looks they’re all throwing his way are saying a lot on the subject.
We have a little bit of luck because Riley is nowhere to be seen, but then I spot Giovanna perched on one of the poolside recliners in a tiny bikini that makes mine look freaking supersized. To be honest, it’s not even a bikini, she’s wearing some red string that just barely covers her nipples and slit. It’s the early evening, the outdoor lighting and bonfire are already raring, so it’s not like she’s working on her tan and I’m not trying to slut-shame, but it’s just impractical.
Sage notices her the second we slide into the water, her happy and carefree joy just melting away until her arms are crossed over her chest and she’s looking self-conscious again.
Fuck that.
“Sawyer, we need some cocktails. Who’s dick do we have to suck to get them? I feel like you should take one for the team here, my friend.”
He scoffs at me, clearly not on board with more alcohol, as he strips down and jumps in to join us. There’s a huge tattoo spanning his entire back that I had no idea the little computer-nerd-slash-preppy-jock boy had.
I’m impressed. No wonder he’s bagged the ice hockey hottie.
I keep half an eye on Gabe where he’s talking to some other football players, laughing and joking with them only a few feet away from us. Even when they attempt to talk him into a beer pong tournament happening as far away from the council bullshit as it can possibly be, he says no, jerking his head in my direction without any further explanation.
It makes me feel like a burden and there’s nothing I hate more than that shit.
‘I don’t understand why I have to be here,’ I whine, and it’s totally a fucking whine because I don’t understand why they’re insisting on me being here if I’m just going to be everyone’s problem. A pool party. A pool party full of Gifted, Bonds and Bonded. The Council. Riley and Giovanna and North and fuck knows who else?! It feels like a recipe for disaster.
Sage shrugs at me. ‘Apparently it’s a rite of passage. I didn’t want to come, but apparently this is supposed to be something we’ll look back on, years from now, and be so thankful we attended.”
I can literally tell which one of her parents had said it to her because Maria is so freaking obsessed with Sage being ‘normal’. She’s all torn up over the idea that Riley rejected her and now she’s hanging out with me, what will that mean for the good Benson name?
It’s fucking stupid and Sage deserves better.
“We should go find the drinks table, hopefully something is spiked strong enough to get our buzz back.”
Sage chews on her lip, shooting me a half-smile, but it’s clear that seeing Giovanna here has ruined her entire night. I’m suddenly overwhelmed with exactly how bullshit the entire situation is because Sage has literally done nothing wrong. Nothing.
As loath as I am to admit it, at least my own Bonds have a reason to hate me, and even if they’re blaming me for something out of my control, it’s not like I can tell them that.
The water around me ripples.
No one else notices, thank God, but it’s a good reminder to me to settle the fuck down. So I stop looking at Giovanna and I stop thinking about Gabe and the burden I am to him. I stop thinking about all of the things wrong with this stupid freaking party and I have fun.
I drag Sage and Sawyer over to the other side of the pool where there’s a waterfall and a slide. We sit on the edge and Sawyer manages to convince a couple of the seniors to grab us some beers. Sage is still quiet, but some of the gloom around her lifts and we can actually enjoy ourselves for five goddamn minutes.
When the crowd starts moving towards the food tables being laid out by the caterers, because of course this college party is being catered, we take stock of how we’re feeling and decide food isn’t a good idea right now. Well, the food is a great idea, but attempting to walk around isn’t.
Gabe offers to grab me something, his shitty attitude over with, but I brush him off, watching as he hauls himself out of the water and walks over to the tables without bothering to grab a towel or cover up. Jesus, he really is too hot for words.
“You’re drooling. Are you sure you can’t just fuck him?” Sage whispers far too loudly at me and I splash her with the water.
Sawyer rolls his eyes at us both from where he’s perched on the side of the pool. “Not without bonding to him and apparently that’s off of the table.”
I nod, pulling my face into the picture of seriousness. “Absolutely not, no bonding.”
I glance over at Gabe and find him standing there with North, talking together before they both turn as one to look over at me.
Goddammit.
“Fuck yes, Grey just got back. We need to leave here, now,” Sawyer says, standing up and waving his hands at Sage.
She giggles as she tries, and fails, to pull herself out of the water, and it takes both her brother and I to get her out. The beers had given me my buzz back, but not so much that I can’t get my shit together.
“I have to wait for Gabe, just to let him know you guys are getting me home safe… you are taking me back, right?”
Sawyer scoffs at me, “Of course, we’re not leaving you here drunk and vulnerable.”
I laugh at him, happy at how easy it’s become between us now, he doesn’t wince at my mere presence anymore.
“What a rack! Reject, I can see why you’re so popular.”
I freeze at the sound of his voice and when I finally turn around, yup, sure enough, it’s fucking Martinez. Sage scowls at him but I hold out an arm to stop her from doing anything about him.
I just want to leave, some coward’s opinion of my character or body means less than nothing to me.
“What the fuck did you just say to my Bond, Martinez?”
I turn and instinctively shove myself into Gabe’s heaving chest. It’s a bad move because we’re both practically naked and my own bond has a freaking field day at all of the skin-on-skin action. He barely notices me though, the anger coursing through him is more than enough to distract him from me.
It’s kind of hot and I have to remind myself that it has nothing to do with him protecting me and everything to do with his own reputation.
“Just when I thought Gabe couldn’t get any more pathetic, he’s simping after the girl who threw him away. How does that reject pussy taste, Ardern?”
Gabe moves around me so fast that all I see is the blur of his big body moving and then they’re both on the ground. I bump into Sawyer as we both throw ourselves in front of Sage, which is dumb because she’s the badass who could light us all on fire if she wanted to.
There’s shouting over at the main house but I’m too busy backing Sage up against the pool fence, trying to keep her clear of the shifter brawl happening, to notice. I’m oddly proud to see that Gabe is kicking Martinez’s ass, just pounding on his face like he could go at it all damn day.
It feels like karma.
Sawyer groans and then steels himself as he wades into the fray to pull Gabe off of Martinez, narrowly missing a fist to the gut himself. Gabe doesn’t fight him but when they both straighten up, his eyes have a very feline look to them, his irises ringed with fire and still following his prey like he’s imagining tearing flesh from bones and picking his teeth.
It shouldn’t be so hot.
“What the hell is going on here? What have you done to my son?”
I glance around to find a crowd forming around us, muttering and with a whole lot of phones pointed in our direction. I wish I had a towel around myself but that’s the least of our problems now that Martinez’s father is here with a savage look on his face.
He’s shorter than Gabe and dressed in a suit, probably either on the council or works for someone who is. He looks a lot like his son, and he has the same gutless asshole air about him that sets my teeth on edge.
Gabe rolls his shoulders back, his jaw set like he’s planning on just taking whatever this dickhead says to him on the chin, and that doesn’t sit right with me at all.
“You always did have a vicious temper, I’ll have you off of the football team for this—”
I jump in without thought of how it looks or which of North’s rival councilmen surround us. “It was me. Gabe took a swing for me.”
As if called over by my admission, the crowd parts and Gryphon and North appear. North is holding a plate of food, which my brain registers but doesn’t really do much with because both of their faces are twin masks of thunderous, pissed-off Alpha males.
Great.
North’s eyes flick over the entire scene and then he says, “What’s happened, David?”
No one says a word, so I take the moment to butt in, throwing myself under the bus. Gabe took a swing for me and I’m not letting him take the fall for that. Football is his life, I have nothing left to lose.
“Martinez shifted in the maze during TT and hunted me down to use me as bait for the pond… girl. He started mouthing off and Gabe was defending me.”
Gryphon’s eyes shift between us both, Gabe’s knuckles still bleeding from where the line backer’s tooth broke the skin. I hold my breath, ready for him to call us both out and just be done with it, but then he turns back to the other and says, “You can’t fault Gabe for protecting his Bond… even if he took it too far. ”
David’s eyes flick back over to me and when they begin to glow, Gryphon plants himself in front of me, his hands relaxed by his side, but the tension in his shoulders tells me he’s ready to throw down with this Gifted man if he tries anything.
North shoves the plate of food at me and when he steps towards David, the crowd around us suddenly goes quiet, the fear rippling through everyone is so palpable that I almost choke on it.
Whatever he can do, it has them all freaking shaking.
“Take her home, Gabriel. Sage too, get them both out of here.”
No one dares to question him. Gabe doesn’t look fazed by the stern order either, he just grabs a towel and slings it over my shoulders while Sawyer does the same with Sage, both of them ushering us out. My legs are steady underneath me and, surprisingly, so are Sage’s.
When we get to the house, Gabe scoffs and shakes his head at me, leaning in close to murmur, “You’re too fucking good at lying, Bond. Only a pro knows how to get past Gryphon like that, even North was convinced.”
