Hey Jealousy
We all take a turn in the bathroom of the jet before it lands in Paris. The damn flight was long enough that I even slept in short bursts. I woke up with a different guy curled around me each time and that helped my mistrust for airplane technology dissipate. I was a little shaky when we hit the ground, but now that we’re descending the steps to the tarmac, I feel much better.
Good sex, food, and naps will do that, I suppose.
Pulling my sunglasses out of my bag, I squint at the two large SUVs here to pick us up. “Who sent these?”
Felix gives me a pleased expression, walking over to brush his lips on my temple. “Good question, Princess. This detail was arranged by your designer friend, Luc. He has a lot of contacts here, obviously, and Fitz emailed him when we found out we had to go here.”
I blink, surprised they looked up my friend without me. “Luc? Is this his jet, then?”
“ Oui , ma petite ,” Renard says with a wink. “My fellow countryman was eager to help, especially when Fitzgerald mentioned his concerns about using anything tied to either of your families. He did not think we were being paranoid at all.”
Biting my lip, I feel tears sting my eyes. When I started at Apex over a year ago, I had almost no one in my corner but Mattie and Luc. Now I’ve got this whole army of boyfriends and besties who move heaven and earth to help me. They even risk the wrath of my parents and the other powerful Council fuckheads—something I wouldn’t have thought possible. It’s so humbling and it makes me feel all soft inside.
“Aw, Baby Girl, don’t get teary! You’re worth the risk every damn day and I know all your friends feel that way.” Fitz comes up and takes Jinx’s carrier off my shoulder, handing it to Chessie, then slings his arm over my shoulders. “Trust me… I’ve been tapping everyone we know to activate our little network. Even our prey friends have been running interference where they can.”
“I didn’t know you were this worried,” I whisper as I look up at him.
His eyes narrow and he growls a little. “Our father has killed people no one should be able to get away with murdering. Your mother is leading a council of dicks who have been hoodwinking our entire society for centuries. I put absolutely nothing past them, even blowing up a plane.”
I’m about to respond when a sharp gasp, followed by a roar of disbelief makes us all whip around. My eyes land on Aubrey, half- shifted and blowing smoke out of his nostrils as he holds up his phone. I wiggle out of Fitz’s grasp, moving to his side and laying a hand on his arm. “Big guy, what’s going on?”
He sucks in a deep breath and pins Fitz with wild eyes. “You were right to be so careful. I thought you were overreacting a little. But son of a bitch if you weren’t right. Look at what just hit the news.”
We all crowd around his phone to see one of the Barrington news feeds playing a video of a plane exploding over the landing strip at an airport. The ticker at the bottom says it’s in Asia, and…
Oh my fucking goddess… It was Bruno’s goddamn plane.
“N-no survivors…?” I read, my voice pitching up at the end. My chest gets tight and I freeze in place. I have no idea what to feel right now besides shock. Bruno’s treated me like shit my entire life, so I don’t know that I can feel sad, but… Feeling happy or relieved also seems like it’s wrong, too. I chew my lower lip, trying to assimilate the information that he’s dead while my emotions ping all over the place.
“Angel, it’s okay if you don’t know how to feel,” Chessie says as he lays a hand on the small of my back. “He was your father—as far as you know—but he abused the hell out of you. That makes his death hard to come to terms with, especially in this situation.”
I suck in a deep breath then blow it out, nodding. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m having trouble with, my knight. I don’t know how to feel other than shocked. But I also don’t feel shocked because it’s kind of amazing Lucille didn’t off him before now. You know?”
Felix and the others close the circle around me, all of them touching me in a different place. My tiger king leans in, murmuring in my ear, “Fitz and I are very aware of how difficult this is. Our father is an evil dickhead and I assume when he’s dead, we’ll struggle. ”
“I won’t,” Fitz says as he nips my ear. “Because I’m going to slice the motherfucker up and feed him to his captive pets while my Baby Girl watches. He’s part of this bullshit and no one gets to hurt her without suffering at my hands before they die painfully.”
Aubrey chuckles and shakes his head. “Eloquent as always, Fitz.”
“Look, Tangy Tuatara, I’m telling it like it is. I don’t give a flip flying fuck who it is, if they so much as make her frown, they’d better stay out of my reach.”
I turn to him with a small smile, rubbing my nose on his cheek. “My hero.”
Chess sits his chin on my shoulder and I can almost feel his amusement. “We all wanted him to feel real emotions and look at what it got us—SuperPsychoFitz.”
“I don’t mind. It’s sexy when you’re all growly.” I pause for a minute then add, “But I can take care of my damn self, too, so you have to let me try. Don’t let that go to any of your heads—bottom or top.”
Fitz guffaws, wrapping his arms around me to squeeze me close. “That’s our girl. Let’s get in these cars and blow this popsicle stand. I’m feeling itchy about standing out in the open all of a sudden.”
He has a point.
“If Lucille felt comfortable enough to take Bruno off the board, we should definitely get moving. Who knows what else she’s up to?”
The guys nod, moving away to gather the rest of our things. Once everything is loaded into the cars, Felix divides us up between the two cars and we settle in for the drive to Academie .
Hopefully, this ride to school is less exciting than the one to Cappie.
“Wow,” I breathe as we drive away from the city into the countryside. The school is about an hour away from the main metro and suburbs, so we can take trips in if we want, but the pastoral towns we’re passing through are adorable. “This is… so freaking cool.”
Renard grins as he squeezes my hand. “France has many beautiful areas, ma petite . We might explore with Flames sometime, non ?”
I clap my hands and grin. “Hell yeah. I have no idea how intense this place is—rumor is that while Apex and Cappie are more intense in networking and social shit, Academie and Zhuǎn xīng U&M are much more program intensive. For all I know, I could be trapped under a pile of work forty feet high all semester.”
My crazy tiger leans in, his voice growly as he replies, “Or you could be buried under horny shifters all semester. Either way, no shithead magic rebels or fuckwit Council people will be able to get their mitts on you. So we’ll figure it out.”
Le swoon, crazy pants.
“Fitz is right. As long as we keep you safe, everything else is maneuverable,” Felix says from the front. He made Chess and Aubrey ride in the second car—a choice that was not appreciated by the dragon or the cheetah. “But we need to get your schedule as soon as we’re settled in because he has to begin doing checks on your professors.”
“You know, it’d be nice to not have to vet every person I encounter because they might be part of some secret society trying to kill me. Just once, I’d like to not look over my shoulder when I’m walking around.” I frown, my brow furrowing as I think about having to figure out yet another embedded social hierarchy. It’s getting tiresome as hell, and I’m over the bullshit.
My gargoyle boyfriend chuckles. “Don’t worry, petite lapin . You’ll have us and plenty of friends you don’t have to background check on site. Everyone else will be on a case-by-case basis since Academie is damn tight-lipped about their school. ”
“Unfortunately, she’ll also have to avoid Rockland, the remaining Heathers, and whatever clique is running this place,” Fitz says as he pulls my feet into his lap. “But I have no problem putting on a show to corral the sheep. I’m sure we’ll find some sort of fight club where I can flash my teeth.”
“Guys, we have to at least pretend to get along with the new folks until we get a feel for this place. I can’t keep adding enemies to my plate,” I sigh. “Heather E. and Heather B. will do their damndest to fuck with me, and we know Rockland is gearing up to stick her stinky face in mine. No fights until we make sure there’s no landmines where we’re stepping.”
Felix gives me a pleased grin. “Good girl, Princess. Thinking strategically is a better approach, especially since we know Z is here with one goal: get Academie ’s Pred Games team in shape so they draw better crowds to fill the Leonidas coffers. You’ll likely be one of the best trained competitors there and that will make people take you seriously on your own merits.”
I squint at him. “You’re saying I need to terrify them first.”
“Exactly. Show them you’re formidable on the field and on the stage and in the classroom. If you rocket up the leaderboards in every arena, it will be hard for those snot-nosed bitches to gather minions.” The exiled Raj looks at me smugly and I have to smile back.
Felix Khan never fails to give me room to rescue myself and I love him for it.
“They speak English here, right?” Fitz turns to me with wide eyes, as if the possibility that no one speaks his language just occurred to him. “Because the Frying Pan Frenchie didn’t teach me any of his ooh-la-la. He’s been teaching me to sign for the little prey guy, but not that. Holy shit, guys! How will people hear my fucking excellent zingers?”
Covering my mouth as the SUV turns onto a long drive, I giggle. Rennie just sighs and rolls his eyes to the ceiling as if asking for patience. Fitz keeps freaking out and finally, Felix takes pity on him. “Of course they speak English, you nitwit. Students from all over come here, so the instruction is in English. However, you may get cussed out in a wide variety of languages—which I’m excited to watch.”
“Don’t be such a hater, bro. Foreign chicks love me…” he pauses and looks at me with wide eyes. “Not that they can have me, Baby Girl. Cross my heart.”
I give him an amused look, tilting my head as I pretend to think about it. “Well. I suppose if they get fresh, I’ll just have to start taking body parts to deliver to you in jars, huh?”
He practically has cartoon hearts in his eyes as he looks at me. “Baby Girl, if you bring me body parts, you won’t be walking straight for a week . I promise that on the most precious thing I have: my dick.”
“For fuck’s sake, Fitz,” Felix growls.
I just grin at him, my eyes full of promise as I watch him bounce happily in place.
They think I’m kidding, but newsflash, sports fans… I’m not.