Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
FINN
“By the way, what are you doing here?” J bats her eyelashes.
I study her expression. She’s good at making that innocent face. How many times has she practiced?
When I don’t respond, she adds, “And how did you find me? Redwood Prep has, like, a gazillion classrooms.”
My jaw clenches. She’s right. I feel like I ran a marathon getting here.
“Did you run around, searching each room to find me?”
I wouldn’t have had to do that if she’d answered the phone. One little conversation would have cleared this up.
“J, I heard gunshots. Are you dead or not?”
“Nope. I’m alive and kicking.”
“Noted.”
I would’ve hidden with my brothers in the practice room where it’s safe. Instead, I sprinted through the school like it was on fire, searching every classroom for a pint of a girl, with skin paler than Snow White, eyes like the ocean, and a body so thin a gust of wind could blow her over.
J’s smile continues to grow, and her cheeks bunch up around her eyes like a chipmunk. It’s annoying that she really can pull off the cutesy thing. I do kind of like chipmunks too.
“Why?” J asks, all her pearly white teeth showing.
I arch a brow.
She clarifies, “Why did you come running to me when you heard the gunshots?”
I had a lot of time to think about that question. Why the hell was I looking for her?
I don’t feel particularly fond of J.
I don’t really care to protect her.
And the thought of her frail body, lying limp on the floor in a pool of her own blood doesn’t bother me at all.
“Finn?” Her eyes turn dewy and soft. She clasps her hands together and tucks them under her chin. “Do you have a crush—”
“You owe me,” I growl before she gets any weird ideas.
Her eyes narrow. “What exactly do I owe you?”
Answers.
I don’t like unfinished projects. If J dies before I prove that she is, indeed, Jinx in person, then it would have annoyed me all the days of my life.
“Okay, you want me to guess? Gimme a sec. I’m great at guessing. You say I owe you?” She taps her chin thoughtfully. “Got it. The Uber ride. You want to split it fifty-fifty?”
What the hell?
Her eyes fasten on my tightening lips. “No, not that? Is it from before?” She scrunches her nose. “Because I kissed you?”
I scoff. “Do you ever stop talking?”
Her bottom lip snags between her teeth. In a syrupy sweet voice, she coos, “Sorry, I’ll stop…” She chokes. Swallows. Tries again. “Whatever you say, Finn. Sorry to upset…”
J chokes again.
Just as I’m wondering if I need to take her back to the hospital or perform the Heimlich, her sweet expression disintegrates like dust.
“You know what? Screw this. I’ve never talked this much in my entire life, but here I am, talking to myself like an idiot because all you do is stare at me and not speak.”
The rant bursts out of her like a gushing nosebleed.
“I say something. You say something back.” She waves sharply. “I say something else. You respond. That’s what a conversation is, you big buffoon.”
Buffoon?
“And have you heard of this thing called a freaking smile? You freaking vampire, Grim Reaper wanna-be? I get that we’re not best friends, but I helped you find the kidnapper, and you’re still stabbing me with your eyeballs.
” She makes a gesture that looks far more suggestive than she probably anticipated.
“I smile at you, stab. I make conversation, stab. I come all the way to Redwood Prep in the middle of night and almost get shot? Stab.”
Her watch beeps and my attention snags there. The face of the watch isn’t yellow, but it’s still barking out a warning.
“I’m not asking for the world here. I think it’s relatively normal to be polite and expect politeness in return. But hey, maybe I’m the crazy one.” She runs her hands through her hair, and her bangs fall into place again.
My lips curl up.
J shakes her head. “I’m leaving. Just forward whatever I owe you via text. In fact, this entire thing”—she moves her pointer finger in a circle, indicating me and the classroom—“could have been an email.”
As she stalks forward, I extend a hand and block her path.
J jerks back just before crashing into my arm.
She looks at my hand and then at me. Miffed, she takes two steps to the left.
I follow her, barring her way.
Two steps to the right.
I’m right there with her, shoulders loose, arms in my pockets.
She makes a sputtering sound of displeasure and tilts her head up. Moonlight falls across her face, sparkling in her blue-green eyes. With the rest of her in darkness, the incandescence of her eyes seems otherworldly.
“I didn’t say you could leave.” My voice is quiet but firm. The shooters could still be out there. I’m not letting her step foot outside of Redwood until I’m sure she won’t be gunned down on the street.
J scowls. “Bite me.”
Normally, I wouldn’t rise to the bait, but all of a sudden, sinking my teeth into her creamy neck doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Maybe I really am a vampire.
I prowl forward, cutting through the distance between us.
The sass sputters out of her eyes, and her gaze darts around like prey searching for cover.
But there’s no escaping me.
She inches back until her entire body jolts against the desk. Measurement cups and glass vials rattle as the table rocks.
I loom over her, noticing the way she pulls her lips between her teeth. Her watch starts beeping to the cadence of each nervous chew.
My eyes linger on her mouth.
My pants tighten.
These feelings, I recognize. But, well, they’re not exactly of the heart.
“I’ve been curious.” I point to the watch. “What makes this thing go off?”
Her gaze cuts right into my face, slicing a new mark over the bruises that Kurosaki’s men left. “I’m allergic to jerks like you.”
I press closer, hovering over her body. Close enough to feel the heat on her skin. Close enough to cut her throat.
She senses the danger she’s in and admits, “I have a heart condition. If I get too angry or too stressed or—”
“Turned on?” I whisper.
It finally happens. The watch changes colors. It’s so dark in the lab that the yellow screen burns a bright neon through the shadows.
“Calm down, J.” My eyes shift from the watch to her face. “I haven’t even touched you yet.”
A blush travels from her neck all the way to her cheeks. The pink flush makes her more alluring.
I don’t know how I feel about that.
“I gave you a chance to have me before we left the hospital. You’re the one who shut it down.”
She didn’t truly want to sleep with me. It was obvious, but that’s beside the point. I like this game.
“How about you take your pants off this time?” she whispers. “And I can look at you with the same disdain?”
No woman has ever looked at me with disdain when they’ve seen me. Not one. And while I find J’s taunting amusing, I know one thing for sure—she’s attracted to me.
The watch is still screaming like a banshee, and the yellow is lingering on the watch face. Are there more warning colors? Orange? Red? Which is the highest level of danger? I wonder where I have to touch her before I can see that one?
To my surprise, small fingers press into my jaw. J turns my head to look away from her watch and into her face.
“My eyes are up here, Cross,” she breathes.
And then, for the third time in less than twenty-four hours, she kisses me.