Chapter 22
“SWEET” BY CIGARETTES AFTER SEX
When I pulled through the parking lot, I slowed a few parking spaces near the blue Mustang along the football field’s fencing. I leaned to try to see if Sally was awake or not yet but didn’t see any movement.
Swinging my leg over my side, I walked my motorcycle the rest of the way into the space to the left of Quinntessa. I hooked my helmet over my handlebars and frowned as I searched the driver’s side window for her face.
She was awake, her book tight against her chest and her eyes gazing off in the direction of the football field. She was leaning enough away from me, I couldn’t see her entire face, only enough of the little heart by her eye and her choice of glossy lipstick.
I took a small step forward when her cheeks caught the sun through the glass. Her freckles glimmered like angel dust kissed her face. It was a normal sight, except I could make out small streams of tears running from her eyes, her chest moving unevenly.
My eyes searched the parking lot for any early arrivals before sliding to the side of her car. The closer I got, the easier it was to see her unfocused eyes.
I rolled my knuckles over the glass and winced when Quinntessa violently jumped in fright. Her head spun toward me, hair flying around the driver’s seat. A few strands stuck to her lipstick, another caught in her cute pink and white bunny earrings.
Her eyes stuck out to me the most, besides the tears in her eyes. Mustang looked exhausted. Whether it was from me, from nightmares, or not letting herself relax over her disappointment with football, she looked close to falling asleep right here.
Her eyes weren’t as bright today, closer to a deep chocolate than her normal honey. It was disappointing. Part of me looked forward to seeing this sweet honeybee’s alluring gaze every morning. Instead, I was reminded how deep we were into this doomsday planning.
Her bloodshot eyes would be about the same.
Maybe her pupils would blow. If I took Levi’s advice and went for the easy, more personal act of strangulation, I could choose to look into her eyes and see this again.
Then, it would be a punishment for me. I would be forced to remember the fear in her eyes and the exact moment her pretty eyes become just a memory.
Quinntessa wiped her eyes with the striped knit sleeves of her red and white bomber jacket. I waited patiently for her to finish rolling the window down with the crank before stepping forward to have a better look at her.
“Hey, sorry. I didn’t hear you pull in,” she said, a delicate rasp to her voice. Her fingers carefully laid the bookmark between her pages and placed the book to the side. “Did you tiptoe again? You don’t have to. I’m awake.”
“You’re not always,” I teased.
I tried to keep my smile up, but it crumbled enough for her eyes to flicker with worry. She looked so tired. It broke my heart.
Not wanting her to feel self-conscious, I looked away and searched her car until I noticed the knitted plant hanging from the rearview mirror.
“Still reading that book?” I plopped the heel of my hand against my cheek as I leaned against her door and tried to get a closer look at the book she was reading. It didn’t look the same as the one I saw her reading earlier this week. Had she already finished it? “You’re a slow reader.”
“Do you blame me?” she shot back without missing a beat. “You’re always distracting me.”
Our eyes met. For a second, I could see through her nervousness. The little playful glint in her eyes that twinkled as a teasing smile appeared mutely across her sparkly lips.
“This is my reading time, Battles.” She licked her lips and motioned to the clock built into her vehicle.
I smiled and shuffled my feet instinctively. A giddy feeling washed over me, seeing her smile at me like that. She looked back at me with such ease, it brought a twist to my stomach. It could have been my guilt. She was joking around with me while I considered the best way to kill that sweet face.
Whether it may be guilt or something entirely different, I couldn’t ignore the soft bloom of pink over my cheeks in the side mirror.
“Lies,” I giggled. “This is your nap time, baby. I’m here to make sure you’re not sleeping through class.”
Quinntessa’s eyes widened in their typical adoring Bambi way. Her shock was evident across her face before it melted into a deep, lava-worthy blush.
She was adorable. Her freckles were like little star constellations across her face, her eyes reminding me of pure gold in the sun. And that dimple was to die for.
I couldn’t stop the smile that took over my face when she blushed deeply. I reached out and poked her dimple with my nail before it could disappear again. It was so small. Sometimes, I wished it wasn’t so shy—her either. It made her eyes look softer and her face look a tick cuter.
“Oh, nothing, huh?” I picked at her, leaning on the window seal.
“Leave me alone,” she groaned.
Quinntessa shoved my hand away when I tried to touch her again. Our fingers knocked together, mine dragging away from her warm face. She looked away from me quickly and tucked her mane of curls over her shoulder.
“Why don’t you hang out with your friends in the morning?” she asked.
I could have lied. Partially, I did, but I could have lied better. I wasn’t this honest with people. She didn’t need to know my thoughts on my personal life and relationships. Still, I answered without hesitating, as if we’d been friends for so long, I could spit out any bullshit and she’d listen.
“I feel like a third wheel sometimes. They may not have been friends first, but I know soulmates when I see them, platonic or not.” I followed Quinntessa’s eyes to see she was watching Erica and Olivia in the rearview mirror of her car.
“And I see them most of the day. Won’t hurt giving them a few minutes of free time from me. I can be a lot.”
“You’re telling me,” she muttered, just loud enough that I could hear.
I rolled my eyes when her lips tugged into a playful, shy smile.
“Don’t you have choir in the mornings?” Quinntessa asked.
I rolled my fingers over the top of the car and licked my lips. She was curious. It wouldn’t hurt her to be curious about me. All the questions she could ask had answers I wanted to give her. I owed her that much if I was to go through with my father’s wishes.
Getting to know her would be mental on my part. It wasn’t smart of me, but it could give me enough information to feed to my father. Then, he’d get off my back about rushing this.
“When they have choir, I have choir. Ollie and I convinced Erica to join.” I paused and looked toward Christian a few trucks down the parking lot. “But I think we have an off morning with the anniversary of his downfall and all that.”
“Downfall?” I heard her push deeper into my answer, clearly reaching for more clarification.
She was so nosey. Cute or not, she was always in my business like her father.
I pursed my lips and watched Quinntessa glance between me and Christian.
“He’s the quarterback,” she pointed out. “Was his downfall when you two broke up?”
I blinked a few times as my face fell. Did she really ask me that? Not that it was a serious question, but I had no idea she even knew Christian, and I had been a couple years ago. Honestly, it kind of killed my mood, though I was sure she didn’t understand that by the way she waited for an answer.
“No one is perfect, Mustang,” I replied. “This school grabs hold of any flaw you’re learning to balance and yanks until the string you’re standing on snaps.”
Until you were falling . . . and falling . . .
Christian needed a break, and Diana agreed with him about everything. It wasn’t that much of a shock when they took today off. It was around this time years ago Christian and I got together and fell apart.
He was a good guy. Maybe if I was straight, I could have stayed with him until we had that white picket fence style family.
I would have hated it, but lavender marriages weren’t that uncommon in our society.
His father was an honorable man, and his mother didn’t take shit from men after her last husband died ignoring her wishes, which I had always enjoyed stories about.
His family was great. I pretended for an entire year they were my family when I could.
“I didn’t understand a word of that.” Quinntessa awkwardly smiled. “I just meant . . .”
I avoided her eyes and leaned my back against her door. There she went being nosy again.
“I know you quit cheer and were dumped by Christian?—”
She knew everything she fucking shouldn’t. She just confirmed how much time she spends with the wrong people—when she decided to interact with people.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. For a second, I debated just doing my thing and walking away from her bullshit, but I didn’t. If she was anyone else, I would have walked away a while ago. I might not have even walked up to her.
If Quinntessa were anyone else, she would be dead.
“For someone who won’t answer a damn question of mine, you sure are full of it.
” I glared at Christian as he talked to Briar.
She was a Ghoul and one of my friends. We weren’t that close after I quit, but I thought it was always hard for me to fully accept she was best friends with the Rome family. “I’ll make you a deal.”
I turned back around to see her sitting up in her seat.
“Answer a question of mine, and I’ll answer yours,” I compromised.
“Deal,” she agreed. “Go for it.”
I rolled my fingers over the edge of the door’s open window and smirked.
“Why did you move here?” I asked. “Everyone wants to know why you’d move to Coven. New York is much better than Indiana. The city?—”
“I’m from the upstate-central area,” she corrected me, her fingers nervously tracing the steering wheel. I wondered if that was the truth or a government response they trained her to say. “And I moved for my dad’s job.”