Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Izzy
I slipped out of Noah’s room and left him sleeping so I could dress. When I go back to his room to check on him, the shower is running. I perch on the edge of the bed, and find my hand absently drawn across the still-warm sheets where Noah slept a few minutes before.
A rueful smile twists my lips. I’ve finally got you back right where you belong. He probably doesn’t even remember he said that. He was really out of it last night.
But I hope he does.
The shower cuts off, and a few minutes later, Noah leans in the doorway.
He’s wearing nothing but the black school trousers and belt, and a few surviving beads of water trickle down his chest toward the chiseled lines of his abs.
His hair looks a darker shade of blond than usual when it’s wet, and he runs his fingers through it distractedly as he gazes at me, ruffling it. It looks good ruffled.
“Morning,” he says.
“Morning.”
Tension seems to drip between us, moving slower than that bead of water sliding down his washboard abs.
“How do you feel this morning?” I sit forward, studying him carefully. There are vivid bruises across his chest and abs, and the cut still hasn’t healed on his lip. But he looks better.
He scrubs his face with his hand. “Confused. I don’t remember much about what happened last night. I remember them laughing at me, calling me Odin, but not…. I don’t remember what they look like.”
I think of the murderous looks that crossed our friends’ faces last night. “Maybe that’s for the best.”
We don’t need to find more trouble.
“How is that for the best? We could be sitting in classes today with people who want to hurt us.” His voice is frustrated.
“From what the witch said last night, they’re scared of us, or at least scared of the gods inside us,” I remind him. “People do awful, crazy things when they’re scared.”
I’m thinking of what happened last night, so I’m surprised when Noah says slowly, “Like abandon the girl they love?”
My gaze jerks to his. “What are you talking about?”
“The way we all just…” he shakes his head, “abandoned you.”
Relief floods my chest to hear him admit it, as if something inside me has just unknotted. At least we see things the same way. I didn’t think they cared about what they did when they walked away from me, but if Wilder regrets it, maybe he never entirely stopped caring about me.
My lips twist. “I thought we weren’t talking about it.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to talk about it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened. And now I don’t know how to move forward…”
“Move forward?” I frown, but my heart is beating fast. What does he want to move forward with?
Does Noah want to kiss me in the daylight too?
“We’re all here together,” he says slowly. “It just seems like we could have a second chance at what the guys and I screwed up before because we were stupid kids—”
“We’ve got to focus on surviving,” I say. “On fitting in here at the academy.”
What the hell am I saying? I’m saying what I think I should say. But it’s not what I want.
He hesitates. “Yeah. You’re right, Iz.”
I don’t feel right.
He pauses, as if he wants to say something else, but instead he goes to the dresser. With his back to me, he pulls on a shirt.
His muscles ripple in the process and I catch a glimpse of a tattoo on his shoulder before the hem of the shirt falls over the lean taper of his waist.
“What’s the tattoo?” I ask lightly.
He shakes his head instead of answering. “I thought I was going to graduate without ever having to wear a uniform.”
Yeah, I don’t know what’s worse about this place: all the supernatural creatures that want to murder us, or having to wear a plaid skirt and a blazer.
I step out so he can get dressed, and head to the dining room. The scent of coffee, sizzling bacon, and fresh sweet bread drifts toward me, along with the low murmur of masculine voices.
When I walk in, the boys turn to me. Conversation stops dead.
“What?” I demand, a second before I take in their gazes studying me, and I understand what.
My school skirt ends a scandalous length above my knee, revealing more of my thighs, which look toned and leaner than I remember them being.
“I know, I know.” I tug the hem of the skirt down, but it doesn’t help. “I look like I’m dressed up as a Naughty Schoolgirl for Halloween. But these are the uniforms they gave me!”
“I don’t think any of us are complaining,” Aiden says, a small smile coming to his lips. “It’s just…unexpected.”
“You look good, Iz,” Reid says.
I smile a little as I sit down. There’s a truly amazing spread on the table: bacon and scrambled eggs and fresh blueberry muffins with butter.
I almost moan at the tender muffin falling apart in my mouth, and when I swallow, I ask, “Where’s Beth? Did she just disappear again after she set up breakfast? We should thank her.”
“Beth?” Van looks confused.
“The lady who seems to look after us around here? I’m thankful she doesn’t think I just want to eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” That was quite the cereal buffet she set up last night, but this is even better.
“Oh, you know her name already.” Van grins. “It’s official, Izzy is in charge of winning friends and influencing people around here. Clearly, we haven’t done such a great job so far.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Noah shoots back, leaning in the doorway. He’s all dressed in his school uniform now, and it looks good on him. “I influenced people’s fists last night with my face. I’m doing my part.”
The two of them talk about it lightly, but Aiden’s expression darkens at the reminder of what happened last night. He looks exhausted, his eyes dark circled, and I touch his arm tentatively.
He turns to me, re-arranging his face into a bland, cool mask. “What is it, Izzy?”
He sounds friendly and warm, but I’m worried about the way his expression just changed, and about the anger I saw before.
He’s changed so much since we were kids. Since his sister died.
“Nothing,” I say, because I want to know how he’s really doing, but that’s not a conversation we can even begin here, surrounded by everyone else. “Let’s get to class.”