Chapter 34 – Marc
Marc was waiting for Wayla outside of her classroom. This had gone on long enough. She had been back at the Academy for a week and they hadn’t spoken a word to each other. How had she managed to avoid him for that long? Or had it been him avoiding her?
Fuck if he knew.
The last time he had spoken to her had been to tell her to stay fucking inside and out of Hell Moon’s power surges.
She hadn’t. That was over a month ago. It had all gone from one shit show to another lately with him losing his shit over Salis, and Hellion doing the same over Irishen.
Followed by her little meltdown and the fucking attack on neutral ground.
That would have been enough to mess up any relationship as it was, but the hits just kept coming. Waiting for the trial, then they all learned she was an heir apparent. A stormbringer heir apparent. Fucking royalty. The change in her perceived status and power was staggering.
Officially, she could now go toe to toe with Hellion with no repercussions in that regard.
And Marc still couldn’t figure out what had Sinister so twisted up. The male seemed to be constantly on alert and he was glued to his phone. Even Grant had stopped throwing his jibes about Rose.
Their cellar had never seen as much action as these couple of weeks. The wards needed constant updating. Frankly, Marc wanted to be there right now, punching something, not waiting his ex-fake-girlfriend out. Except that he couldn’t justify his avoidance any longer.
Not after Esserieh Brokenstar’s little visit.
Wayla had just walked out of the house with him and neither she nor Jarred had answered their phones after. The only reason Marc wasn’t fully flipping out was Irishen fucking Sleethill of all beings. He had sent Justin a text, letting him know they were all fine.
He glanced at the clock on the wall just as Salis walked into view with Diana.
“I’ll see you later,” he said and smiled softly at the druid, and she squeezed his hand before walking the other way.
Marc wanted to groan. He needed to say something, but he really didn’t want to. If only he had listened to Wayla, really heard when she said there was nothing going on between them, all of this could have been avoided.
Salis lifted an eyebrow when he spotted him but didn’t smile or speak. The usually easygoing and social angel stared coldly at him. Marc wasn’t sure if he was dating Diana, but there was something going on there. It had become pretty obvious in the weeks that Wayla had been detained.
“What are you doing here?” Okay, so that didn’t come out quite as he intended.
Salis narrowed his eyes. “That’s none of your business now, is it?”
“Salis, I—”
“I don’t really want to hear it,” he cut Marc off. “Wayla might say that it’s fine, she doesn’t care, and the rest of the crap to defend you and the Prince of Hell, but the rest of us aren’t as forgiving.”
What? Oh fuck. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Again, don’t care. Not only did you lash out at her physically, but you hurt her feelings. What part of friends is so fucking hard for you to understand? Do you even know why I gave her my shirt?”
“No,” Marc forced the word out. He didn’t. He didn’t know fucking anything anymore.
“Her own shirt was once again burned to shreds in class and she didn’t want to upset you.”
Marc blinked, trying to process what the angel was saying. “You mean… Kelsey attacked her more than once?”
Salis’s eyes rounded, then he snorted. “Yeah, fake boyfriend sounds about right. Yes, Marc. I don’t know how many times, but it got bad enough to burn her clothes at least three times.”
Marc was seeing red. That demon’s days were numbered.
He wanted to go off right now and handle things, but Hellion was in a better position to make things truly painful for that piece of shit.
He fished out his phone, but before he could send the message, the noise level rose and the door opened, students spilling out of the class.
It took a moment for Wayla to step out, and Salis was by her side in an instant. The angel actually stepped between Marc and Wayla and shielded her from him.
“Wayla,” Marc called out loud enough that several heads turned their way.
“Keep it moving, sugar puff,” Salis said, urging her on.
“Wayla—”
“It’s fine, Salis.” Wayla stopped and turned to face him. “What do you want, Marc?”
“I’m sorry.”
“What?” She blinked and frowned slightly.
“I’m sorry,” Marc repeated with a frown of his own.
“About what?”
“Lashing out at you. I know there’s nothing going on between you and Salis.”
“Okay, fine,” Wayla huffed.
“Doesn’t sound like you mean it, sparkle.”
“Don’t call me that. I’m not your fake anything anymore,” she snapped.
“Wayla.”
“I said it’s fine.”
“Clearly, it’s not.” Marc tried to come up with what more to say when she inhaled sharply through her nose and her fingers formed into tight fists. A little snarl broke free and electricity ran over her knuckles. Marc was pretty sure she didn’t know it was happening.
“You believe I fuck anyone who’s even remotely interested in me. My word about it wasn’t enough. In fact, it pissed you off more. So please, kindly fuck off. I wasn’t fucking Salis then. I’m not fucking him now.”
“Way—” he tried to say, but she was on a roll now and kept going.
“I wasn’t fucking Irishen then, either. I am now.” She spun on her heels and grabbed Salis’s hand. “Let’s go.”
The angel threw him a warning glance and guided Wayla down the hall, leaving a stupefied Marc standing in his place.
Well, that went spectacularly off the rails.
He watched as she disappeared behind a corner, electricity still humming around her hands. Maybe he should have come up with a better plan than to confront her and say sorry.
He definitely should have come up with a better plan.
Fuck. He had wanted to talk to her. See where they stood, figure out what was going on. He and Hellion hadn’t been able to find anything about her and, after The Hell’s Enforcer’s visit, Marc wasn’t going to dig more.
It was one thing to disregard Sinister’s warning. A whole other matter to go against Lucifer. What did Sinister know about Wayla? Whatever it was, he wasn’t talking.
Marc sighed and started walking. He had a class to teach and his students were about to curse his name. Now, if only he could get Wayla into one of his classes.
Fucking Kelsey.
They needed to do something about him. Marble crumbled when Marc punched the pillar. He really wanted to punch himself for being an utter idiot, but his barrier spells and shield would make that an unsatisfying exercise.
He picked up his phone and dialed Hellion. “We need to talk.”