Page 95 of Her Brother's Keeper

The photographer tried to take Nox’s coat to which he snapped, “Hands off my colors.” The photographer froze and Nox added,“Please,”at my gentle reminding look that these people just didn’t understand.

The photographer let it go and Nox took off his jacket and cut, hanging them close by, just out of the camera’s view but within reach, on the back of a chair Mr. Hunter set out. Nox gave Mr. Hunter a nod which Mr. Hunter returned and we had our photos taken, Nox remaining polite, even nice to the photographer who really hadn’t known any better.

We slipped off to the side and Mr. Hunter suggested, “Perhaps it would be best if we locked it in my office?”

Nox smiled, thinly and shook his head, “Maren, Angel, I’m going to run this outside, maybe have one of my brothers pick it up. You cool to wait here for a minute?”

“Absolutely,” I agreed, and he left to take care of things.

“I don’t believe I will ever fully understand that culture,” Mr. Hunter remarked and I smiled at him.

“You would be amazed at how fiercely loyal and protective they are,” I murmured.

“Of their property, yes… treating women as property… Maren, I would be remiss if I didn’t say I worry about you.”

“I appreciate the concern, Mr. Hunter, I really do, but I can’t explain things to you. Just believe me when I say, part of why they are so misunderstood is because of how intensely private they are. The other side of the coin is that they have no desire whatsoever to compromise that privacy in order to explain or reveal their views to what they perceive as the idly curious.”

Mr. Hunter chuckled, “Ever the scholar, Ms. Tracy.”

I blushed, “They’re good people; they just do things very differently to us. It’s simpler in some ways and vastly more complicated in others.”

Mr. Hunter chuckled, “You were so very adult long before you ever turned eighteen. I suppose no one should be surprised at an older partner, buta Sacred Heart?”

I laughed lightly and shifted a bit uncomfortably, “I suppose I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum.” I gripped Mr. Hunter’s hand subtly and gave it a squeeze, “Thank you for letting me have this… my prom, I mean… with Nox.”

Mr. Hunter smiled and nodded, crossing his arms over his chest, “You’ve always been truthful with me; always been a stellar student despite this school’s inability to protect you. I didn’t mind going to bat for you for this. There’s nothing against school policy that dictates the age of your partner or where they come from… simply that they are here by invitation of a currently enrolled student. I simply reminded Mr. Barber of that.”

Mr. Barber was the school principal, and not exactly known for his patience, leniency, or forgiving nature. I nodded, and said, “Thank you anyways.”

“You’re welcome, Maren. Just whatever you do? Do well in life for me.”

“She will,” Nox said from behind me, drawing me back against him. “My Angel can do anything she puts her mind to.”

I leaned my head back against his shoulder and smiled, and he smiled down at me. Mr. Hunter gave a nod with a smile of his own, and spoke with Nox briefly, before shaking his hand and moving off. I turned and caught Lucas staring in our direction, his expression clearly unhappy. Oh, well.

Nox led me around and we spoke to a few classmates of mine that were mostly outcasts like me. Their curiosity evident, but their attitudes about it refreshingly cool. It didn’t hurt that Nox was gorgeous.

Chelsea Day had her nose in the air, but Nox laughed at her and her expression hardened in her best, glacial, ice princess fashion, but Nox wasn’t even phased. He put his lips near my ear and murmured, “If someone fucked her like I give it to you, you think she’d mellow out some?”

I smiled and tucked myself closer into his body and murmured, “She’d never have it so good, and I’d honestly feel sorry for the poor chump that had to stick his dick in her.”

Nox laughed and pulled me into his arms for a slow song on the dance floor. We skipped the faster-paced songs, opting for a little punch and light conversation with Hillary Womack and her boyfriend Jack Schilling. They were both extremely intelligent and honors students. We’d shared some of the honors classes together and had done some group projects.

“I’ll be back,” I murmured to Nox. “Restroom.”

“Okay, Baby. No problem.”

He let me go and continued to listen with genuine, as far as I could tell, interest to Jack’s theory about the latest sci-fi movie’s plot line. I slipped out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the nearest ladies room and freshened up a touch.

I slipped back out into the hallway and was stopped by a familiar voice asking, “Maren, can I talk to you?”

I looked up and bit my bottom lip, shaking my head, “Luke, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Please,” he said, taking a few more steps into the hall. “It’ll only take a minute. You have to know, I feel really bad…”

“Look,” I said holding up my hand with a sigh. For the last couple of months, the closer we got to the end of the year, the more his attempts at holding doors for me and more attempts at actual conversation, were being made. The problem was, I just wasn’t interested in anything Luke had to say…

Whatever apology he had that he wanted to make was all well and good, but it couldn’t and wouldn’t change things. As upset as I was about Nox doing whatever he did to scare Lucas into leaving me alone, I just couldn’t bring myself to feel all that bad about it. I had prayed so many times for the cruelty to stop, the hurtful words, the pranks, the rumors… just all of it tostopthat when it was finally lessened by such a great degree? I was so relieved, I couldn’t bring myself to be angry about it. Not with Nox, no matter how bad it had been for Luke or his dad. It was Karma. I’d made peace with that.

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