Page 97 of Shadowman
Unfortunately, his purple eyes dart to mine while I’m mid-stare.
I look away fast, but he leans in and hums, “Willing to share?”
I nearly trip over my feet. “Huh??” Gawking at him, my muscles are all bunched up, even more heat rising into my face.
He smirks innocently, holding out his hand. “The candy.”
“Oh, yea… Um, sure,” I stammer, feeling stupid as I shake some Skittles into his palm. He’s got an array of colors. “I hope you like those…”
“I don’t discriminate, Byron,” he croons, inching even closer to my ear to purr, “I enjoyallthe flavors of the rainbow.”
What the…
Suddenly, my throat is super dry, and my palms are sweating.I hope I’m not melting my Skittles.“Okay, um… cool,” I croak, then clear my throat, distracting myself by dumping more candy into my mouth.
Trevel chuckles out a growly sound while chewing his candy. And I’m pretending my face isn’t flushing from that comment, though I have no cluewhyit would be. It’s just candy…
We’re talking about candy.
While I’m desperately trying to think ofanythingcool to say in response, Ren stomps up to my back. “Hey, B, did Luthor tell you about his dream?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Trevel picks up speed, floating ahead of me. Like a reflex, vanishing before Ren notices him. It’s unclear whether Ren missed us talking, or is choosing to ignore it, but clearly Trevel has no interest in sticking around to test the waters with him again.
My eyes are lingering on the back of the mysterious newbie’s slim frame and messy, dark strands, while Luthor strides up beside me, griping, “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Yes, it was! Babe, you had a dream about Batman and Superman getting it on,” Ren cackles. “That’s fucking awesome!”
“It wasnota sex dream,” Luthor mumbles, face flushing noticeably, which means it probablywas.
But still. I prefer to protect him over giving in to Ren’s objectives.
“Ren, cut the shit,” I grumble, still subtly watching the tall dude in front of us.
“No need to be embarrassed, Lex,” Ren goes on. “If I had a nickel for every time I’ve dreamt about Henry Cavill, I’d have enough nickels to build a life-size Henry Cavill statue with fully functioning genitalia. Ooh, Skittles! Hit me up, boo.”
Ren starts trying to grab the bag, but I yank it away. “Back off. These are mine.”
“Sharing is caring.” He pouts. “Come on! Just a few… I only like the reds, anyway. Don’teventry to give me any other color.”
I peek at Trevel once more, before hissing at Ren, “I’m not giving youany,period.”
“Meow.” He throws me a salty look, and I toss it right back.
I know he knows I’m still pissed at him, which is obviously why he’s badgering me so much. For all of his sociopathic tendencies, Ren can’t stand knowing someone is mad at him and being unable to smooth it over.
Typical. He always has to be the star.
Rook opens the door to our row, motioning for us to go through. I give one last glance in Trevel’s direction, and this time, our eyes meet.
“Until next time,” he hums to me on his way past, following Joy to the other door. “And hey… Don’t waste any of those.”
He grins as he turns away. I walk to my cell with my brows zipped, unable to help how I’m overanalyzing his words.
Inside, once everyone is gone and I’m left to my own devices, I dump out my remaining Skittles onto my bed, sorting them into little piles by color. And I eat them all, one by one, savoring each flavor, until they’re gone.
I found an old black Sharpie and decided to color my fingernails.
Fuck it, right? No more Dad around to scold me because “boys don’t paint their nails.”
