Page 21 of House of Ruin
Val’s words kept returning to Blaze, making it hard to breathe as they sunk in deeper and deeper into his soul.
He didn’t want to think about whether Val was right or whether she just said shit to agitate him, hurt him.
But Val was rarely wrong…
Blaze pushed the thoughts side, focusing on the group of angry parents finally coming to a stop in front of them.
“Did you already talk with the police?” Rufus demanded, glaring at all of them.
“Yes, father,” Andro said, lowering his chin. “We just left the—”
“I’m going to get that man fired,” Rufus growled, curling his palms into fists. “Who the fuck does he think he is calling the kids in without us? Or legal representation?”
“What did the detective ask?” Alatar asked Alecto, coming to stand next to her. “What did you tell them, sweet pumpkin?”
The moment that nickname left Alatar’s lips, Alecto’s shoulders squared, her jaw tight with tension.
It likely wasn’t enough for the others to notice, but Blaze had been paying attention.
And he didn’t like what he was seeing.
“Nothing,” Alecto said, her eyes darting around the campus.
“They asked routine questions,” Val said, her voice sweet as honey, her lips curved into a pleasant smile. The mask was back on, and it was beaming like sunshine. Sneakily, Val glanced Blaze’s way, but it didn’t go unnoticed by him. “When we suggested bringing in the lawyers, Dean excused us.”
Blaze didn’t look his father’s way. He didn’t need to.
The suffocating heat of Galliermo’s glare weighed on Blaze like a heavy blanket, making him want to recoil inside and hide.
“Listen, you didn’t do anything,” Octavia said, placing a hand on Andro’s shoulder. “No need to worry about anything. You go about your days and don’t let this distract you from the important matters.”
“I might need a lawyer.” Finally, Blaze willed himself to meet his father’s eyes, the bottomless pits of Hel staring right at him. “I was the one who found the body.”
Galliermo cursed under his breath, briefly exchanging glances with Alatar, as if only the two of them shared a secret.
“What the fuck is going on?” Jolene suddenly asked, frowning. She looked at her aunties. “Why are you even here?”
“Dean Gondalez called us to let us know that all Houses are going to be questioned by the detective about this murder,” Reverie said. She plucked an invisible piece of lint from Jolene’s shoulder, then smoothed the material of the school jacket with her elegant palm that carried five gold jewels stacked on each finger.
It wasn’t weird that the Dean had let the parents know about it. But what was weird was the fact all their guardians were here, together, seemingly more concerned than they should be.
“We’re legacy, right?” Andro asked, glancing at Blaze. “They can’t seriously think they can interrogate legacy like any other students.”
Octavia smiled, pinching one of Andro’s cheeks. He batted her hand away with a tsk.
“Don’t be a brat,Alessandro,” she scolded.
“Next time they want to question you without a lawyer, you call one of us. You hear me?” Rufus said, pointing a finger at them.
They all nodded, Blaze doing so absently as he watched Alecto’s back stiffen once her father’s hand landed on her shoulder.
Blaze wanted to rip his fingers off one by one. Instead of doing so, he ground his teeth, his jaw hurting from how hard he bit.
9
“I’m so glad you decided to take me with you,” Andro said, dropping a hand on Alecto’s shoulder. He flashed her a crooked smile, all white teeth and that cockiness only Andro carried with him. “With everyone’s eyes on the murder, campus is not my favorite place to be right now.”
One of his long locs slipped over his eyes, and Andro blew it out of his face, his eyebrows furrowed in a cute way. Alecto couldn’t hold herself back from laughing.
