Page 78 of Wicked Dove
Professor Drayker’s class was right after breakfast, and it’s already past six in the evening? I really did spend a long time looking for Rion.
Damn.
Refocusing my attention on her outfit, I spy a pink spaghetti-strap cropped tank and a pair of jean shorts. “You look cute,” I murmur, bringing the conversation back to her, and she smiles at me.
“Thanks. You’re going to look cute in a minute, too,” she states, and my eyebrows pinch in confusion.
“And why’s that?” I ask, already not wanting the answer, and she rises from her bed with a wide grin spread across her face.
“Because it’s not me going somewhere, it’susgoing somewhere,” she explains, and my eyes widen in surprise.
“We are?” I gulp with uncertainty as she plants a hand on her hip and gives me a pointed look.
“It’s Friday.”
“It is?” I gawk, trying to take a mental tally of the days that I’ve been here, but she doesn’t give me the chance.
“The weekend is upon us, Elodie, and I think after the week we’ve had, we should let our hair down.” She’s talking slowly, as if I need time to let the words settle in, but after today, I’m even more intrigued than usual.
If I were back home right now, Walker would be picking me up around nine, and we would find ourselves all caught up in one house party after another. None of them would have the energy I would be searching for, every guy too sleazy and every girl too bitchy. Regardless, I would go to spend time with my friend, my lifeline, but here, when it’s just me and Ocean, it feels different.
“What does that look like here?”
“The Hut,” she explains, tossing her blonde, wavy hair over her shoulder.
“The Hut?” I repeat, and she nods.
“It’s in The Vale. The hot place to be when the sun goes down,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at me, and I gulp.
“Among supernaturals, I’m not sure that’s a place I want to be,” I murmur, and she scoffs.
“You’re forgetting you are supernatural too.”
That’s true, a fact I’m still not ready to come to terms with, but even more than that, I feel weak in comparison to everyone else. My magic is unpredictable; there’s no stability that offers me a hint of confidence around the others.
Maybe it’s not a good idea.
“I don’t have anything to wear,” I admit, tossing the first excuse at her, but her smile grows wider. Spinning to face herbed, she grabs a small pile of clothes from the end before turning back to me and tossing them in my direction.
“Next,” she sings, pleased with herself as I gape down at the clothes in my lap.
“Ocean, these have tags on them. I don’t have any money. I can’t afford this,” I rush, and she waves me off.
“Consider them a gift,” she insists, reaching for something else at the foot of her bed, only to appear with a pair of strappy sandals.
“Ocean, I can’t, I?—”
“Give me one good reason,” she interjects, and I gulp.
“Where I’m from, gifts are neverjustgifts. They always come with a cost. Always.” I feel like I’m choking on my words, but I don’t miss the hint of sadness that creeps into her gaze.
She rushes to my side, taking the seat beside me on my bed. “Okay, how about you let me treat us tonight, and you agree to stay and be my friend, just for the next week. After that, you can carry on trying to run. I just… I like having you here,” she admits, and my chest tightens, and for the first time in my life, it’s not with panic, fear, or distress. No. It’s something much gentler than that.
I suck in a breath and let my heart take over as I offer her my hand. “Deal.”
“Here’s a cup of peer pressure,”Ocean sings, placing a shot glass filled with a clear liquid in my hand.
“I feel peer pressured enough,” I grumble over the music, and she cackles, shimmying away without a care as I glance down at my outfit.
