On top of Isaiah’s pushy words, I detected a very small amount of pleading, like there was caution lingering there. I was curious, but not curious enough to ask. Instead, I nodded and then began walking past him before his arm caught me around the waist, and he pulled me backward. His breath moved over my ear, and my entire body heated with excitement. “If I’m ever not around and something happens, you can trust Cade, Brantley, and Shiner. Okay? Find them if you need something.”
I swallowed past the hot knot in my throat. “Isaiah, I already told you I don’t trust anyone.”
His chuckle hit me in all the right spots. “You trust me, Good Girl. Even if you want to pretend that you don’t.” His arm slowly dropped from my waist, and I almost pulled it back over before I realized that would have been completely insane. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He began walking in the opposite direction, leaving me standing there with my skin warm and my heart moving in triple speed.
My blood didn’t stop rushing until I got to my room and slammed the door shut behind me, not even remembering that Sloane would be on the other side. But that was what Isaiah did to me. Being around him made me see nothing but him. He had some crazy, uncontrollable power over me that shunned everything away except his icy eyes, which sent me into overdrive. It was terrifying.
Sloane gasped as I stepped inside our room, pausing right in the middle of it with her black hair in a messy topknot and huge pink, fuzzy slippers that looked like bunnies below her legs.
“What on earth are on your feet?” I asked, halting as I locked onto the two fuzzy creatures.
“Where have you been?!” She rushed over to me, the bunnies’ heads bobbing back and forth. “Isaiah said he was going to look for you, and I know you had tutoring, but I’ve been worried. The headmaster ripped you away, and I’m not going to lie, you looked spooked.” Sloane placed her hands on my shoulders. She looked over my body quickly, her eyes running over my face and clothes. “I do not trust those Rebels for even a second. I don’t know what Isaiah is playing at, but are you really tutoring him? He isn’t stupid. I’ve seen his SAT scores. Is there something else going on, because I have never in my life seen him kiss a girl's cheek like that. It was innocent and tender, and those are two adjectives that I would never use to describe Isaiah Underwood. When he has his eyes on someone for claiming, he ravishes their face greedily before the lights even go out.” She glanced away, like she was reminiscing about something. “Not that anyone complains. It’s just…he doesn’t do the whole sweet thing.”
“Um,” I started, glancing at her big, round eyes. “Yeah, we are just tutoring.” I knew I couldn’t tell Sloane about our secret conversations in the bleakness of night, tucked away in dark closets or dusty classrooms. Especially because those conversations seemed to circle my past and hidden secrets.
Sloane dragged me over to my bed and pushed me to sit. “Then why did he kiss your cheek?” She then ran the four feet to her bed and hopped up on top, scooting all the way to the wall. “This is so unlike him. Usually, he’s a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am type of guy. Not the type that would randomly kiss someone’s cheek and bat those eyes, tutor or not.” She thought for a moment, looking distrusting. “What is he playing at?”
Unlacing my shoes, I asked, “What does that mean? Wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am?”
Sloane placed her hand to her lips, muffling her next sentence. “You are more innocent than I thought.” Her hand dropped. “I have so much to teach you.”
Just as Sloane was about to continue on with her rambling, there was a faint knock on the door. Both of our heads swung in that direction. Sloane mused, “Expecting someone?”
I shook my head, the teeniest amount of anxiety creeping over my shoulder. Would I ever not be afraid that he was coming for me? “Who would I be expecting?”
Sloane slowly climbed off her bed and walked over to the door. A weird sense of urgency flew through me and seemed to push me off my bed. What if it wasn’t Richard, but it was Bain? Isaiah’s words echoed through my head, remembering that he was silently begging for me to stay in my room for the rest of my night. He’d said that duty called, which ended our “tutoring session” much quicker than I had anticipated. Did Bain know Isaiah had gone somewhere and he was coming to mess with me?
“Wait,” I called out as I followed Sloane. “Let me get it.”
Sloane’s face dropped, her pink lip jutting out, but she didn’t protest. Instead, she stepped out of the way, the fuzzy bunnies flopping on her feet. My heart thudded against my ribcage as I slowly opened the door and peeked down the hall. It was hard to see with the flicking sconces, but a familiar, broad-shouldered lean body was walking down the hallway slowly, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
Isaiah?
Sloane bent down and grabbed something before pulling me back and quietly shutting the door, hardly making the chain on the front rattle at all. A note was crumpled in her hand along with a familiar bag of chips. “I think this is for you.” She smiled as she handed the note to me.
With a less-than-stable hand, I opened the piece of paper that had my name written on the top in huge lettering.
Don’t think I forgot about you not eating, Good Girl. Eat your chips. I need my tutor well-fed.
A surge of something warm rolled through me, like the sun finally gracing the skies again after weeks of thunderous storms. I fought to keep my heart relaxed and smile at bay, but I failed miserably at both—something Sloane most definitely managed to point out.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Isaiah
I eyed Cade’s sleeping form on his bed through the darkness of our room, stepped over the PlayStation controller that had fa
llen from his hand sometime in the night, and headed for the door. I snagged my tie off the back of my chair, whipped it on over my damp hair, and exited my room as quietly as possible.
I’d never cared in the past if I had woken Cade up—or the rest of the hall, for that matter—but it was way before the moon disappeared and gave way to the sun, and also, I didn’t want anyone to know what I was up to.
My Vans shuffled along the red-carpeted floor as I pulled out my phone and reread the texts between me and my little brother. He was fine but had mentioned spending a lot of his time with Mary, our lifelong nanny who could take someone down with a frying pan if need be. She was a stocky woman with olive-colored skin and eyes like the sea. Her crazy, curly hair had begun to gray the last time I saw her, and wrinkles now lined her round cheeks, but she was still the same woman who had stepped in after Mom’s accident, and she’d been there for me and Jack ever since.
I trusted Jack with our nanny, but I didn’t trust him with our parents. Such a healthy, happy family we had.
Once I stepped onto the landing, I eyed the girls’ hallway briefly before Gemma’s face had flashed behind my eyes. Not that it was the first time I’d thought of her this morning. I thought of her from the moment my alarm sounded, drifting me out of my sleepy fog. I’d wondered briefly if I had dreamt of her too, because her vivid jade eyes and pouty mouth were the first two things in my head this morning.