“Eager beaver,” Serena muttered under her breath as she pulled out her phone. I looked over her shoulder and nearly died when I saw a heart emoji from him.
Little shit was going to be pissing out of his left eye if he touched her in any way she didn’t like.
Then again, what if she did like it?
What if I’d just thrown her toward the one guy that could help her get over everything? Get over us?
My chest got tight.
It didn’t matter.
Because we could never be together.
Right?
“Done.” Serena looked up from her phone and grinned at us. “Meet back here at five, and he says he’s bringing Annie too.”
Ash’s face fell. “She wears cardigans.”
I frowned. “Bro, you’re wearing a uniform. How is that different?”
He glared at me, his teeth clenching. “By. Choice.”
Breaker and I shared a look of amusement as I put my hand on Ash’s shoulder. “Do you need backup? Or are you gonna make it?”
Ash shrugged me away while Claire looked on like she was thinking way too hard. “She’s a nerd, there I said it, I’m not sorry.” He held up his hands.
Claire wrapped an arm around Ash’s waist. “Just because she likes to talk about scientific things doesn’t make her a nerd. She just has interests outside of guns. Shocking, I know.”
Ash pulled Claire to his chest. “Thank God you actually like talking about guns, huh?”
Claire gulped and then nodded as she flashed him a smile. “I do know how to take them apart and put them back together again, thanks to you.”
He winked.
My eyes narrowed as I looked at them both. They seemed perfect, and yet something was off.
Serena jerked her head toward me, and I caught it—she wanted to talk. Well, here goes nothing.
“Gotta run to class, guys.” I waved them off. “Serena, walk with me?”
“Yeah.” We fell into step together.
She waited until we were far enough away from the group to speak. “What the hell was that?”
“I have no clue.” I shook my head. “She’s been off. Everyone sees it, but it’s not just that. It’s this sudden need to be normal; it’s the fact that she looked excited to talk about science and not guns, which—whatever. It’s fine, but Ash doesn’t seem to know—”
“He doesn’t see it.” Serena stopped walking and put her hands on her hips. “He’s too in love with her to see it, damn it.” She did a small circle. “Call Sergio, have him put a tracker on Claire.”
I grabbed Serena’s arm. “Why the hell would we ask him to do that?”
“Because…” Serena gulped and met my gaze. “She’s scared; there’s something wrong. I can tell.”
“How do you know it’s fear?” I asked.
“Fear recognizes fear,” she said softly. “And I see that reflection every damn day in the mirror.” She pushed against my chest and said through clenched teeth, “Put a tracker on her now.”
“Serena—”
“No.” She jabbed a finger at me. “You don’t get to be my friend at school, all right? You can ask me about it when we’re home, but I probably won’t tell you because I refuse to let someone in who only does damage.”
I hung my head. “It’s in my blood; my blood is damaged.”
“No.” She swallowed and looked away. “It’s not your blood that’s damaged.”
“If not my blood, then what?” I snorted out a laugh of disbelief; I wanted to tell her then, tell her how bad my line was, tell her I was lucky I didn’t get killed for even looking in her direction, let alone taking what wasn’t mine to take.
“Your heart,” she finally said.
I stared at her for a minute then whispered, “I guess you would know, wouldn’t you? Since you still have it.”
I walked away before I did do more damage.
And I walked away before I had a chance to pull her into my arms and ruin everything.
Because that’s what a De Lange did. They ruined lives. And I felt my internal clock as if I was a bomb ready to go off.
I would destroy her.
And I knew, destroying her, would annihilate what good was left of me.
So I walked away.
Right then and there, I swore a personal oath that it would take an act of God for me to ever reach for her again.
Chapter Seventeen
Serena
I met Junior about fifteen minutes before we were supposed to be meeting up with everyone to go over to the other campus.
We shared a look as a black Escalade pulled up into the large semi-circle lot in front of the Business Building.
It was more private than pulling up in front of Registration or any of the dorms. None of the bosses could escape without somehow ending up on someone’s Instagram or Snapchat or God forbid—TMZ.
“How much are we telling them?” I murmured under my breath.
“Enough.” Junior crossed his arms and managed to look hot and casual all at once, while my breathing was a bit uneven because for us to ask this wasn’t just dangerous, it put a giant target on Claire’s back. But I had a feeling, and my dad taught me that there was a reason we had gut instincts, and mine said something was very, very off with her.