Page 132 of A Dead Man's B-Side
Slowly, Marigold, who’d stood from her fall, cleared her throat and followed after him with a mumbled, “S-see you guys tomorrow.”
August nodded quickly and stepped behind her in haste, as if one of us would hold him back. “Yeah, me too.”
I didn’t feel bad for the way I’d spoken to the pair of them. Perhaps it was delivered slightly without empathy, but Ajax and August needed the reminder.
The board didn’t care about the depth of their emotions and their capacity to empathize. I’d stated on multiple occasions that I didn’t particularly like August, but I didn’t want to see him dead.
Neither did I want such a fate for Ajax. If you’d asked me back in September what I thought of the two boys, I’d say I would kill them myself if it ensured my continued survival.
Now, well, I’d still kill them but at least I’d feel bad about it, and slightly sentimental about their late memory.
I may have sounded evil, but they hadn’t been the ones threatened in a closed space with Evander Bartholow Kingsley, and they hadn’t been the ones who were still suspecting whether their entire life was engineered for Thaddeus Saltford-Windor’s benefit.
Right now, these were the cards I had, and I was going to play them until new ones appeared.
Rain’s shoulders drooped with the breath she let out. “Well, tomorrow will show us if they’re willing to do it all for the board.”
Wolf’s eyes remained on the dark archway where all three students disappeared before blinking and looking between us. “If you wanted to give them a reality check, you could have gone a bit easy on them.”
I scoffed at him, ever the kind-hearted soul. “Wolf, don’t start.”
He threw his hands up. “Sasha, that was harsh. August is–”
“August will thank me when he isn’t a missing person’s poster hanging in some run-down town’s corner store.”
Wolf tried to speak but couldn’t find any other argument. So, he fell silent.
When she felt none of us were going to speak, Rain interjected, still sitting straightened and cross-legged. “You did good, Alexandr. It was a reminder they needed. Now tell me, where is Paris?”
I stiffened, focusing on righting my uniform. “She’s busy doing something I asked of her.”
She raised a single brow, her arms crossing over her chest. She didn’t believe me. “And what, pray tell, did you ask of her?”
To sleep.
Except, I couldn’t find a well-built lie quick enough for an expert in the art like Rain. Slowly, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Do we need to concern ourselves with Paris as well?”
I shook my head, adamant on my lie. “No. I’m handling it. Paris is close with a girl in the Queen’s Club and I asked her to… inquire.”
She hummed, thankfully distracted by the topic of Callum Queen. “We’ll deal with Callum if he poses an immediate threat. For now…” she let out a sigh and ran a hand through her long hair in frustration, the first of the emotions I’d seen her wear, standing and dusting off her skirt. “Let us pray favor is on our side tomorrow.”
With that, she walked out.
Then, I remembered that Rain Atlas Jett had many things to shoulder at her age. Her family problems aside, she was the student body president, holding up the position with poise that wasn’t as effortless as it looked, while also navigating the Founder’s Society.
I couldn’t imagine her taking a moment to herself.
When she left, Wolf visibly relaxed and turned to me, nudging my shoulder with his fist. “What was that?”
I fixed my hair that had gotten roughed out during the altercation and turned to him, the both of us walking out side by side. “What was what?”
“Never mind.” He sighed and shook his head as if disappointed, and at the look, something in me wanted to explain.
I didn’t.
Or at least, I forced myself not to. I repeated to myself that I didn’t owe Wolf anything.
Maybe, in the dead of night, under the cloak of secrecy, I would open up to him as I continued doing when we stood leaning against my windowsill, sharing a cigarette.
