Page 73 of Hateful
Despite how hurt Heath is, I can hear the bitterness in my own tone as we climb the steps.
“Alex,” Heath gasps, obviously still in pain. We’ve reached the top of the steps. The boy on his other side ducks out from under Heath’s arm, and to my surprise, Heath swings himself around to face me, grabbing my face in his hands. “You saved my life. Brotherhood be damned.”
And with that, he pulls me close and kisses me fiercely on the lips.
And just like that, I know how the last member of The Brotherhood tastes on my tongue.
My stomach flutters and clenches. He hasn’t given me enough time to adjust my grip on him, so one of my arms is still wrapped around him.
I pull him to me, too. Maybe he still doesn’t know I’m a girl, but I can at least enjoy this one moment.
Even if, even now, I know I’d be a fool to think it could last.
Nurse Weber’s hands grab at Heath’s shoulders and she wrenches him away from me. Heath protests and reaches for me, almost clawing at my face to keep me with him. Another professor has brought a gurney, and the nurse wastes no time pushing Heath down onto it.
She shoots a glance towards me, saying, “You must have lost a lot of blood. Alotof blood.”
Heath just keeps shaking his head and reaches towards me again, his eyes struggling to focus as he reaches towards me. “Alex …”
“Alex can’t come with you,” Weber says through tight lips, glancing at me once more. “You need to get to the infirmary as quickly as possible.”
“It was wolves,” I tell Weber quickly, and she nods grimly before pushing Heath away. My cheeks should be burning from the kiss—the verypublickiss—but there are too many other emotions running through me at the moment for that.
I stumble sub-consciously a few steps inside the school until I spot Jasper and Beck standing frozen by the entrance, gaping as a bloody Heath is wheeled past them.
No sooner has he disappeared down the hall than their eyes snap back to me.
I look down at my hands, stained from Heath’s blood. It’s on my clothes, too. I wonder briefly if it’s in my hair. I glance back up and realize that, even apart from Jasper and Beck, there are people here. A lot of people.
Grown people. Adults. People who look like parents to the rich kids who attend this school. And all around us, what looks like the entire school is here, along with our own dean and Headmistress Robin.
What’s … what’s going on?
I don’t remember there being another event planned for today.
I put my hands quickly down by my sides and glance over myself again. I must look a wreck, blood and all. Do they think I attacked Heath? Do they think this is my fault? Well, it sort ofismy fault, isn’t it?
But it seems that this isn’t the only reason everyone seems to be staring at me like some sort of foreign creature.
And I realize it the moment I lift my eyes and meet those of Dean Withers.
I see something there … something dark. Something complicated.
I know what’s coming next, but there’s no energy left in me now that the rush of adrenaline has faded for me to fight it.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the dean says, walking up to me and placing a hand on my shoulder. His expression is strained. The smile stretching across his face looks forced. “Meet our first female student, Alexis Trevellian.”
It really is all over now.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Too many facespeer back at me from the crowd as Dean Withers’ grip tightens on my shoulder.
“Just Alex,” I hiss, at him, but no one pays attention. Confused conversation breaks out all around me, between both students and staff alike. The dean holds up his hands and starts shouting for quiet, but he’s ignored, too.
I scan the crowd, my eyes darting from face to face, looking for someone familiar until I find Rafael and Neville standing together. Rafael’s face is pale, his eyes wide and searching as he surely starts trying to figure out how this is going to affect him too. Beside him, Neville’s mouth is agape as he stares directly at me.
Honestly, at this point it’s his own fault if he’s surprised. Rafael’s dropped enough hints while he’s around that he should have figured it out on his own long before now.
