Toxic (Denazen #2)(20)

“We don’t want to be late. Are you sure you’re feeling up to it, Dez?”

Scratch acting normal. This bitch needed to know where she stood. I forced a smile and squared my shoulders. “I’m fine, Jade. Thanks for the concern.”

She went to turn away, but I grabbed her other arm. The one not groping my boyfriend. Reiterating what Kale had told Alex last night, I said, “And just for the record, I can’t touch Kale—for the moment—but I can touch you.”

With a flip of her hair, she swung her overpriced-looking bag over her shoulder. “Green looks good on you, Dez.”

I bit down on my tongue and followed Kale to the front of the lobby. I had one foot out the door when a sharp whistle cut through the air. “Freeze.”

When I turned, Ginger was standing in the middle of the room, striped purple housecoat and matching slippers blaring from the middle of the red-and-gold lobby. She had an armful of papers and a canvas bag that looked ready to topple her to the ground. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

I stepped back inside and let the door close. “Is this…a trick question?”

She scowled and whirled on Rosie. “Did you forget to mention something to them, Rose?”

Rosie, without looking away from her TV screen, shrugged and mumbled something incoherent.

Ginger sighed and readjusted the bag on her shoulder. “With everything we learned at the beginning of the summer, along with some new information, it was agreed that it wouldn’t be safe for you to return to your high school.”

I balked. “Agreed? Who agreed? When was there agreeing?” The room started to spin, and suddenly the Sanctuary felt very small. “’Cause I know no one asked me.”

“Last night you said we were starting school today,” Kale said. The disappointment in his voice was unmistakable. I’d been right. He was worried but still looking forward to it. “You said you’d worked something out.”

“We did.” She smiled and waved for us to follow. “This way.”

Back through the lobby and down the hall, we finally ended up in the small conference room, not that the hotel had many. Two to be exact. And even though the other was larger, because of its location next to the kitchen, it always seemed to smell like bad cheese. No one could figure it out.

Ginger ushered everyone in one by one and motioned for us to take seats around the large oval table. Thumping her bag down, she said, “Welcome to the first day of senior year.”

“This is a joke, right? Some kind of lame-ass underground initiation thing?” This wasn’t happening. I could not be stuck behind these walls twenty-four/seven. “What about my old school? My friends?”

Older, grandmotherly types were pushovers. Nurturing, friendly—sympathetic. They gave you smiles and candy.

Not Ginger.

She slammed a hand down on the table and shot a patented Ginger death-glare my way. “I’m curious, Deznee. How much of your friends do you think you’ll see from one of Cross’s cages?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I didn’t know what to say because she was kind of right, and it pissed me off.

“I’ll be right back.” She turned to the door, then hesitated. “And Deznee, stay put.”

I feigned insult. “As if I’d try to leave.” If I didn’t know better, I’d say the old woman was a mind reader on top of everything else, because I’d planned on grabbing Kale and bailing at the first opportunity.

“It won’t be so bad,” a voice said from the door. “At least the company is good—most of it, anyway.”

Kale was on his feet and around the table before I could blink. “What are you doing here?”

I rushed to get between them and held up my hand. “Don’t.” Turning to the new arrival, I said, “Alex?”

“I’ve decided I want to make something of my future.” He placed a hand over his heart. “To do that, I need a proper education.”

What crap! “Since when? You dropped out two years ago.”

“I’ve seen the error of my ways.”

“Okay, well, congrats,” I snapped. “You know where the high school is, right? Do I need to draw you a map?”

He frowned, taking a dramatic step back across the threshold, and I contemplated slamming the door in his face. “Is that really how you wanna thank me for saving your ass last night?” He was staring at Kale now. “’Cause I can think of more imaginative ways.”

Kale inched closer. “We have something to finish,” he growled. I couldn’t tell if he was talking about what happened at Sumrun or the kiss last night. Either way, when it came to Alex, Kale’s view of right and wrong was seriously screwed.

Alex ignored him, stepped back into the room, and took the seat directly across from mine. Nodding to Jade, he asked, “Who’re you?”

“This is Ginger’s expert,” I sat back down. “Supposedly she’s here to teach Kale control.”

One eyebrow up. The Elvis. Alex leaned back in the chair. “Supposedly, eh? What makes you so qualified?”

Glad he asked because I was wondering myself. Other than making a great target-practice dummy with overdone lashes and nullifying Kale’s ability, I hadn’t seen anything that would make Jade qualified to help.