Broken Trust: A Dark High School Romance(66)

I was coming to see that Beck was more than just the guy who kept my nightmares away. He was also the one who was slowly healing me, piece by piece.

I’d never be over my parents’ deaths, but maybe one day I would be able to function okay in this world without them.

Hopefully.





Beck was gone when I woke up, but the bed was still warm beside me so he could have only just left. Sure enough, when I wandered out to my kitchen, I found a fresh, hot mug of coffee waiting along with a note that simply said “Happy birthday, Butterfly. Stay out of trouble - S” which seemed innocent enough but set my belly fluttering.

Stupid hormones.

A polite knock at the door clued me in to who my shadow was for the day, and I happily welcomed Dylan inside.

“I’ll just be five minutes, cool?” I called out as I hurried back to my bedroom to finish getting dressed. It was Friday and tonight I was going to party with Eddy and Dante, so I was eager to get through the day.

When I re-emerged, fully dressed in my Ducis uniform, Dylan gave me a sheepish look and presented a gift box from behind his back.

“You didn’t think I forgot, did you?” he teased when I just stood there gaping with my mouth open.

“Uh ... actually I didn’t think you knew at all,” I admitted. I should have known after Beck mentioned it last night, but for some reason, I thought it was only him that knew.

Dylan gave me a small frown. “You told us your birth date on pretty much the first day we met. But even if you hadn’t, one of us would have looked it up.”

My jaw dropped a little at the idea that he’d remembered such a small detail from when they were all hating on me. “Well, you still didn’t have to get me anything,” I murmured, accepting the box nonetheless.

It was all white, tied with an expensive looking satin bow and when I opened it up, I needed to dig through layer upon layer of tissue paper to reach the gift inside. When I finally got to it, I pulled it out and inspected it—speechless.

“It’s...” I trailed off, turning the clutch bag around to look at it from all sides. It was small, the sort of thing I’d use if I was going on a date, but instead of a normal clasp at the top, there were four loops with huge precious stones on top of each. So if I were to carry it, it’d look like I was wearing rings on all four of those fingers. “It’s stunning, and way, way too expensive.”

I knew designer and high quality when I saw it these days.

Dylan smiled. “It’s not just a vanity item,” he informed me. “Look.” He slid the fingers of my right hand into the loops and positioned the clutch bag in my palm. “Now, what would you do if someone attacked you?”

“Huh?” I frowned up at him and he just waited patiently for me to click on. “Oh, my god. You bought me a knuckle duster purse?” I burst out laughing and simulated a punch to his face with the bejeweled bag. “Dylan, this is seriously the most amazing present.”

He nodded, satisfied. “Not to mention functional.”

Not wanting to let go of my awesome new bag, I gave him a quick one armed hug and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Dylan. You’re the best.”

“Careful, Riles,” he teased, but there was an edge of tension in his face. “I really don’t need another lecture from Beck about getting too friendly with you.”

I gasped, mortified. “He didn’t. Did he?”

Dylan grimaced, and shrugged. “Come on, let’s get to school. Jasper filled me in on your new determination to pass classes legitimately, so we should stop skipping.”

“Fair point,” I agreed. I tucked my awesome present back in the tissue paper and left it on the counter top to fetch my school bag. “Let’s roll.”

“Hopefully we can make it through your whole birthday without anyone dying,” Dylan muttered as he followed me out of my apartment. It seemed like sort of an odd thing to say, but then again ... this was Delta.





27





During study period, Dylan joined me in a quiet corner of the library and peered over my shoulder at my open laptop screen.

“Ah, I remember that assignment,” he commented, coming around the table and taking the seat opposite me. “Can’t believe Mr. Matherson hasn’t changed his course material.”

I smiled. “Well then, would you care to read over what I have so far?” I turned my laptop around and pushed it toward him. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

“Why? Where are you going?” He made as if to get out of his seat and join me, but I waved him off.

“To pee, shadowmaster. I highly doubt Beck would appreciate you holding my hand while I did that.” I snickered at the thought, and Dylan cringed.

“Fair point,” he agreed, relaxing back into his chair. “Be quick though, or I’m coming to check on you.”

Totally straight faced, I nodded. “So, don’t take my time on a huge poop then?”

The look of abject horror on Dylan’s face kept me chuckling all the way out of the library and down the corridor to the nearest restroom. Right up until I pushed open the door and found Katelyn Huntley holding court with her minions.

“Yay, my favorite person,” I muttered with heavy sarcasm when she glared daggers at me. It probably would have been smarter to just turn the fuck around and walk away, but stupid me was all buzzed on how pleasant my birthday had been so far. That, and I was pretty confident Katelyn would never actually get her own hands dirty in trying to tear me down.