Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes #1)(16)
“Well,” I drew the word out a few beats, “you stood up to Justin spectacularly well on Saturday, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” I tried to be encouraging. I don’t do this emotional chit chat thing, that’s Dante’s field.
“I don’t like bullies,” she murmured, her shoulder raised and dropped in a shrug. We reached the crest where the walkway split to go towards the Music and Arts building and the dorms, our steps slowing as I turned to her.
“Me neither, I’ve dealt with enough of them in my life. Don’t worry, princess, we’ll keep you safe,” as I looked into her deep blue eyes I hoped she saw the sincerity in mine. I tucked a loose strand of her silky blonde hair behind her ear, a tinge of pink blossomed on her cheeks as she stared back at me. My stomach flopped suddenly with nerves. Okay, that’s enough of this feeling shit for today.
“Well, this is where we part ways my beautiful date-to-be,” I winked down at her which resulted in her laughing at my expense yet again. Worth it, that laugh is addicting. “Can I get your number? I can’t take you out if I can’t get ahold of you,” I prodded jokingly, not expecting her to actually give it to me.
“I guess, Hudson,” she rolled her eyes, but her lips turned up on the corners to a small smile. “Give me your phone, and I’ll put it in.” I dug out my phone and unlocked it for her. After a few seconds of typing, she handed it back to me. “Here you go, one rule though,” she looked at me authoritatively. “Unless I give you my permission, do not under any circumstances, give this number to anyone or tell them who it is. I know it’s weird, but I have to know you’ll do this for me,” she pleaded.
With my mental shields up, I shouldn’t have been able to sense the panic pulsing through. It was strong enough to cut through my barrier, making my brain feel like it’s being poked by thousands of little needles. Fucking shit, what caused this? Is it tied to her fear?
“Of course, Lucie, I swear I will never give it out or tell anyone it’s yours. As a matter of fact,” bringing up her contact I edited it from Lucie to Princess and showed it to her, earning a smirk in response. I hesitated after that, unsure of how close I could handle being to her, but pushed onwards anyway. “I meant what I said Lucie, we will protect you. If you need to talk to someone or anything, you can come to me. My friends and I would be more than welcome to help any way we can,” I paused as I caught sight of two familiar faces heading straight for us. “Besides, you’ve already gotten the attention of a few of them.” I chuckle at her confused face, but before she could question my statement, I felt an arm going around my shoulder the same time Landon puts an elbow on Lucie’s.
“Hey, lemon drop, I see you’ve met Hudson,” Landon gestures to me. “We’ve known this asshole since we were 3 years old. Ah, good times.” Logan and he both sighed with reminiscent looks on their faces.
“Yeah, if by good you mean explaining to your parents what happened to their immaculate garden when it ended up mysteriously destroyed,” I glared at Landon across from me and slid from under Logan’s arm after patting him on the shoulder, “I’ll let you two escort this lovely lady to class. Don’t let any harm come to her though,” my voice raised as I turned to walk away. I called over my shoulder as I reached the edge of the parking lot, “she needs to be in tip top shape for our date!” I didn’t stick around to see or hear how the twins responded, a smile curled my lips at the thought of taking her out.
Lucienne
That asshole, I fumed to myself, he did that on purpose. I could feel my teeth grinding and my nails biting into my palm when Logan finally pulled out of his stupor. He and Landon had frozen in place after Hudson’s statement and whirled on me simultaneously.
“Did we just hear him correctly? A date?” Logan’s eyebrow raised as he crossed his arms over his chest. I felt Landon lean into me his breath caressing my left ear.
“I’m sure we could show you a much better time than our fae friend. Daemons are well known for their...naughty behavior,” his husky voice resonated within me, causing an involuntary shiver to go down my spine and goosebumps to rise on my skin. Damn sexy fae and naughty daemons, these guys are nothing but trouble. If I don’t get laid soon, I’m going to die. I turned my head slightly, he was so close that our cheeks touched, my lips poised against his ear.
“Let’s see how food goes later, then maybe I’ll let you two show me what you’ve got,” I murmured. I looked to Logan and winked before nipping Landon’s ear, pulling away to see both of their faces. I was rewarded with two matching expressions of slack jaws and wide eyes. The wind ruffled their matching wavy, dark-brown hair as they stood frozen in place. I chuckled and turned to head into the building, leaving them standing in stunned silence.
6
August 27th
Monday Afternoon
Dante
Cam and I walked towards the South Wing dorm building after our Comparative Healing class got out. Thankfully, since it was the first day, all classes were the same; go over the syllabus and expectations of the class, yadda yadda yadda. The quad was buzzing with activity and conversation from the surge of students back for the fall semester. It was a sunny day meaning most of the grassy area was covered in blankets and clusters of friends, students lounging around with friends soaking up the last of the summer sun. I punched in the access code when we reached the dorm building, but we were both accosted from behind right before we could walk through the door.