Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #25)(59)

I ignored him.

“Ollie.”

I ignored him.

“I’m so sorry. I feel really awful about last night.”

Not awful enough to call me, or pull me aside and explain, or to not do it in the first place.

“Can we talk about this later?”

I ignored him.

When the bell rang, I continued to ignore him, and managed to storm off to my next class without Will being able to do much in the way of begging. Made partly more effective by the fact that Will couldn’t say a word where anyone else could hear, and school halls weren’t conducive to privacy. At lunchtime, I was strategic, and used this to my advantage by going to the cafeteria instead of the music room so he couldn’t get me alone.

I’d expected the basketball guys to sit with us, especially after Niamh and Darnell’s consummation of sorts last night, but the roses had our table to ourselves today.

“It’s because Darnell and I had a … talk last night,” Niamh said once all three of us had sat down. “I told him I’m moving to New York next year.”

“And?” Lara asked.

“And, I think he had this picture of us staying here and raising a little family one day or something. He said he’s never wanted to live in a big city. So, honestly, I don’t know where we stand. I know he doesn’t want to come with me next year, but we haven’t really decided to call it quits, either. We’re in limbo.”

“Betwixt and between,” I said. “That’s the worst.”

“Is that a poem?” Niamh asked.

“Darnell is an idiot,” Lara said, pointing a french fry menacingly at Niamh. “Besides, the problem isn’t the city. If he got a job offer there I bet you he’d move in a heartbeat. He’s just intimidated by the thought of following around a strong woman while she chases her career instead of the other way around.”

“Preach!” said Niamh, raising her Diet Coke in a toast.

“I think the dance might have been cursed,” I said. Niamh nodded earnestly.

Lara gave us withering glances. “Um, the opposite, you mean? The dance cleansed us of the toxic baggage we were dragging around with us. Now we’re all available, unattached, and no longer bogged down by immature parasites leeching love from us and not giving back anything more substantial than a lackluster quickie in a storage closet.”

“You and Renee had a quickie in a storage closet?” I asked.

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“I don’t think it is.”

“Well, all the established figures of speech are so overdone.”

“Yeah, that’s what makes them figures of speech. If they’re not overdone, they’re just something someone said one time.”

“Ollie,” Lara said sweetly, “you can be really irritating sometimes. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Other than myself? Nope.”

The bad news was that the rose-gold dagger necklace I had around my neck wasn’t enough to ward off a Lara attack. The good news was that this was probably the most I’d ever spoken at the lunch table. I felt more comfortable than usual, too.

Maybe the night before hadn’t been a total write-off, then.



Will messaged me to meet him in the parking lot again, but I had no intention of doing that. I made a beeline for my car as soon as I left the building.

Footsteps smacked on the ground behind me as I put my hand on the car door. “Ollie, wait, please.”

He just could not let this go, could he? Honestly, I’d thought I’d get out of here without having to deal with him, given how crowded the parking lot was right now. With students spilling out left, right, and center, I’d have put all sorts of bets down that Will wouldn’t risk chasing me down.

But here he was, chasing me down.

“At least talk to me,” Will said. “Let me explain.”

“You don’t need to,” I said. “Lara told me. The guys found the photo of me on your phone.”

“Right.”

“Right,” I said. “So unless there’s something really, really convincing that I don’t know, there’s nothing else to explain.”

Will looked befuddled. “But then you have to know it wasn’t personal, right? I had to throw them off.”

“You didn’t have to do anything.”

Will looked around to see if anyone was close enough to overhear. “Can we get in the car?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes and jumped into the driver’s seat, slamming the door. Will followed after me on the passenger side, with less slamming. “Ollie, if I didn’t, they would’ve been suspicious about us,” he said once he’d closed his door. “Matt would never let me live it down, he’d be after me every time I ever hung with you, like at lunch, or outside school, or—”

“And so what? Let him think what he wants. It’s not like he has proof.”

“You don’t get it.”

“Oh, don’t I?” I asked. “Do I not have any idea what it’s like to be gay?”

“You,” he said over me, “came out in fucking California. I’m not saying it wasn’t hard for you, but you have no idea what it’s like to grow up here. I knew, like, ten gay jokes before I even knew what being gay was. My friends would never be able to accept it, okay? Do you think Matt will suddenly go out and buy an Ally T-shirt?”