Crimson Death (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #25)(62)

Juliette and Niamh reemerged. “She was flirting with you,” Niamh confirmed.

“All the way up until the part when you got annoyed that she’s flirting with you while dating a guy she has zero intentions of breaking up with,” Juliette said, a little more loudly than she needed to. Probably so the nearby tables would overhear Lara’s side of the story, I guessed.

But Lara shook her head. “Don’t. I don’t need anyone else to know what happened. I could care less what they think.”

Couldn’t care less, I corrected internally. But I kept it to myself. Now didn’t seem like the time.

“But still,” Juliette pressed. “That was completely out of line. I have half a mind to go over there and read this thread out to her whole table.”

Lara shrugged. “It’s fine. Really. I guess I just thought it might mean something to her,” she finished, the same way someone might say, “I guess I thought it was going to rain today.”

Yeah.

I knew how that felt.





19


Lara sat on the brick wall bordering the school’s entrance with a straight back, her heeled boots crossed at the ankles, and her sky-blue dress spread out beneath the iced coffee she clutched in her lap. Juliette, Niamh, and I stood, drinking our own coffees, flanking her. Today, she was a queen, and we were her guards. We stood together, always. We had the necklaces to prove it.

Like any queen, she drew the crowd’s attention as kids passed us on their way into school. But the too-long looks and hushed whispers weren’t awed. Some were curious, some were almost fearful, and some were judgmental.

We stared each one of them down until they kept moving.

Everyone knew by now, of course. Anyone who hadn’t been there in the cafeteria would’ve found out through the whisper network yesterday afternoon. There would be people throughout the school who’d never met Lara, but who now knew intimate details about her sexuality. Would have it in their minds when and if they did meet her. Would have an opinion on her, and who she was as a person.

I knew how that felt. Shit. Absolutely shit.

I spotted a group of black-and-white moving across the parking lot. Will, Darnell, and Matt. I angled my body toward Lara so I wouldn’t have to pretend to be incredibly interested in the roof when Will walked past in order to avoid awkward eye contact.

“Ask her.”

The whisper came from a group of girls I vaguely recognized from Biology. One of them, a girl who wore her mousy blond hair in a ponytail, had on a T-shirt that said CHOCOLATE IS THE ANSWER, BUT WHAT WAS THE QUESTION? Her friends gave her a shove, and she giggled, then dared to look up at Lara on her throne. “So, we wanted to know if you were lesbian when we all got changed together backstage at the Sophomore Showcase?”

Lara made a point of gradually turning her head to take the girl in. “Oh, good fucking morning, Charlotte,” she said, high-pitched and perky.

Charlotte’s friends shifted in place, but they held their ground. “It’s a fair question,” Charlotte said. “I mean, if you were, it’s pretty bad that you didn’t say anything. We had a right to know who we were changing in front of. Some of us were naked.”

Lara laughed into her drink, causing the coffee to bubble. “God, you’re right. It’s a wonder I was able to restrain myself around you all once you stripped down to your grandma underwear.”

“So, you were?”

“What, you think I went to bed straight then had the world’s most convincing sex dream and woke up craving—”

“Don’t say it.”

“Vagina, clit, beaver—”

“You’re disgusting.”

“The furry furnace,” Lara cried, kicking out in front of her. Charlotte shrieked and leaped backward. “What, are you ashamed to be a girl or something, Char?”

“Charlotte. And no, I don’t think that. But I did think it was interesting that you all start hanging with the new kid, and suddenly you’re gay, too.”

Of course I’d get dragged into this. Of course.

“There’s nothing sudden about it, Charlotte,” Lara said.

“That’s all I wanted to know. In that case—”

“In fact,” Lara said over her, “I was screwing your mother the day you had your first Lifetime channel, straight-ass kiss with Todd Ferguson.”

“I always knew you were a slut, but I didn’t take you for a—”

“I don’t think you want to finish that sentence.” It was Matt, storming through the stream of students, closely followed by Darnell and a nervous-looking Will.

“This is none of your business,” Charlotte said, but her voice had lost some of its thunder.

“Like hell it’s none of my business. You’re standing in front of my school spewing some crap to my friend, when you and I both know your mama would wash your damn mouth out if she heard you saying that kind of shit. So go on if you want to, but I will be recording it, and I will send it straight to my ma, who’ll make sure yours sees it by first period. They work in the same building, remember?”

Several students had slowed down to watch the drama unfold by now. Charlotte looked like she had half a mind to keep going, but her friends had the sense to grab her by the elbow and drag her inside the building. Gradually, the crowd dispersed, and Matt went to stand below Lara.