Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird #12)(32)

“We pushed up the deadline,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “You’ll hear why in a bit, when the others get here.”

Kota tilted his head, and then reached out, brushing fingertips across the hidden heart on the patch. “Is it too warm?” he asked. “Mine gets pretty hot during the day.”

“It’s okay right now,” I said, enjoying his sweet-natured concerned for my comfort.

“If you get uncomfortable, there are spare clothes in our cars. Borrow whatever you need.”

Before I could answer, the music room door opened.

The other guys appeared, starting with Victor, who wore the uniform sans tie, but with just his Armani shirt instead of the traditional one. His wavy hair had a bit of curl as it had gotten longer around the ears.

He approached, admiring the uniform I wore and beamed. “Morning,” he said brightly.

“Good morning.”

He reached out to the front collar of my jacket, feeling the material. “How is yours nicer? I want one like yours.”

North and Silas entered the room. North wore a black sweater over his tie and shirt. He still hadn’t shaved and appeared older than the others by a couple of years now.

Silas moved beside him, but his big brown eyes were shadowed. His lips stretched into a yawn as he walked. His wide shoulders and broad chest were stuffed into the jacket, and he wore his tie loose around his neck.

Silas put a hand on my back, saying good morning. He looked down at the uniform then made a half grin. “I don’t want to make a school girls are hot comment. Usually I find it creepy. What am I supposed to say if I actually like the girl?”

North grunted at Silas. “Just think if Rocky says it.”

Silas frowned. “I don’t want to think about that. Sang, don’t change your clothes just because Rocky might say something. Punch him if he does.”

North snorted, stopped, turned, sniffed the air. He leaned over me, smelling. “What did you put in that bath last night?”

I shrugged. “Multiple bath bombs.”

He nodded. “That scent lasts a while. Better than soap.”

“You like it?”

“You smell like I should tell Luke to stay away. He’d bite off a finger.”

Silas leaned in, sniffing hard near my shoulder. “Sugar? Strawberry?” He backed up. “How did you know from so far away? Your nose is as good as your hearing now?”

“She’s not the only one who can smell things,” North said, walking further into the room to talk to Mr. Blackbourne.

Gabriel came in behind them. He wore the shirt with his tie and didn’t carry a jacket at all. Luke was behind him, just the shirt, unbuttoned at the top two buttons and untucked.

Gabriel went right over to me, inspecting the outfit. He cocked a brow. “Hm. I don’t think I like the jacket on you.”

Luke leaned into Gabriel, his hand to his chin like he was judging me. “Hmmm...I’d wear it.”

“You don’t wear your own,” Gabriel said.

“It’s stiff. Hers looks softer.”

Gabriel groaned. He waved a finger in my direction. “This is only for school, okay? Bad enough we’ve got to wear something like this.”

“She looks okay,” Luke said.

“She looks fabulous. The outfit isn’t worth the bother.”

It felt like it had been a while since I was with so many of them in the same room without someone like Erica or Jessica nearby. I realized then how being around anyone else besides them made communication feel stifled. We couldn’t talk about anything, the relationship, Academy work, personal family issues... Even their goofy banter seemed cut off when others were around.

Maybe we needed our own place more than I realized. We needed somewhere secure they could all be free to communicate openly.

“We’re only missing Dr. Green?” Mr. Blackbourne asked as he inspected the others. He motioned to Luke to tuck his shirt in. Luke did, but he left the buttons undone.

“On his way,” Kota said. “A little slow this morning after a late night at the hospital, and his mother this morning...”

Mr. Blackbourne delicately touched the corner of his glasses. “We’ll have to work without him and he’ll need to catch up. He’ll probably have to hurry to teach his classes anyway. I think he’s a volunteer sub for a couple of classes today.”

“I didn’t know he did that,” I said.

“It gets him involved with more staff and teachers.”

Victor immediately set up a laptop on the piano and opened it. Mr. Blackbourne opened his messenger bag and took out a device, some sort of thing that looked like an external hard drive. He hooked it up to Victor’s laptop. Victor took over after, typing and clicking around. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but after a few moments, Victor signaled to the rest of us. “Should be safe.”

We all took a seat in the chairs Mr. Blackbourne had set out. I sat next to Nathan with Silas on my other side. The others made a semi-circle around us.

“We’ve several projects ahead of us,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “But before that, are we all feeling rested after our time off?”

I nodded, and the others murmured mostly agreement. There had been stressful times between Christmas break, the Academy camp at New Year’s, and then following the fiasco with Carol and my father and my escape from that.