"Safety first," I told Zed with a smirk when I caught him watching me. He was probably thinking I was going overkill for school pickup, but I'd rather be over-armed than dead.
He gave me a tight smile, then opened the front door. "Shall we?"
We made our way down to the parking garage together, and my phone buzzed with a message just as we were getting out of the elevator.
I opened it, thinking—stupidly—that it might be from Cass.
Lucas: I tried not to message again. I tried. But you're all I can think about. Yesterday was incredible. You're incredible. Can I see you again?
The message surprised me enough that I stopped dead in my tracks and read it three times. When he'd left my apartment last night and I told him not to text me, I thought he listened. But I should have known better... He knew what he wanted and seemed to have a good read on when to push me.
"What is it?" Zed asked, giving me a wary look from a couple of paces away.
I shook my head. "Nothing." My fingers flew over the keyboard of my phone, sending a quick reply as I started walking again.
Hades: Lose my number, Lucas. I'm your boss.
His reply dinged before I opened my car door.
Lucas: It's only Monday.
I rolled my eyes, fighting a smile.
"You okay, boss?" Zed asked, unlocking Seph's dented-up Camaro. She was a truly crappy driver and had collided with the back of a Jeep on her way home from school last week. Not bad enough to need a tow, but bad enough that she shouldn't be driving it around, hence why I was playing chauffeur. God knew I wasn't letting her drive my cars with her track record.
"All good," I told him with a smirk. It was so tempting to tell him Lucas was begging to see me again, if only to turn the tables on him. He was constantly telling me about his revolving bedroom door; it'd be interesting to see the shoe on the other foot.
But for some reason I held my tongue. I had no intention of ever seeing Lucas again in a less than professional capacity, but I also didn't want to use him. Not like that. He was too genuinely nice.
Zed gave me a suspicious look but nodded and popped Seph's door open. "See you at 7th later?"
"Probably." If I didn't fall asleep first. Usually on a Monday night I spent a couple of hours hanging out with Seph, making sure she was completing all her homework and cooking dinner. Then when she went to bed, I headed into one of the clubs. My average night’s sleep was around four hours, and I'd just gotten used to it.
Zed left the garage ahead of me, giving me a little salute as he drove out in Seph's Camaro. I took a moment to reply to Lucas, though.
Hades: I'm busy tonight.
It was important to me to try and provide some level of normalcy for my sister, so there was no way I'd be ditching her to get some dick. No matter how epic that dick happened to be.
Lucas: Then I quit.
I barked a laugh, shaking my head at his reply. He didn't mean he’d quit trying to see me; he meant he’d quit his job before even starting.
Hades: No, you don't.
He didn't reply quickly this time, so I inserted my phone into the car cradle and drove out of my building. Seph was probably already getting annoyed waiting for me to pick her up.
His response lit up my screen a few minutes later, and I smiled. It was just the broken-heart emoji.
A call from Seph came through when I was only about two minutes away from her school, and I answered it on handsfree.
"I know, I'm late," I said as soon as the call connected. "I'm almost there."
"No, uh, that's okay," my sister said, sounding way too fucking perky.
Instantly my heart raced. "What's going on, Seph? Are you okay?"
She let out a forced laugh that only panicked me further. My foot pressed down on the gas.
"I'm fine, Dare," she replied with another fake laugh. "But, uh, um, I have a favor to ask."
Oh.
My foot eased off the gas again, slowing me back to normal speed.
"Go on..."
"So." Seph lowered her voice like she was trying not to be heard. "Remember that guy I told you about this morning?" She was practically whispering into her phone, so I was going to guess he was somewhere nearby.
I snickered a laugh. "Yeah, I remember. What about him?"
"Well, he's my new project partner in art class and he usually walks home and I kind of sort of told him that my sister would give him a ride and I don't know why I said that and now I can't take it back and—" It was all one long sentence with no gaps for breathing, so I cut her off.
"Seph, fucking breathe. You want me to give this kid a lift home? It's not a big deal." I shook my head, wondering where the fuck she got all her melodrama from. Sure as hell wasn't me.
"I want you not to kill him." She hissed those words at me, and I had to bite my lip not to crack up laughing.
"Seph, I don't kill boys for liking you. I just politely educate them on the consequences should they lay their dirty teenage-boy hands on you. Honestly, you make me sound like a monster." I grinned as I said it, not feeling even the slightest bit guilty for keeping my sister safe. She had her whole life ahead of her for bad romances, but she'd already lost so much of her childhood, thanks to our family.
She made a frustrated, slightly panicked sound down the phone. "I hate you," she muttered without conviction. "If you scare him off, I'm moving to Reykjavik and never speaking to you again."
I snickered. "Sure thing, brat. See you in thirty seconds."
She ended the call, probably frantically trying to think of a reason to rescind her offer to the new boy. But it was too late; I was already turning into the long driveway up to Shadow Prep.
I spotted her in the distance, waiting on the front steps of the administration building with her copper-red hair still in a perfect bun. She was standing on the bottom step, messing with the shoulder straps of her bag and talking to a boy who sat a couple of steps higher.
He sat in the shade of the building, so I couldn't make out what he looked like except that he wore the Shadow Prep uniform and had the hot-guy slouch down pat. Fucking player, I'd put my money on it. No way in hell was I letting him chase my sweet little sister without some severe warnings about what would happen if he hurt her.
I pulled up right in front of the steps, obscuring my own view, and waited patiently for Seph to get in. She took her sweet-ass time, too, popping open the passenger door as she chatted in a high-pitched, panicked voice.
"No, it's totally fine," she was telling him. "It's on our way anyway; you shouldn't have to walk all that way. Besides, we need to talk about our art project, right?"
Her attention shifted to me as she paused with the door open, and her brow drew into a tight frown when she saw my thigh strap full of knives and shoulder holster holding my Desert Eagle in plain view.
"What?" I asked at her horrified expression. "Get in, Seph; I don't have all day."
Her eyes widened, her whole face begging me not to embarrass her as she slid into the front seat. The back door opened, and the tall boy she'd been flirting with climbed into my car.
"Hey, thank you so much; you—" His polite thanks cut off abruptly as our eyes met in the rearview mirror. My lips parted in shock, and he froze. Just froze.