“Excuse me, Exton freshman?” Aiden said imperiously. “Why are you harassing one of my freshmen? Only I am allowed harass my freshmen, thank you!”
Jesse made a choked sound, clearly seething with outrage that Aiden didn’t know who he was.
But… in the match Aiden had won, he had taunted Seiji with Jesse’s name. Aiden, Seiji thought slowly, knew Jesse’s name.
Aiden gave no sign of this knowledge as he strode forward to the side of the road, in a whirl of bright leaves. He was wearing his fencing uniform, and an air that suggested nobody should question it. He swept the limousine with a withering look as though to suggest such an inferior vehicle would have no place in his home, and swept Jesse with an equally withering glance.
Perhaps Aiden had forgotten Jesse’s name, Seiji thought, lured into belief despite himself.
Aiden’s sharp green eyes focused on Jesse’s hold on Seiji’s wrist.
“Drop,” he commanded.
Jesse’s grip tightened, but Seiji lifted his chin slightly. He thought he understood what Aiden was doing.
“Why do you need a limousine to go to a fencing tournament?” Seiji asked Jesse. “Not everybody can afford to go to fencing tournaments in a limousine. Also, they are environmentally unsound. You should go on a team bus with your teammates.”
Jesse seemed unsure of how to respond. Aiden patted Jesse on the back, and Jesse immediately looked infuriated, which Aiden ignored.
“We’re all stunned by Seiji Katayama, world’s most unexpected class warrior,” Aiden murmured sympathetically, and Jesse relaxed. Then Aiden’s sweet voice twisted like a snake and went fang-sharp as he asked, “Might I inquire: Where were you going, Exton boy?”
“Um,” said Jesse. “What?”
“I mean,” Aiden said silkily, “where was this fencing tournament you were headed to?”
“I… Abroad,” said Jesse.
Aiden sneered. Seiji knew what it looked like when Aiden believed he’d spotted a weakness in your armor. What he didn’t understand was why Aiden thought Jesse forgetting where he was going was a sign of weakness. Seiji supposed it must be slightly embarrassing, but surely the limousine driver knew where Jesse was going.
Had Jesse… not been going to a tournament? Where had he been going instead?
Seiji wouldn’t have thought to look at limousine drivers before meeting Nicholas, but now he squinted through the windscreen to make out the driver behind the wheel. She wore the usual uniform, but her cap was rakishly tilted on her curly hair, and she was chewing gum and appeared to be snickering to herself with huge enjoyment of the proceedings.
Seiji was pleased he’d decided to pay attention to the chauffeur.
“Stop ignoring me, Seiji!” Jesse snarled.
“I wasn’t ignoring you,” Seiji pointed out mildly. “I was just looking at someone else.”
He supposed Jesse wasn’t used to that.
“Who is this?” Jesse asked Seiji, jerking his chin savagely in Aiden’s direction. “Who was the boy with you last time, who you—the one with the flies buzzing around him? Why am I constantly being spoken to like this at this awful school? Do they speak to you like this?”
After some consideration, Seiji nodded.
Jesse seemed even more incensed. “I don’t believe either of these people are even ranked in the top fifty, Seiji!”
“They’re not,” said Seiji.
Jesse leaned his free hand against the door of the limousine as though he felt faint.
“I could be ranked if I really wanted to be,” claimed Aiden. “But while you two were studying the blade, I was busy having a lot of fun. There are things more important than fencing.”
Jesse frowned and turned an appealing gaze upon Seiji. “What’s he talking about?”
“I don’t know,” Seiji murmured back.
Aiden rolled his eyes. “Oh my God, there are three of them.”
“There’s only one of me,” Jesse snapped. “I’m Jesse Coste.”
He tossed his head up high. Seiji had seen other people quail when faced with half the fury currently gleaming in Jesse’s blue eyes or contained in the arrogant lift of his chin.
“Don’t flip your hair at me, freshman,” Aiden sneered back. “I’m Aiden Kane.”
Aiden shook back his own light, bright, curling hair from his face and looked down his nose at Jesse.
“Who?” Jesse asked.
“Ask some of the Exton boys,” Aiden drawled. “I don’t remember their names, but I guarantee you they’ll know mine.”
“Aiden beat me at fencing,” Seiji contributed.
Perhaps Aiden had also beaten some of the fencers at Exton? That must be what he meant.
Aiden should really come to practice more often. He might have more potential than Seiji had previously believed.
“I knew it, I knew horrible things were happening at Kings Row,” Jesse muttered. He stopped tugging persuasively and pulled at Seiji’s wrist hard enough to hurt, so Seiji’s sleeve was disarranged and the dying light caught his watch. “And what ghastly object are you wearing on your wrist?!”
“That’s my favorite watch,” Seiji snapped, and twisted his arm free.
Jesse lunged forward, but Aiden stepped in, standing shoulder to shoulder with Seiji. Jesse paid no attention to Aiden, but Seiji knew he was there.
“What?” Jesse asked blankly. “How can that be? Seiji, I feel like I can’t even recognize you right now. Who even are you?”
“Kings Row’s team will be fencing against Exton’s one of these days,” Seiji answered. “My school against yours.”
He laid claim to Kings Row the same way he’d laid claim to the watch, without thinking. He couldn’t justify doing so, but he didn’t want to take it back.
“What are you saying?” Jesse demanded.
“You don’t know who I am? Find out on the piste,” Seiji suggested, and turned away.
He felt slightly unsteady, probably due to the fact the ground was uneven and riddled with treacherous hidden tree roots, but Aiden threw a careless arm around his shoulders as they walked over the forest floor together. That helped with the unsteadiness.
Aiden urged, “That’s right. Make him chase you.”
Aiden’s voice was encouraging, but his actual words were confusing.
“We’re fencers,” Seiji pointed out. “We’re not running relay races.”
“I truly cannot imagine why your painfully literal milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,” said Aiden, “but work with what you’ve got, I guess.”
“I don’t drink milkshakes,” Seiji told him. “You’re probably thinking of protein shakes. I drink those.”
Aiden appeared reduced to silence by this statement.
They made their way through the trees in silence for a while. Seiji preferred a companionable silence to a difficult conversation, but he felt he should say something. Even though he didn’t know how to express how relieved he’d been when Aiden showed up.
“Aiden? Thanks,” offered Seiji with a small, shy smile. He was embarrassed by the sound of his own voice, sounding almost as young as he actually was. “You were really cool back there.”