“Tell me.”

“It was mostly little stuff. Your human friends are safe, but not your family. He’s allowed to see you whenever he wants. You get Sundays off.”

I get Sunday’s off. I mouthed.

Jude smirked. “I think he was just reaching to put in as much as he could. It really got kind of ridiculous.”

“And Aliah gave him everything he wanted?”

“No, but then Aliah didn’t get everything he wanted either. And it had to happen really fast because, you know…. your life was hanging in the balance.” Jude finished his cigarette and stomped it out under his toe. Then he popped in a mint Mento. He held the pack out to me, but I declined.

“The protection until I’m eighteen thing, Aliah or Seth’s idea?” I asked carefully.

“Aliah’s. That was the whole incentive.”

“More than just my life?”

“More than your life. But it’s not exactly fool proof.”

“What does that mean?” My hand subconsciously went to my throat.

“You’re protected from Aliah and all of his Fallen. But at the time the contract was signed…. Seth wasn’t technically considered…”

“Fallen,” I finished. “So the only person allowed to kill me right now is Seth.”

At one point in my life that would have seemed absurd. Now…. it was actually a possibility.

“Exactly.”

“So why does Aliah want me to stay away from him then? It seems in his best interest to let us spend as much time together as we want until I end up headless and Seth becomes unredeemable.”

“Yeah, I don’t get that either.” I shot him a disbelieving look and a smirk tilted his lips. “Hey, listen, I’m just a lowly foot soldier. I don’t get to hear the big plans.”

“I find that hard to believe,” I groaned. I hopped down from my truck and adjusted my green cotton gypsy skirt. It fell in billowy folds to my feet. It was way more bohemian than I was used to, but in case of emergency it had a hidden slit and I could easily hide my dagger underneath. I paired it with a tight gray Mead Raiders t-shirt and felt more like Piper than myself. But desperate times and all.

“I know,” he sighed. He moved out of my way so I could grab my backpack and close my door. “I look important.”

I snorted. “That is not what I meant. I just thought this job… your third-party job was kind of a big deal.”

“I fit the demographic: age, looks, not overly aggressive, not completely bat shit. All the important stuff. Before this I was mostly forgotten about.” He sounded almost proud of that.

“You? With all your diabolical evil-ness?” I pretended to be shocked. “That’s very hard for me to believe.”

He shoved my shoulder and tried to hide a smile. We started walking toward the school in what could be considered a comfortable silence.

Right before we reached the office where we would have to face the wrath of the secretaries and try to explain away our extreme tardiness he said, “Just give Aliah what he wants, Stella. He gets to win because you can never compete with his inhumanity. He’s not bluffing. He will ruin Seth.”

I didn’t respond because I didn’t know how. Because I believed Jude. But I also knew, without a shadow of a doubt that I couldn’t leave Seth alone. I was fighting with my life to protect this boy that I loved, this boy I wanted to come back to me. And if Aliah was demanding I stay away from him then I was doing something right.

Finally.

Chapter Seventeen

“Where were you this morning?” Piper asked at lunch. “You were really late.”

“She was with me,” Jude declared with an arrogant and suggestive raise of his eyebrows.

“I wasn’t,” I quickly denied.

“You weren’t with me this morning?” Jude drew out his words slowly and I felt myself burn with embarrassment.

I swallowed and took a few calming breaths, trying to get the glow under control. “We were in the same place at the same time, but in no way were we together.”

“Dude,” Rigley laughed with respect. “Way to go.”

“I just said we weren’t together,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but when a girl works that hard to point out the specifics of what happened, she’s obviously in denial.” Rigley was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

“I’m sure you know all about girls that are in denial after being with you,” I pointed out acidly. “But, for real, nothing happened between Jude and me.”

“You forgot about the sword.”

Even Lincoln joined in the male snickering. Thank God Tristan wasn’t here yet.

“The sword?” Piper asked slowly.

“If I say it was Stella’s sword and not mine would that make things confusing?” Jude asked innocently.

“Yes,” Piper agreed over the boys now howling with laughter.

“Dude, that sounds kinky,” Rigley giggled- yes… giggled. “I had no idea Stella was so freaky.”

“You, my friend, have no idea,” Jude grinned.

I dropped my face into my hands and willed the world to just disappear around me.

“I’m going out for a smoke,” Jude declared to the table. And then in my ear he whispered, “Want to join me? I know you secretly like the smell.” His voice was both teasing and goading and my fingers itched for the sword in question.

“Go away,” I groaned.

“Suit yourself,” he sat back and I felt him swing his legs over the bench.

“Also,” I turned my face in my hands and met his gray eyes. “I’m going to kill you later.”

“You’re adorable.” He winked at me.

Bastard.

“No, seriously,” I insisted quietly. “I’m going to fillet you. And then I’m going to strangle you until your head pops right off. Just wait.”

“Mouthy,” he whispered with a shit-eating grin on his face. “I like it.”

And then he was gone. He zipped out of the cafeteria, pulling his cigarettes from his back pocket before my head could completely spin around from pure rage. That boy was going to make my head explode one day.

I turned back to my lunch and felt Piper’s eyes on me.

“What?” I asked innocently.

“What is going on with you two? You were with him this morning? You were late to class? He flirts with you like he knows you. Stella, what the hell?”

“That stuff wasn’t true,” I defended myself. And then louder to the table I said, “Jude was just joking. None of that was true.”

“What wasn’t true?” Tristan asked as he slid onto the bench across from me. His eyes were curiously quirked and he was looking at Piper for an answer instead of me.

What was that?

“Jude is the reason Stella was late this morning,” Piper explained quickly. Her eyebrows raised in a “Now what?” expression and I couldn’t believe she just sold me out like that!

“Jude is the reason you were late this morning?” Tristan asked slowly, understanding what that meant at an entirely different level than Piper. At least I wasn’t going to have to be defending myself to him.

Tristan sounded outrageously pissed off. He pinned me in place with a blazing glare and I felt paralyzed. Rigley and Lincoln all of a sudden found their lunches super interactive, and Piper sat gloating next to me with her arms crossed. Bree was noticeably absent for lunch today, which was fine with me. She would have found this way too entertaining for her own good.

Or my own good.

“It’s not what you think,” I offered lamely.

And like a furious older brother or father, he raised one eyebrow and said, “Oh really? What am I thinking?”

Shoot.

“I just meant, nothing happened.” What? That was a terrible thing to say because it implied that something could happen. And that was just gross.

“Well, that’s good news,” Tristan glowered.

“Ok, stop.” It was time to lay it out for them. “There is nothing between Jude and me. Nor will there ever be anything between us. So please stop listening to his craziness and trust me, your friend.”

“So defensive,” Piper grumbled, but Tristan looked satisfied.

I rolled my eyes but decided to smooth things over with her. “Piper, are you and Lincoln still getting the limo for prom?”

Lincoln tuned back in and nodded. I caught Tristan’s eye and gave him a questioning look. He took over, “Want to split it?”

“With you?” Piper drawled. “Uh, no.”

“With me and Stella.”

“What?” she gasped and then punched me in the arm and her bangles set off jangling down her forearm. Ok, maybe this wasn’t exactly smoothing things over. “You’re going to prom with Tristan?”

I shrugged. “Yes?” I didn’t know what I had done to piss her off now, but apparently she was not a woman easily pleased today.

Her head snapped back and forth between Tristan and me like she was watching an invisible tennis match. She pointed a painted black fingernail at him and scowled. “You had sixteen years to make your move, Tristan Shields. And you did nothing. Then as soon as a decent boy walks into her life, you decide to go all caveman and claim her? That is not cool.”

My mouth dropped open- all the way open. Tristan cocked his head back like he had been slapped or punched or worse. And Rigley and Lincoln did the whole look-anywhere-but-at-us thing again.

When nobody challenged her, she continued. “And prom? Could you get more cliché? Ugh! I am so sick of the boys in this cow town. Grow up. All of you!”

And with that she swung her legs around and stomped out of the cafeteria in her low-heeled, red wedges, and shimmery black leggings. She looked like a pin-up model today- like a scary, raging, murderous, pin-up. Oh boy.

“Chase, what is going on with your woman?” Tristan gaped at Lincoln.

“Don’t look at me!” He was blushing, the tips of his cheekbones tinged pink and his white blonde hair flopped forward in his eyes. “That was all you! But now I’m going to have to deal with the fallout. Thanks a lot, asshole. And she’s right.”

“What?” Tristan swiveled around to face Lincoln. He didn’t usually use that many words in a row; it might have been some kind of record.

“He’s right, man,” Rigley cut in helpfully. “I think you broke her.”

“What did I do?” Tristan asked in a high, disbelieving voice.

“Hell if I know,” Rigley muttered sympathetically. “But she’s right. If you would have asked Stella

out the first time you noticed she had boobs, you would have saved us a hell of a lot of drama around here.”

I expected Tristan to blow up and rival Piper’s fury, but he just shrugged. “That is probably the first smart thing I’ve heard all day.”

That was it for me. “I can’t take this anymore. You guys are all idiots. All of you. Possibly the entire species of males everywhere are all idiots. I’m out of here. I’ll catch you losers later.”