I scrambled out of his embrace and righted myself. “Um, Jace, this is Blake. Blake, Jace.”
“So very nice to meet you, Blake.” Jace licked his lips. “Any friend of Angel’s is a friend of mine. Though she neglected to tell me she’d made a new friend. Why is that, Angel?” He cocked his head.
“Back off, Jace.” I shot him a warning glare.
“Meow.” Jace wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. “Don’t go there, honey.” His tone dismissed my bitterness, and just like that, he was forgiven. I knew he was only trying to assess the situation. I could hear the wheels turning as he tried to figure out if he needed to save me or let me be, though an outsider would have never been able to tell.
Blake extended a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Jace. I’m suddenly very jealous of you.”
“Join the club there, gorgeous.” Jace shook Blake’s hand, still keeping his protective hold on me with the other. He turned to me. “I have to get to this killer fucking calculus class, thanks to you showing off during my placement test. You good, sugar?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.” Am I okay? “Go ahead. Come see me later.”
He studied me one more second and, when my eyes didn’t give anything away, he kissed my cheek. “Love.”
“Love.”
“Come on, bitches.” Jace snapped his fingers, summoning the two open-mouthed, wordless zombies to follow him. They adhered to his command, but their jaws hung slack as they stumbled over each other, staring at Blake.
He didn’t seem to notice. “Did I just witness telepathy?” Blake watched Jace walk away. The puzzled look on his face was adorable.
“At its finest. Don’t sneak up on a girl like that. I could’ve broken my neck.” I lightly shoved him.
“No, you couldn’t have. I’d never let you fall.” He was serious again, intently looking into my eyes to be sure I knew he meant it.
Oh, I’m falling all right.
He inched forward, and I backed away. “Where the hell did you come from anyway?” I looked around.
“Cinema.” He shoved his hands deep into his restraints again.
“Liar, I was just in cinema.”
“And so was I. I never lie.” He cocked his eyebrow with a smirk.
“Oh yeah? Where? I didn’t see you.” Don’t throw your dimple at me, liar.
“Ah, but I saw you. You’re cute when you’re not trying to hide yourself. I just sat back and enjoyed the show. And I don’t mean American History X. I have VIP seats, remember?” He was there. How’d I miss him? Kind of hard to overlook a giant hot guy.
He was inching closer again. Quicker than I could react, his hand was out of his pocket and grabbing mine. “Come on. You’re coming with me.”
“Where?” He walked at such a brisk pace, my shorter legs were scrambling to keep up with his longer strides.
“You’ll see.” He wore such a boyish grin, I couldn’t deny him.
After a few minutes, he relaxed and we began walking at a more leisurely pace. “So what was that little stunt you pulled yesterday after class? You’re not going to make a habit of that are you because you’re only allowed three bug-outs and that was number one.” He smirked. “I’m purposely wearing my running shoes today, so I should warn you, you’ll have a challenge on your hands. What do I have to do to get you to stay put, anyway?”
I ducked my head and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Sorry about that. I don’t do strangers well or, um, guys in general and you’re just . . . Well, you’re . . .”
“Magnificent? Charming? Exceptional?” There was that dimple again.
“Yeah, sure, all of those.” I laughed.
He shrugged. “I don’t know what the big deal is. We’re already BFFs, so I’m not a stranger. And you’re the most magnificent creature walking this earth, so I know my charms can’t intimidate you.”
Number one—BFF?
And number two—he just nonchalantly slipped in one of the nicest compliments anyone’s ever given me and seemed to have genuinely meant it, not like he was just trying to get into my pants.
I smiled up at him and raised my eyebrows. “BFF?”
“That’s what you focus on, silly girl?” He shook his head, laughing. “Yes, BFF.”
“Tsk, Tsk. So sure of yourself.”
“I’m not sure of anything when it comes to you, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.”
We were far from school grounds, and it hit me that I’d just allowed a complete stranger to pull me off to God knows where. Maybe I was a little nervous, but not for the reasons I thought I would be. Or thought I should be.
“So now that you’ve kidnapped me, where, might I ask, are we going?”
“If I tell ya, I’d have to kill ya,” he said, straight-faced.
I stopped walking and pulled back on his hand.
Blake rolled his eyes. “Joke, Angel. Lighten up. The last thing I’d ever do is hurt you. Trust me.” He tugged my arm, moving me forward once again.