by J Bree
It was much easier to hate him when I thought he was just a pissed off, jealous asshole Bond without a story of his own.
When I finish up with my plate and grab my bag to head off to our first class, Gabe follows me, the easy grin back on his face as he greets guys around us with his usual carefree energy. I stop myself from brooding on how much I hate this place for a second and just watch everything around us both instead. The football guys all love him, the girls they’re with all stare at him with heart eyes, and even the professors all greet him warmly.
None of them look twice at me anymore.
Sage meets us both at the doors of the Econ class, her eyes flicking between us, but she doesn’t comment. When Gabe sits next to me instead of his usual three chairs away, she raises her eyebrows at me but doesn’t say a word.
There’s a reason she’s my best friend.
I wait until the class starts and everyone is intently focussed on taking notes before I lean into him and whisper, “I don’t want to bond but I’ll stop going for your throat if you do the same.”
It’s the only olive branch I can give him right now, and it might be a bad idea to even go that far.
He huffs out a breath and doesn’t answer me until the class is over, hovering over Sage and I as we pack our papers and books away.
“That’s called being friends, Oli, and I’ll give it a shot if you will too. We can figure out the bond shit later.”
I scoff at him and sling my bag over my shoulder. “If this is some ‘nice guy’ ploy of pretending to be my friend just to fuck me and get your bond, then I’ll dick punch you right now and walk away without another thought.”
Sage bursts out laughing, slapping a hand over her mouth that does exactly nothing to smother the peals of laughter shaking out of her body. Gabe shoots her a look but it’s mostly exasperation. “At this point, Fallows, you’d have to beg me to fuck you. Friends with zero benefits, except that I’ll be watching your every move and you’ll be looking for a chance to run away from us all.”
I shrug at him and knock shoulders with Sage as we walk out together. “Sounds fine, but the first rule of Reject Club is that we hate Giovanna and want to murder her. If you can’t get behind that, then you’re out already.”
He shakes his head at me as Sage starts protesting, constantly putting herself down over that nightmare of a girl. “We don’t want her dead, we just wish she’d hate me a little less.”
I snort at her. “Fuck that, I want her dead. I’ve called dibs on her in the apocalypse. Gabe can take Riley out, and you can fuck Felix instead, he has my vote.”
We turn the corner to find Felix standing there, grinning like a freaking devil, and Sage instantly turns beet red.
“I knew running off to heal you would work in my favor. Thanks, Fallows,” he calls out as we pass by him, winking at Sage who is trying not to look as though she wants the ground to swallow her whole.
Gabe bursts out laughing with me and it’s freaking eerie to be standing around with him and not planning out his death. I know it won’t last, but even for a moment, it’s a weird position to be in.
Sage digs an elbow into my ribs and mutters, “It’s not up for a vote. We should hurry up, we’re about to be late for History and Nox will start a whole new smear campaign against you, Oli.”
Ugh.
Kill me.
I learn something very important the moment Gabe sits down with me in History and that is exactly how much power he has at this school. The moment people see us talking quietly with each other, there’s an immediate shift, like they’re all changing the way they’re talking about me now that he’s ‘forgiven’ me.
They don’t need to know the details to change their position, and Zoey finds herself very suddenly alone.
Sage spots it first and points it out, murmuring to me, “Serves the bitch right.”
I agree completely and when I nudge Gabe with a questioning look, he’s a lot less subtle about it. “She broke the rules Vivian set. You deserved the win and he’s already thrown her out of the class. Her parents are furious but Gryphon went to speak to them. You can’t join a TacTeam if you have no loyalty to your team.”
Well, damn.
It doesn’t even matter to me that it’s not really about me, it’s all about her integrity, it still feels like a win. Maybe being interrogated wasn’t so bad if this is the result.
My good feeling lasts ten more seconds before Nox walks in and sucks the good vibes right the fuck out. He looks good today too, hotter than Hades as he stalks into the classroom like some God of the Underworld, here to torment my goddamn soul.
I need to get out of this town before my hormones lead me straight to hell after him.
Nox’s eyes flick over to where Gabe is now sitting with me but he doesn’t react, no sign of whether he’s surprised or pissed off to see us both sitting here together. He just plugs in his laptop and stands in front of the class and waits until the room falls silent, his appearance is all it takes to command the room.
“Someone tell me about the Tier System.”
I’d rather die than raise my hand in any of Nox’s classes but there’s an entire row of girls all desperate to prove themselves to him, like answering this question will get him dropping his pants and feeding them his dick.
My bond squirms inside me at the thought but I torture myself with if for a second longer, like maybe I can convince it that he’s a total fucking waste of space as far as I’m concerned.
He picks Amy, who’s name I know because Sage loathes her, and even the sound of her voice has my hackles rising.
“When the three Councils of the Gifted communities came together to create the centralized Bonds network, they created a system of categorizing the Gifted and their abilities. The strongest Gifted have three levels of power; primary, secondary, and incidental. Most Gifted have primary gifts, some have a secondary as well, and very few have an incidental.”
Nox nods at her and turns his back without another word, his constant strategy of ‘treat ‘em mean’ that the entire room is forced to sit through. Okay, so I’m sure I’m the only one obsessively watching it and hating every second, but it is what it is.
“Right. So the blood tests and DNA sequencing can tell us more than just who your Bonds are, it can also give signs of what your gift is. Testing is then done within specially considered parameters to gauge what Tier your gift is on. Why is this done?”
More hands shoot up but this is actually something that interests me, so I keep my snarky thoughts locked away for a moment so I can hear his reasoning.
Not that I think he’s always right.
There’s always a sugar-coated bullshit pill given out to the general public and then there’s the truth, and this is one case that I’m sure they’ll lie about.
“Bragging rights. Everyone wants to know who the top dog is.”
I don’t know this girl but her shirt is so low that I’m sure Nox is getting a great view of her nipples right now.
Not that he’s impressed. “You’re guessing and you’re wrong, don’t waste our time here. Anyone else?”
A lot less hands are raised this time, but Nox picks Gabe to answer. I’ve never actually seen them interact with each other outside of the stupid bond dinners we’re all trapped at, and I’m not enjoying having Nox’s eyes on me as he stares us both down.
“TacTeams are picked with the highest Tier of the Gifted. The Council was originally picked from the strongest of our community, but these days it’s also a tag-and-release system. If the Resistance takes someone, then we need to know how strong they are for when they’re sent back brainwashed. Nothing more dangerous than a walking time bomb wearing your neighbor’s face.”
Christ.
How close I’d come to being one of those brainwashed zombies put back into the community with the sole purpose of finding other high Tier Gifted and dragging them back to the Resistance, killing anyone who attempted to stop me… it’s terrifying.
The pen in my hand shakes as my fingers tremble.
Nox turns away and starts the lecture, highlighting everything Gabe said because my bond had gotten it right. Sage notices my mini freakout and shoots me a worried look, her hand knocking mine gently in reassurance, but there’s nothing either of us can do or say in the middle of class. Not without Nox losing his shit at me in another public spectacle that I have no interest in, so I take a deep breath and just work through it.
As I take notes, my hand creeps up to the back of my neck, rubbing at the bump under my skin where the killer GPS chip is buried, like a reminder to myself that no matter how badly I want to run, it’s not an option for me.
Chapter Sixteen
My only plans for spring break are to study and explore the campus grounds a little more to attempt to find somewhere I can get a job.
If I can earn some money, then I can take the risk of having my brain explode from the chip. At this point, I’m fairly sure North wouldn’t actually kill me, not unless I did something terrible or became a danger to them all, but without money, I’m still freaking trapped here.
There isn’t a person in this closed-off community who doesn’t know who I am and the fact that a TacTeam dragged me back here, so there’s no chance of me hitchhiking my way out of here. I need money and I need someone to dig the chip out from under my skin.
There’s a cafe and the campus bookshop as potential jobs but when I drop off my CV, both of them shoot me down on the spot. I understand the bookshop because North probably forewarned them, but the cafe makes less sense to me until Sage shows up at my door to drag me to her place and tells me Gryphon’s sister owns it and runs it.
I had no idea he even had a sister.
The woman who had served me looked at least ninety years old, so at least I didn’t shame myself in front of his family member but, God, I guess I can’t ever show my face there again now.
Sage laughs at my embarrassment, shoving a drink at me the moment we get into her room. Sawyer is already there drinking and even though I don’t want to go to the party they’re both attending, Gabe has already messaged me to say he got me a free pass from North to attend, and I don’t want to have to speak to the domineering asshole to explain why I’d rather stay home.
Mostly it’s because Sage is now obsessed with the idea of me and Gabe working our shit out. She’s obsessed enough that the moment she starts her pre-party drinking, it’s all she can talk about.
“You’re going to end up Bonded to him. There’s no way you’re going to see Gabe shirtless at the party tonight and not fuck his brains out.”
I choke on my own drink so hard that it goes up my freaking nose, burning the whole way because Sawyer doesn’t know how to make a cocktail without the imminent threat of alcohol poisoning, which is why his mixes are always my favorite.
Once I can breathe again, I give Sage’s drunk ass a stern look. “I’ve seen it, and while there’s no denying he’s freaking blessed, I’m not fucking anyone anytime soon. I have cobwebs that no man is going to clear out for, you know, a century or two, at this rate.”
Sawyer pulls a face at me without looking in my direction, all of his focus on the phone in front of his face. Sage kicks at him, already stumbling across the line of tipsy and right into wasted, but it’s been a rough week for her.
Giovanna posted about her Bonded ring that Riley gave her.
Bonded rings are kind of a big deal at the best of times, the closest that someone in the Gifted community gets to an engagement, but the real problem here is that he gave her a family heirloom, one that he’d always told Sage he’d give to her. It was his grandmother’s, smuggled into the country during a war, and apparently it’s a Big Fucking Deal.
Just another freaking fracture he’s caused her and he’s now joined Giovanna at the top of my kill list. If they show up to the pool party tonight, I’m going to cause a scene.
From the look of Sawyer, he might be right there with me.
I don’t know whether it’s my charming ways or the fact that he’s been forced to hang out with me every day during our cramming sessions, but I think Sawyer has finally warmed up to me. I mean, I’m still clearly not his favorite person, but he no longer winces at the sight of me or cringes when I speak, so I’m taking that as a sign that we’re about to be best fucking friends.
My second phone buzzes in my pocket and I check it as I take another drink, the alcohol burning my sinuses.
Send me a photo of what you’re wearing tonight, Bond.
Atlas is also drinking, I can tell because he goes from sweet and kind to bossy and sexy in a hot minute. I can’t believe I find it hot considering North’s treatment of me, but there’s something about his ability to just ignore all of my attempts at keeping us at arm’s length that has me swooning a little.
If I get drunk enough I might ask him for a picture back tonight, but with far less clothing.
“If you and Atlas start sexting, I will confiscate your phone. If I’m doomed to be unloved and alone forever, the least you could do is keep that lovey-dovey shit out of my face,” Sage pouts and I scoff at her.
“He’s probably just horny, that’s not love. Besides, I’m staying unbonded forever, remember? No dick for me. Not even if Gabe is the six-pack hottie of my dreams.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, if the two of you are just going to get wasted and cry over boys and your sad sex lives, then I’m leaving you both here.”
Sage giggles at him, a great sound to hear even if she’s freaking plastered, and then leans forward to me to pretend to whisper, “Brothers are the worst. Sawyer’s just mad that his boyfriend isn’t coming tonight and he has to babysit us both without the promise of hooking up after we get back.”
Boyfriend, not Bond. It’s a small word choice, but a clear distinction in our world that makes all of the difference. Whoever Sawyer is fated to be with, he hasn’t found them yet, and he’s not waiting around for them. I get it, I found my own Bonds at such a young age, which skewed my own decisions on that front.
Sage also had her options ripped away from her.
“Who’s your boyfriend? Someone I know? Is he hot? God, please tell me you’re banging some freaking dreamboat so I can live vicariously through you.”
He scoffs at me but then he’s tapping on his phone and turning the screen around to show me a very hot hockey player with dimples and biceps bigger than my thighs.
“Holy shit! Sawyer you freaking badass. Please tell me his dick matches the rest of him.”
Sage groans at me and collapses back on the bed. “Don’t get him started on Grey’s dick. I’ve already heard too much about it and all it does is remind me of how desperately alone I am… getting zero dick. Or flowers and candies and teddy bears.”
Oh God.
When she’d seen the gifts from Atlas, I thought she was going to burst into tears over it. I felt guilty for half a second before she declared that Atlas was her favorite and we should take him with us when we run away. At this rate, we’re going to have to hire a freaking bus because Sawyer clearly isn’t letting his sister go anywhere without him and I wouldn’t ever let him dump Grey’s hot self just to come with.
Felix would chase Sage down, I’m sure of it.
I don’t want to think about my Bonds or running away or the amount of dick that I’m not getting thanks to all of this shit, so I grab my glass and tip it back, finishing the liquid fire in two gulps before holding the glass out to Sawyer again for a refill.
He takes it with a smirk.
Tonight is going to be messy as fuck.
I’m not wrong.
Sawyer makes Sage and I both eat something and sober up a little before he drives us over to the Halliwell’s mansion for the pool party. Apparently it’s the social gathering to be at though, so we have to park down the block and walk up, cars double parked all over the streets. Most of the gated communities around here are full of Gifted families though, so no one bats an eyelid as we all pile out.
My buzz is almost completely gone as the night air slaps me in the face. It’s surprisingly warm out and my mouth dries out completely. I need another cocktail, stat.
The house would’ve looked luxurious and amazing to me a few months ago, but after spending so much time at North’s place and then over at Sage’s, the whole mansion spectacle has worn off on me. I really don’t give a shit how many wood-paneled libraries and butler’s wings a house has.
I care about whether or not the people in them are assholes.
Sage swipes a couple of bottles of wine on our way through the house and even though wine tastes like ass, it feels like a win. Neither of us want to be here or deal with any of these people, so we’re both fully aboard the get-blackout-drunk train.
I decide straight away that the Gifted community is too freaking small because once again, there’s council members everywhere, which means North is probably here, lurking in a corner somewhere and drinking alcohol he hasn’t had to steal while he schmoozes with all of the other stuffy, condescending assholes here.
Sawyer tries to discreetly find wine glasses as we work our way through the kitchen and dining rooms but I’m not willing to wait around for that sort of luxury and drink it straight from the bottle, giggling with Sage like children when we find a storage room somewhere on the first floor to hide in until the council members all clear out of the house and into the garden.
We need to be as drunk as freaking possible before then.
Because we’re in an obscenely luxurious mansion, there’s a couch and table in the storage room. There’s also some stacked barstools, and the wifi is so good in here that Sawyer just pulls out a seat and fucks around on his phone while Sage and I both chug the wine down like we’re pros.
Sage clucks over her phone, “Felix can’t make it, he’s going to some study thing with the other pre-med students.”
I snort at her because she’s fooling exactly no one with her attempts at keeping him at arm’s length. I’m proud of myself when my words come out without even a little slurring, “You should definitely bone him. Just once, give it a shot, and if it’s not all that great, then go back to being awkward friends so you can both move on with your lives.”