Stone Cold Touch

“I don’t know.” Frustrated, I pulled my hand free. “I couldn’t hear all of it and then the stupid windows blew up.” I glanced down the stairs. Glass shone like rain on the floor. “I really didn’t do it.”

“I believe you.”

My gaze found his. “And I don’t trust your father.”

“Layla,” he sighed, stepping back. “There’re obvious issues between you two, and I totally get it. He’s kept a lot of stuff from you.”

“No shit,” I muttered.

He shifted his weight. “But if he’s asking any of the guys to watch over you, it’s because he’s worried about you.”

“And because he doesn’t trust me.”

“That, too,” he admitted. “Hey, you have to understand that. You—”

“Lied. I know. But he’s told more lies.”

Zayne stared at me as if he was about to explain how two wrongs don’t make a right, but then he sighed again. “Come on. I snagged some fried chicken from dinner. It’s cold, just the way you like it.”

“I’m supposed to go to my room,” I said peevishly.

He rolled his eyes and then made a grab for me. I jumped back, and he grinned impishly. “Walk or I’m carrying you.”

“Geez, you’re getting bossy as you get older.”

Zayne winked. “You haven’t seen anything yet. I’m giving you two seconds.”

“Two seconds? What happened to the standard— Hey!” I squealed as he grabbed for me again. “All right. I’ll walk.”

His grin spread. “Knew you’d see it my way.”

I stuck my tongue out at him, and he laughed, but I did follow him down the hall to his bedroom. My stomach rumbled at the thought of cold fried chicken, but my mind was still in the atrium downstairs, and for some reason, I thought of the vial of the milky-white substance.

I wanted to know what it was.

* * *

Parasitic butterflies had formed a prickly nest in my stomach and were currently trying to eat their way out. I’d never been more nervous about school in my life.

“You sure you’re feeling better?” Stacey asked as she paced back and forth while I dragged my textbooks out of my locker. “You look like you’re about to fall over.”

“Yeah, I feel great.” I forced a smile that probably came off creepy as I slung my bag over my shoulder. There was barely any pain from where the Warden had sliced me, which reminded me that, as of this morning, Tomas was still missing.

Bambi stretched around my stomach.

Bad snake.

“So are you excited?” Stacey asked, looping her arm through mine.

My throat felt as if I’d swallowed a hairball. “Excited about what?”

“About Roth,” she said in a high-pitched squeal that made my ears ache. “About him being back.”

The deadly butterflies started chomping away. Between the prospect of returning to school and what had happened the past two nights, I’d barely gotten a wink of sleep. I’d secretly hoped Zayne would skip demon duties and stay with me, but he hadn’t and it would’ve been überwrong to ask.

“And please don’t get mad at me, because I don’t really know what went down between you two, but he looked hella hot yesterday.”

My heart spasmed. Great. I guess hoping for him to get a mad case of facial herpes was asking for too much. “Not that excited,” I said finally.

She was quiet as we made our way down the hall. The oddness of not seeing shimmery souls trailing after students distracted me from my impending face-off with Roth.

“Do you want me to take out a hit on him?” she asked finally. “I don’t know people, but I bet Sam would be able to find us hit men on the internet.”

I laughed loudly. “He probably would, but no. That’s okay.”

“Well, if you change your mind...” She slipped around me, opening the door to bio. I already knew, even before I walked in, that he wasn’t in the room yet. “Sisters before the misters and all that jazz.”

Smiling in spite of my nerves, I took my seat in the back of the class. Mrs. Cleo was still a no-show, and at the front of the class, Mr. Tucker was doing his best to ignore the adoring gazes of the girls sitting in the front row.

Stacey sat beside me as I pulled my textbook out and the class filled up. I busied myself picking out a pen from my horde, settling on a purple one that looked as though it had taken a bath in glitter...or with Ke$ha.

The scent was the first thing I noticed. That sinfully dark, slightly sweet aroma teased my senses. My fingers tightened around the pen as the entire atmosphere shifted in the class. Not with tension; I’d never noticed it before, but it was like the last day before break whenever Roth was near—that lackadaisical feeling of who cares followed him everywhere.

Tiny hairs on the back of my neck rose, and I knew he was near. Not just because Stacey had stiffened beside me. It was a sixth sense that was aware of him on a deep, intimate level.

I didn’t look up as I heard the chair legs drag across the floor in front of our desk, but he was so close and that damn poignant ache took hold again, seizing up my throat and chest. I didn’t want to hurt over him, and I wished I could fast-forward to the part when the piercing ache was just a minor annoyance.

“Good to see you didn’t join a cult.”

At the sound of his deep, velvety-rich voice, a series of shivers spread across my skin. I took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. His scent was everywhere, and I could practically taste him. Against my will, my head lifted and my brain jumped out the nearby window.

Roth stared down at me with those amber-colored eyes surrounded by thick, black lashes. His hair was an artful mess, caressing the arches of his brows. His full lips weren’t curved in the smirk I thought would’ve accompanied that statement.

I didn’t say anything and after a few seconds, his lips pursed and he turned, sitting down. A pang lit up my chest as I stared at his back. Under the faded blue shirt he wore, his shoulders were unnaturally stiff, and it should’ve given me an indecent amount of satisfaction to know he was uncomfortable. And who knew a Crown Prince of Hell could be uncomfortable in the first place? But realizing he was didn’t make me feel better.

Stacey stretched over and scribbled “hit man?” on my notebook.

I smiled and shook my head. She shrugged and turned her attention to the Hottie McHotters sub. I tried to focus on how good-looking he was with his brown hair and boyish grin as he fiddled with the overhead projector, but all I could think about was that Roth was sitting in front of me as if he hadn’t been sent to Hell two weeks ago or shared anything of any importance with me.

Thank God and the McDonald’s down the street from the high school that today was Friday. At least I wouldn’t be forced to endure two more days of seeing Roth and I’d have a break, because bio was the longest class of my life, even worse than history.

When the bell rang, I shot out of my seat like a mini rocket, shoving my books back into my bag as I walked out of class. Stacey was right behind me, and I liked to think that she wouldn’t hold my hasty departure against me. Spying Sam at the end of the hall, getting a drink of water from one of the fountains, I breathed a sigh of relief as he looked up, smiling as he waved at me. I was kind of surprised that he didn’t have tiny drops of water all over his hoodie like he normally would after attempting to drink from one of the fountains, but I made a beeline for him.

I only made it halfway.

The door to the chemistry classroom swung open, nearly smacking me in the face. I stumbled back a step, eyes welling up as the pungent odor of rotten eggs spilled out in the hallways.

“Not again!” another kid exclaimed, smacking his hands over his mouth.