Page 53 of An Oath at Midnight

He shrugged. “Trying to imagine you here, walking these halls.” We passed a group of pictures. Sports teams. Pride of place, of course. His jaw tightened. “Being ogled by all these asshole jocks, no doubt.”

I laughed. “Ah, nope. No one was looking at me.”

His nostrils flared, and he shook his head. “The little goth girl, so fucking untouchable, putting out all those come-closer-and-die vibes? All they wanted to do was get closer.” He scowled harder. “They were looking at you, all right.”

His words stunned me. “You’re wrong. They hated me. Pretty much everyone hated me when I went here.”

“You scared them because you never have and never will play by the rules. And you never conformed or tried to fit in. They wanted you, they just didn’t have the balls to take their shot.”

Where was this coming from? “You’re wrong,” I said again. “I was invisible.” And that’s the way I liked it.

“I’m not, and you weren’t. I guarantee, every boy here was one hundred percent aware of your presence in this school.”

My heart did a little flip. “How can you be so sure?”

Bram glanced at me as we approached the library door. “Because you are fucking gorgeous, Magnolia.”

He pushed the library door open, leading the way, while I tried to freaking breathe again. He’d never said that to me before. Not ever. “Are you actually trying to say that every male in existence wants me?”

“Yes.”

Our eyes locked for a moment, and we both went still…and utterly silent. He was a male who existed, right? Was he including himself in that bold statement? He didn’t look away, didn’t say a damn thing.

My heart kicked in my chest, and I forced a laugh. “Well, you’re my best friend, so you’re biased.” I pointed to the other side of the room. “The yearbooks are over here.” I tried to get my racing heart back under control as we strode over.

Bram didn’t respond but kept his fingers firmly wrapped around mine. There was no reason for us to be holding hands, but we always did. If we were together, we were touching or sitting or standing close. I’d never thought too hard about it. I’d assumed all witches and familiars were like that, were as close as us, but over the years, I learned that wasn’t the case. It was an us thing. Why was I thinking about this now? And why was I so aware of the way the rough skin of his palm felt against mine.

“Where did you sit when you came in here?” he asked.

I’d loved the library. I liked books, and it was always peaceful in here. No one bothered you. “Over there,” I said, pointing to a table on the other side of the room, an area that no one liked but me because the lighting wasn’t as good and you couldn’t see who came and went from my little dark corner. I hadn’t cared who came and went.

“Yeah, this scent is familiar. You used to smell like this place when I’d meet you after school.”

I laughed. “What can I say…I spent a lot of time here.”

He flashed me a grin. “While I waited outside, counting down the seconds for you to finish.”

“That was the worst part, being away from you.” We’d texted constantly, but I’d felt like a part of me was missing for six hours a day.

“It was fucking torture,” he said as I led him between the shelves.

The tone of his voice lifted goose bumps all over me. “You were always right outside the gates waiting, and I was always desperate to get out of here to see you.” I chuckled. “Like we’d been away from each other for weeks not hours.” I glanced at him. “All the girls thought you were my boyfriend.” Why the hell had I told him that?

His throat worked as he stared up at the row of yearbooks in front of us. “The boys as well,” he said with certainty.

I lifted our linked hands. “Not surprising. No wonder no one asked me to prom,” I said, laughing again, but it sounded strained.

His lips curled, but it wasn’t a smile—there was no humor, the look on his face was menacing as fuck, the same grin I’d seen when we were in the demon neighborhood. “Probably a good thing,” he said, obsidian eyes somehow darkening.

“Oh?” Again, I was trying to inject lightness into the conversation, because something dark and heavy had fallen around us, and it was definitely coming from Bram. “I’m guessing, if any of them had hurt me, you would’ve kicked their asses?”

He shook his head. “If anyone hurts you, or even thinks about it, I’ll kill them.”

Like he had two and a half years ago, when Brody held a knife to my throat. Bram had shifted into his shadow form, materialized behind Brody, and viciously broken his neck. I shoved the memory of that awful fucking day from my mind. “Well, lucky for you, you don’t have to anymore. Thanks to Asher’s excellent tutelage, I can do it myself.”

He turned back to the shelf. He didn’t like that.

“I’ll always need you, B, you know that, right?”