Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (33 page)

Molly stepped beside her and glanced into the case. “You’re going to
buy him a compass?
You know he’
s got a pretty good
sense of direction
from his tatù, right?”

“I know. I’m not buying him
one
.
I thought I might get him a
cool army knife.” She shrugged.
“Maybe that one there, the Swiss Army one.” She pointed to a special edition one, complete with a little leather case that could attach to a key chain.

“Get it and let’s eat.”

“You think it’ll make a good gift?
Or should I buy him a
jersey
instead?”
Lying in bed last night,
the key chain knife
had
seemed like a good idea.
She had
even considered putting DR initials
on the blade
.
H
e could tell people it meant doctor instead of
Devon
and Rae.
Of course that’s only if he’s not avoiding me on purpose.
Bless Molly, she stepped in and yanked Rae out of what could have become a deep pit of despair if
she had
kept thinking along that track.

“Get
it
.
You can get Julian a shirt.
Isn’t he a
big
Liverpool Football fan?
Last time I was in his car
,
he had some Ferry Cross the Mersey song playing and went into some
spiel
about
the city of
Liverpool
.
I saw
loads
of racks by
the
checkout
.”

Rae smiled.
Devon
liked
LFC,
not
Julian.
He supported Everton, which would make the LFC jerse
y the perfect gift for Julian.
Time for payback
.
Maybe s
he
would
buy him
the
poster of Bill Shankly
she had
seen earlier
.
She made her purchases and t
hey headed to Sayers
for a pasty
and sausage roll.

When Rae got back to her dorm r
oom, she checked her phone.
She had
left it in
her
dorm to charge.
One call
—
Devon
.
She listened to the message several times,
taking comfort in
his voice
.

“Rae, it’s me, Dev.
I’m in
Land’s End
right now.
Julian and I are heading back tomorrow or the day after.
I’ll get to see you before you fly out.
Sorry for not calling sooner
. W
e’ve been…busy.
Look forward to seeing you. I
—
Uh
—
You can’t reach me on my cell
. I
t’s best not to call.
Um
—
See ya. Bye for now.”

Land’s End
?
She
glanced at the
UK
map above her desk and tapped a finger against her lip.
A couple of weeks ago h
e
was
up in
Scotland
.
She brought her finger to the map, tracing the two places he
had
called from.
One looked to be the most
southwestern
point, and the other the most northern point.
Hadn’t
Carter said something
about the four corners of the
Britain
?
Oh yeah
—
It all came back to her in a rush, her father’s HOC plan, the brainwashing, the Machiavellian plot to steal all four pieces of the video and reassemble it. However, she wasn’t sure she could accept even that explanation. Dean Wardell’s demand still made her heart shrink with fear.
What if this is all about staying away from me? He doesn’t want me to try calling. What if his father told him I’m off limits?
It didn’t bear thinking about. Feeling overwhelmed by her isolation from
Devon
and the possibility that her relationship with him might be over, she had to forcefully shut off her emotions.
It didn’t matter;
she would
see
Devon
before she flew home
to
New York
.
Hopefully, he
’ll
tell
me
everything
’s
fine.

A few days later
Rae hu
rried up the stairs to her room, trying to avoid Molly.
She
had just finished
one of their
final
exam
s
and
,
after two days of shopping with her b
est friend, she needed a break.

She slowed her pace when she got closer to her dorm
room
.
She paused when she saw
the
door slightly ajar
.
She could have sworn she
had
locked
it
before leaving for her exam.
X-ray tatù
—r
eally need one. I should ask Carter about that, because it would really come in handy right about now
.
Quiet as she could manage, she gently pushed
the door open
with the palm of her hand and
pee
r
ed
into the room.

Exhaling a long breath, she relaxed
when she realized that
nothing
appeared
messed
up
or displaced inside.
She hadn’t been robbed or spied on; she
had
probably
just forgot
ten
to lock the door.

Shoving
it open
further, she stepped in and tossed her book bag on the bed.
Hoping Molly wasn’t on her way
up
,
Rae turned to shut
the door
with her foot
and
lock it.
T
he shadow of someone half hidden behind
the door
showed on the floor
.
She
swallowed,
immediately
sensing
the hum of a tatù
,
but
having no idea
who
was
in her room.
On guard, she thought back to the training
she had
been doing.
They’re dead.
Whoever
they are.

Ready to
drag the intruder from behind the door
and
throw
the
m
across the room
,
she sucked a sharp breath in when
Devon
stepped out from behind it.
F
inger held to his lips,
eyes twinkling with mischief, he had never been a more welcome sight.

“Don’t panic
. I
t’s only me.
”
One step and he stood
in front of
her, wrapping his arms around her tightly
and closing the door with his foot
.
“I
sneaked
in, wanting to surprise you.”

Rae hugged him bac
k,
relief
and excitement coursing
through her veins.
Then she pulled back from his hug and punched him hard
on
the shoulder.
“You scared the crap out me!”

He laughed. “Sorry
.
I honestly didn’t mean to.”

“
I
could
’
ve
killed
you
!
” She stepped around him to bolt the lock
.
“How’d you get in?”

Devon
dropped down on the bed and grinne
d.
“You don’t need a tatù to
jimmy
a lock, you know.”

She settled beside him, too excited to have him back to care.
“I missed you.”
She rested her hands on his chest and bent
over
to kiss him.
He tasted and smelled awesome.

“Me, too,” he
mumbled
between kisses.
He pulled his head back and grinned.

Not
sated
from
tasting
his lips
, Rae
made a mental note to
savor
them later on.
At the moment, she was ecstatic
to have him back at Guilde
r.
She leaned
back
on an elbow and rested
her head in her hand
, unable to take her eyes off
Devon
.
“How was work?”

“Interesting, challenging
—
and crazy.”
He rolled his eyes.
“What about you?
Anything exciting happen while I was gone?”
He slipped his hand underneath
her free hand
.

Your father knows about us and threatened to keep us apart.
I made a new friend and he told me in not so many words that Carter probably knows about our relationship
. I almost told my best friend about
us
and still feel guilty that I didn’t.
“Not really, just exams, shopping with Molly and being bored out of my mind.”
She stared at the
fennec
fox tattoo on
the i
nside
of his
forearm
, tracing it lightly with her finger
.

Devon
brought her chin up with a gentle hand
.
“What’s up?
You’re avoiding
something
.
I can tell.” He didn’t release her chin until she made eye contact with him.

She
sighed
,
tracing the fox’
s ears over and over
.
Should I tell him?
“I
—
after you left
—
I
—
”
Now with the moment of truth in front of her, she wasn’t sure if she had the courage to lay it out for him.
Losing him was the one thing she feared
above all others, and here it was, a very real threat she had not really thought she would ever have to face. He, being the stickler for rules that he was, well
—
w
hat if he didn’t choose her?
I’m
asking him to rebel against EVERYTHING he
’s
ever been taught.
Suddenly, fear overwhelmed her. Too chicken to come right out with it, she hedged. “What if people knew about us? What would you do?
Hypothetically I mean?”

“That’s what you worry about?”
Devon
gave her a quick kiss on her nose.
“We’ve hardly seen each other this semester.
I highly doubt anyone’s got a clue.”

“
W
hat if someone did?”
She wanted to tell him, she just
really needed some kind of reassurance that her fear was irrational, that he would choose her, that no one could separate them
.

“Who? Has someone said something?”
He sat up
.

“No! Well, Molly thinks you’ve got the hots for me.” She didn’t bother telling him the rest of
that
conversation.

“Good ol’ Molly, she’s brighter than she pretends to be.” He grinned and
patted her knee before
getting off the bed
.
“Don’t worry
so much, sweetie
.
Nobody’s going to say anything, nor can they prove it.
We’ve done nothing in public.
No one around here would suspect it.
Look at
Carter
. H
e’s clueless.
Molly
’s your best friend and if she
doesn’t see that you like me,
no one will. Julian knows but
he’ll
never tell a soul.
I think he’s more loyal to you than me.
”