Dark Nebula (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (37 page)

The last drawing he had
done
of her was Lanford trying to kill her. Neither had figured out what it meant until nearly too late. “What did you draw?” Her heart thundered against her chest.

Julian stared down at the table a moment and then brought his head up to look her directly in the eyes. “You. And Kraigan. At night.” He let the words sink in, then leaned forward and pointed. “Are you cheating on my best friend?”

“No!” Rae almost laughed in relief. “I’m not interested in Kraigan. We’ve been chatting. I’m trying to mentor him.
Devon
knows all about it.”

Julian’s head pulled back. “He does?”

“Yeah. Did you show him the drawings?”

“Hell no!”
He
lifted his hands, shaping them in a circle
.
“
Devon
thinks the world of you.
He’
s
actually positive you’re going to wake up,
wonder what you’re doing with him
and then dump
’i
m
.”

Rae
rolled her eyes
.
“Like that’s gonna happen.”

“
I’ve been paranoid for nothing then.” He chuckled, obviously very relieved. “You know,
I’m glad you guys are together
, a
nd at the same time, I feel for both of you.
It’s gotta be hard
hiding your relationship and being apart so much
.”
Julian
nodded in her direction.
“Especially for you
,
since you’re a girl.”

“Excuse me?” Rae’s
brows came together.

“Man, I’m crappy at trying to explain stuff
.”
Julian pulled
his hair out of its ponytail
and then wrapped it back in.
“I just mean
—
don’t girls like talking to their girlfriends abo
ut guys,
relationships and all that stuff?”

Such a guy.
Though she did get what he tried to imply.
“We do
,
sorta. A
nd you’re right, it sucks not having anyone to talk to.
Molls is always going on and on about Reece.
She
even
told me they’re moving in together next year.”

“Wow
.
Molly
,
serious about something?
That is pretty amazing.”
Julian stared at Rae
, stirring his drink with the straw.
“
W
hat’s going on? What’s bothering you?
I can see you’re stressed out about something.”
He leaned back on the bench and
stretched his long arms along the top
.

Rae chewed her lip.
Should
I
tell him about
Devon
’s dad
? What would
Julian tell me
about
Devon
dating Anna?
She pretended to read the label on the malt vinegar.
Life shouldn’t be this complicated.
She brought her gaze back to Julian, who
was looking at her
.
“D’
you know
Devon
’s dad pretty
well
?”

Julian shrugged, his eyebrows raised.
“Yeah,
Dev and I have been buds from the day we got here. His dad’
s cool
.
” He paused when he looked at her. “He can be
very ambitious.
He’s always pushing
Devon
to do
more
, be more
,
but
everything
Devon
does,
it never really seems good enough.
Devon
used to try so hard to win his approval
,
and be
perfect
.
Finally
last year,
maybe after he met you,
Dev
started wanting to make his own decisions and mistakes.
It hasn’t been an easy change.
His dad’s not so great
at
letting go of the control.
”

“Hmmm
—
” Rae twirled
the
bottle of malt
vinegar
with
her
fingers
.

“Spill
it
,
beautiful
.
What happened?
”

Rae sighed.
If
I can’t
talk to
Devon
,
I
might as well ask Julian what he
thinks
.
“
I’m not sure what to do.” She tapped a finger against the top of the table. “
After the dance, Dean Wardell asked me to his office.
I thought it was because you guys left the dance so suddenly and was going to fill me on why you guys left. I was
so
wrong.
” She swallowed.
“
He
warned
me to stay away from
Devon
.
Said
I was bad for him, I
had too much baggage with my da
d’s history and I wasn’t normal enough for
Devon
.
He said I was damaged!
I…I think he saw
Dev
and
me
kiss
or something
.”
Probably back at the beginning of the school year, when we’d gone to the movies.
Her eyes burned. I
t
became an
effort
to swallow past t
he dryness in her throat.
She hated crying but this totally sucked.

“Ouch!
What
’
d
Devon
say when you told him
?”
Julian leaned forward
and rested his elbows
on the table.

Rae shook her head, terrified if she spoke
,
the tears would start and
she would be unable to stop them
.

“
You didn’t tell him?
” His eyes grew big. “
You
need to
.
He’
s going to
be
ticked
!
His d
ad’s always meddling.”
Julian shook his head.
“
Dev’s old enough to make his own decisions.”

“Yeah, but the dean could make things
really
difficult.
What if he kicked me out of school?
Or told the Privy Council and
…and
they sent
Devon
far away?”
She wrung her hands, trying to stop the shivers and goose bumps running down her arms.

Julian
’s fist hit the table
.
“Mr. Wardell’s not going to say anything to the Privy Council
!
It’s next to impossible to even tell you and
Devon
like each other
.
He’s got no proof
.” Julian grinned.
“Plus,
he’d look like an idiot tattle
talin’ on his
own
son
and the Privy Council’s biggest
job-
candidate
hopeful.
Like anyone wouldn’t approve of you
!
”

“He
obviously
doesn’t.
” She skirted over the hint Julian
made
about the Privy Council wanting her to work for them.
Tuck that away to think about later.
“
W
hat if I
tell
Devon
and he agree
s
with his dad?
I don’t want to take that risk.” Rae stopped talking when the waitress
brought their plates of food.
She leaned
over
to grab the salt.
“W
hat about
Anna?
Devon
dating
some chick
this summer and not
bothering to mention
it to me?
You know how I found out? Bloody Carter brought it up – in front of
Devon
! Did he tell you that?” She frowned when she realized
she had
let her voice rise. She forced herself to lower it. “Sometimes it feels like I have to keep all these secrets, everyone has things they aren’t telling me and… and the one person I don’t want to have to hide things from is covering up stuff he doesn’t want me to know.
How am I supposed to deal with that?
”

Julian over-poured curry onto
his chips.
“
Carter
told you?” He
appeared genuinely
surprised.

“Yeah,
” she replied, wondering why Julian seemed focused on that
one bit of information, out of everything
she had
just told him
. “Just when I’
d got back after the summer. He’d called
Devon
and me to the Oratory and was telling
me
about
the brainwashing devic
e my dad created.
That’s when he said it.
I don’t know how much, if anything, Carter actually knows about our relationship. Either he knows nothing and it was an innocent slip, or he was purposefully trying to break us up
.
Devon
told me later Anna’s brother
ended up being the
cause for concern
.
But it didn’t really help.
”

“It was part of his job. He had to do it. He couldn’t say no
without a valid reason. And
because his secret girlfriend might get mad
isn’t really what the PC would consider ‘valid’
. You know that right?”

She nodded. “I get it, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t surprise me any less.
I barely heard from him all summer and then
when I come
back, I hear from someone else that he had been dating a girl? Fake or not, h
e could
have at least
mentioned it to me. He explained later about how
he had to date Anna to see if he could get any information about Randy.”
She bit a fry and grimaced when
the hot inside burned her tongue.

“How’d you know her brother’s name?
It’s classified.
”

I’m spilling my guts and he’s
shocked I know Randy’s name?
She wasn’t going to
say anything
about Kraigan’s conversation
, not yet
. She really needed to talk to him
first
.
So she ignored Julian’s question and threw one of her own back at him.
“How am I to know
Devon
’s not dating anyone else and blaming it on the Privy Council?”
She
couldn’t keep the
anger
out of her voice.

“He’d never
cheat
on you.” The shocked expression on Julian’s face gave Rae some comfort.
“He hated every moment this summer and agonized over how to explain it to you.”
He took a bit
e
of his fish and
after
he had
finished chewing,
he
asked again, “How’d you know the guy’s name is Randy?”

Rae ate a
nother
chip,
while
debating
how to tell Julian the truth while keeping Kraigan out of it.
I can tell without really explaining.
She took a deep breath.
“Kraigan
mentioned
something
in
class
today
.”

“
What
did
he
s
ay
?”
His body stiffened.

“
He
doesn’t have a
clue. I heard him
telling
Nic he met some chick who was
heartbroken
from a summer romance and
how he
made friends with her brother
who has a tatù, while she only has a tattoo. Probably a tramp stamp
”