Home > Ember (Eagle Elite #5)(17)

Ember (Eagle Elite #5)(17)
Author: Rachel Van Dyken

The room was silent again.

I ate a fry, but it was soggy.

“Because,” Pike finally said. “Rumor has it you’re not the only implant at the school this year.”

“Implant?”

Pike sighed. “Don’t worry about it. Rumors are just that… rumors, you know?”

“Petrov,” said a female voice from behind me.

I turned and smiled as Mil made her way toward our table. Mo and Trace followed close behind.

If I thought the room was silent before, it was like death now.

“Emiliana…” Pike’s smile didn’t reach his face. “How goes the business?”

“Business?” Mil tilted her head. “Silly boy, this mouth is for eating, not talking… especially to you.”

“Touché.” His eyes lit up in what I could only assume was respect.

Mo’s fingers brushed my shoulder. “Why don’t you come eat with us for a bit? We should catch up.”

I felt trapped between making new friends and talking to old ones.

“Go ahead.” Pike nodded. “We can get to know each other better later.”

Nodding, I picked up my plate and followed the girls to a corner table. I didn’t even realize I’d been holding a breath until we sat down and I exhaled my frustration.

“So…” Mo grinned in my direction, then pulled her silky dark brown hair back into a ponytail. “…you make friends fast.”

“It was a direct order from Phoenix… make friends, prove I know how.” I rolled my eyes. “Though to be fair, all I had to do was walk in here, and suddenly I had a plate of food in front of me, and I was being asked about The Elect.”

Mo’s fingers paused while her eyes flickered to Mil and Trace.

I sighed. “Spill. Who are The Elect?”

Trace spoke up. “Tex hasn’t talked to you about it? Or Phoenix?”

“Tex is holed up having sex with this one.” I jutted my finger at Mo. “And Phoenix thinks I’m better seen and not heard.”

Mil snorted. “Phoenix needs an attitude adjustment.”

“Yeah, well.” I played with a fry, dipping it into the ketchup before bringing it to my mouth. “His idea of fun is running ten miles a day then eating things that look like regurgitated baby food, so unless one of us just starts feeding him chocolate intravenously, I highly doubt that attitude adjustment is going to happen.”

“It’s been a… rough year.” Trace and Mo shared a gaze while Mil cleared her throat and looked down at her plate. “For all of us.”

“What am I missing?” I lifted a fry to my mouth, waiting for an explanation. “You guys do realize I’m new to all of this?”

Mil shrugged. “Sometimes things are better left… not discussed. All you really need to focus on is school and getting homework done. Let us take care of the rest.”

“So play dumb and be ignorant just like my father expected me to?” My voice rose. “Is that what you’re asking?”

I was angry, and I had no idea why; it just seemed like I was the little kid at the playground who wanted so badly to play with everyone else only to be told she wasn’t old enough to go down the slide.

I wanted to go down the slide.

I wanted to prove I could.

But how could I prove myself if nobody ever gave me a chance to climb the ladder?

“Fine.” I licked my lips then pushed my plate away. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Bee.” Mil reached across the table like she was trying to find my hand. “It’s not that, it’s just… a lot of shit went down, and really we just want to move past it. I mean, we finally get a chance at normal, don’t you want that?”

I looked around the room. “You realize we’re at one of the most expensive schools in the universe, and it’s owned by mob bosses, right? Normal went out the window a long time ago.”

“Normal for us,” Trace clarified.

“Which is… secrets and more secrets?”

Nobody said anything.

“The Elect? Who are they? Who were they?”

Finally Mil spoke up. “It’s best to ask one of the members rather than any of us. Ask Phoenix if you want to know but be prepared for the shit storm that’s gonna come when or if he decides to answer. Things are still raw with my brother, and that’s all I’m going to say.”

“Fine.” I pushed my chair in.

“Bee.” Trace stood and reached for my arm. “Don’t go.”

“It’s fine. I made friends, right?” I looked over my shoulder. The last table I’d been at had gone dead silent. Okay, so they probably weren’t going to take a bullet for me anytime soon, but I had Phoenix.

My shoulders slumped.

Right. I had Phoenix, and again I was reminded that I didn’t really have a friend. I had no one. And I seriously didn’t even know what real friends did. Could I base my assumption off movies and books? Because as far as those definitions went, that meant Trace would be gossiping with me about Nixon. Mil would be painting my nails and Mo would be complaining about Tex. Instead, Mo was thumbing a knife under the table. Trace was checking her phone, face pale, and Mil was watching every person in the room like a hawk — like they all had guns aimed at her.

Swallowing, I bobbed my head in an automatic I–could-not-care-less fashion and grabbed my books. “I gotta run guys. Thanks for letting me sit with you.” I pushed down the swell of emotion fighting to scream its way out of my throat and marched out of the room.

   
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