He smiled and stepped forward, extending an arm to offer me his smoke. “Might help.”
With a shake of my head, I said, “I don’t smoke cigarettes.”
His shoulders jumped with silent laughter. “It’s not a cigarette.”
Understanding hit me. “I don’t smoke pot either, but thanks.”
Holding my stare for another silent second, he shrugged a shoulder and took a hit of the joint before leaning back against the opposite wall.
“Want to talk about it?”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
He tilted his head, smoke rolling over his lips.
“You sure? To me, it looks like you’re running.”
My brows tugged together, but then I assumed he misspoke. I was sure my hair was messy down my back and my cheeks were still flushed from having hauled ass out of the house a few minutes ago. “I’m just standing here.”
“But the party is inside.”
Half his face was bathed from the exterior gas lamp to his right, the dancing orange glow giving him a sinister edge before he turned just enough to let more of the light illuminate his face.
“Can’t be much fun hanging out here by yourself. Sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
Huffing out a breath, I snorted. “I’m sure if you go inside, you’ll hear all about it.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“I don’t even know who you are.”
“My name’s Gabriel. And yours is?”
Smiling, I answered, “Luca.”
“Luca what?”
“Luca Bailey.”
He returned the grin and relaxed even more, his shoulders rounding back and his elbows holding up his weight on the wall.
“It’s nice to meet you, Luca. But seriously,” taking another hit of the joint, he blew it out. “What happened? Is there somebody’s ass I need to kick?”
Laughing, I relaxed in response to his question. He seemed decent enough.
“I kind of wandered into the wrong room on the third floor and got chased out by Tanner. So, now I’m out here waiting for a friend because I don’t want to run the risk of going inside and pissing him off again.”
Understanding flowed behind his eyes. “Ah, well that must be why I thought you’re running. Those guys aren’t exactly the type anybody would want to mess with.”
“They’re assholes,” I pointed out, feeling more comfortable to have a person to talk to instead of standing outside by myself. However, realizing what I said, I groaned and covered my mouth as if I could somehow stuff the words back in.
“Sorry, I’m sure you’re friends with them.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up, his brow wrinkling as his green eyes twinkled with humor.
“I won’t say anything. I happen to think all nine of them are dicks.”
Laughter poured out of my mouth.
“Oh my God, it’s good to meet someone who doesn’t worship them like everybody else.”
His laughter joined mine.
“Tell me how you really feel.”
That loosened my lips. It felt good to have someone who could understand.
“My friend is an idiot for getting involved with Jase, and Tanner is someone who deserves a good throat punch. He actually told me to climb on his lap or get out of the room, as if I was some stupid slut who sleeps with guys she doesn’t know. I don’t get why they think they can act like that.”
“Probably because they practically own this school. At least until they graduate and then they’ll own whatever area they happen to live in. Don’t you know anything about what money can buy a person?”
Shaking my head, I toed the ground.
“Not really. I’m here on scholarship. I mean, my family isn’t poor, but we’re not mansion wealthy, you know?”
He nodded. “Smart and humble. Who would have thought there are actually people like you at Yale? What does your dad do for a living?”
I thought it was an odd question, but not completely out of place. Most of the students at Yale came from established backgrounds, their parents typically wealthy and well known.
“He runs a tech firm.”
“Interesting.”
Flicking what was left of the joint onto the ground and smashing it with the toe of his black boot, Gabriel looked at me just as Clayton came strolling up the sidewalk toward us. He reached us and nodded his head at Gabriel before wrapping an arm around my waist.
“Sorry I’m late. I got caught up helping Professor Thornton grade some papers.”
Before I could answer him, a familiar voice called from the direction of the front door.
“Gabe, get the fuck in here, we have a gauntlet to announce.”
I stilled at the sound of that deep voice, my skin prickling in response, my teeth grinding together. Beside me, Clayton turned his head to nod in Tanner’s direction, a breath hissing over his lips.
“Oh, shit. Somebody’s about to get it,” Clayton murmured as Gabriel pushed away from the wall and walked in the direction of the front door.
A spike of panic shot down my spine as Gabriel ran up the steps and slapped hands with Tanner.
They were friends? I felt like a fucking idiot for telling him how I felt. There was no doubt in my mind he would pass the information along to Tanner as soon as he had the chance.
As if intuiting my thoughts, Gabriel turned and winked at me before walking completely into the house.
My eyes drifted to Tanner and he tossed me one last glare before shutting the door, the hard slam adding a touch of finality to my social life at Yale.
I knew I shouldn’t have come out here tonight. Now I would have to constantly watch my back because there was no telling what Tanner would do.
Whispering against my ear, Clayton asked, “You doing okay?”
“No,” I answered, tears stinging my eyes. “I feel like an idiot right now.”
Tightening his arm around me, Clayton hugged me to his chest.
“Why? What happened?”
I told him what happened when Everly and I arrived to the party, his brows knotting between his eyes with confusion as I finished the story.
“So wait, if you were pissed off at Tanner then why were you out here talking to Gabriel of all people?”
It felt like a thousand pound boulder had dropped into my stomach, my eyes lifting to his, practically begging him to not finish whatever it was he had to say. I didn’t need to hear the truth, didn’t need to know that the man I just poured all my thoughts out to had been-
“Gabriel is Tanner’s best friend. He’s part of the Inferno...”
Had it been possible to die right there and drift away into the afterlife, I would have happily done so just to escape the consequences of this night.
“So basically, when I told him that I think everybody in his group is an asshole, that means-“
Clayton laughed, but then held me at arm’s length, his brown eyes meeting mine.
“That you called him an asshole as well.”
“But he didn’t say anything,” I argued.
Clayton’s expression softened before he reached over to rub a thumb along my jawline.
“Of course he didn’t. Gabriel’s the best liar known to man. Why do you think everybody calls him Fraud?”