𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐃 🩸

CHAPTER THREE

"Noah freaking Claw," Su said under her breath.

We had managed to claim an empty table near the center of the chaotic cafeteria. Su practically glued herself on the seat next to me, while Jessica sat across from us, right next to a lanky, red-haired guy who had joined our table shortly after we arrived. His name was Mark.

"And the girl next to him is his twin, Nerissa Claw," Jessica chimed in, her voice dropping into that gossipy pitch. "The Claws are the most powerful family here in oakhaven."

The vivid image of the twins instantly filled my head—the boy’s impossibly bright, freezing blue eyes and his sister’s delicate, ethereal beauty. Before I could think better of it, the words spilled out of my mouth. "They are very... nice looking."

Su and Jessica instantly exchanged a look. For a second, a hot flush of embarrassment hit me, and I thought I’d said something completely stupid.

"Oh, they’re gorgeous," Su agreed, shaking her head. "But it's strange. They never speak to anyone, and they are always just by themselves. Like the rest of us don't even exist."

I nodded slowly, looking down at my untouched lunch tray. A strange, heavy feeling settled in my chest. To be that isolated, surrounded by hundreds of peers but entirely removed from them—it sounded incredibly lonely. "Have they always lived here in Oakhaven?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Jessica said, shrugging her shoulders as she looked at Mark for answers, but Mark just shrugged back.

Su's eyes suddenly lit up, and she leaned across the table, her voice dropping so low I had to strain to hear it over the clattering of silverware around us. "My mom said they only moved here like two years ago. They used to stay somewhere far off in the East"

I nodded again. I didn't know why, but the lingering annoyance from the hallway collision had completely dissolved. The heavy, defensive anger gave way to a bizarre sense of pity. They were like beautiful, fragile statues trapped in a display case.

I sit with the trio longer than I would have if I was eating alone and because Mark was also having biology and he offered to walk me to class.

The rest of my class for the day had gone smoothly, I hadn't run into Noah claw, but there was a part of me that couldn't forget him standing inches away from me and trying to dig a hole through me with his gazes.

I was so tired when I finally pulled out front of my new apartment. I sat in the car for a second, my hands resting limply on the steering wheel, just staring through the fogged-up windshield as the exhaustion from the day settled deep into my muscles.

Reaching over to the passenger seat, I dug my phone out of my backpack. The screen lit up with hundreds of unread messages from Lexi, all of them a variation of frantically asking how my first day at school went. Honestly, despite how overwhelming it had been, I couldn't wait to tell her all about it. Oakhaven High, the suffocating atmosphere, the bizarre bathroom situation, and... Noah Claw. I could already hear Lexi's dramatic, loud voice in my head the second I told her about the boy with the terrifyingly beautiful glacial eyes.

A sharp, sudden knock on the van window startled me.

I looked over to see Mrs. Gray standing beneath the rusted awning, her severe grey bun slightly damp from the mist. I rolled down the window with a heavy sigh. She didn't look any happier than she had yesterday, but she adjusted her cardigan and peered inside the van, asking how I was finding my new home.

I wanted to tell her about the broken, leaking pipes, the utter lack of privacy, and the girl who had been casually m**********g on an open toilet right across from my shower stall. and the fact that the walls were so thin you could literally hear the conversations in the next room.

But looking at the deep lines etched into her face, I knew she wouldn't care. It was a cheap student apartment, you either adapted to the grit or you packed your bags.

"It's... fine, Mrs. Gray," I lied smoothly, forcing a tight, polite smile as I gripped the steering wheel.

She gave a single, dismissive nod and walked off . I took a deep breath to steady myself, grabbed my backpack, and got out of the van. I made sure the rusty locks clicked into place before heading toward the building, eager to just hide away in my room for the rest of the afternoon.

I hurried up the concrete stairs and pushed open the door to my room.

Roxie was there.

she was sitting, half dressed in a faded band tee, completely naked from her waist down.She didn't look remotely bothered by her lack of pants, entirely engrossed in whatever she was typing on her phone.

Standing in the center of the small space between our beds , with his back completely turned to me, was a guy. He was shirtless, his broad, solid shoulders tapering down to a lean waist, and his tanned skin was slick with a light sheen of sweat as he stretched upward, working on a water-stained patch of the ceiling roof.

"Hey," Roxie muttered, barely looking up from her screen. "Look who decided to grace us with her presence."

At the sound of the door closing, the guy paused. He lowered his arms, grabbing a grey t-shirt from the bedside table, and turned around to face me as he pulled it over his head.

My breath caught for an entirely different reason than it had earlier with Noah Claw.

he was hot.

He looked a little older than us, maybe twenty, with broad, heavy shoulders and a deeply tanned, golden complexion that suggested he spent all his time outdoors. A soft, untamed mess of chestnut-brown curls fell over his forehead, framing a strong, honest jawline.

When his eyes met mine, a pair of rich, dark hazel eyes crinkling at the corners, he gave me a look that was incredibly sweet. A slow, easy smile spread across his face, revealing a dimple on one cheek.

"Hey," he said, his voice a deep, comforting rumble that seemed to instantly ground the chaotic energy of the room. He wiped his dusty, calloused hands on the front of his jeans and then pushed it in front of me."You must be Sapphire."

"Saph," I corrected softly. then threw a look at Rosie who was smiling mischievously.

Christ, what had she told him about me?

When I reached out and took his hand, his grip wrapped completely and securely around mine. He was burning hot—his skin radiating a fierce, unnatural heat that immediately chased away the lingering Oakhaven chill settled deep in my bones.It felt like standing too close to a bonfire in the middle of winter.

"Stop drooling, jacob," Roxie drawled from her bed, a wicked smirk playing on her lips.

Jacob, I thought, letting the name settle in my mind.

Jacob chuckled, a low, easy sound, though a faint, boyish flush crept up his golden neck. He didn't let go of my hand right away, his thumb brushing lightly against my knuckles, anchoring me to the floorboards.

Rosie is still watching us, she lits a cigarette and leans against the wall."Saph, Jacob is a handyman around here. Basically, he fixes everything that this piece-of-s**t building throws at us."

Jacob finally let go of my hand, though the phantom heat of his palm remained branded against my skin. He flashed me a playful, crooked grin, his hazel eyes gleaming with a sudden, quiet intensity. "Well, I hope you find something broken in your room soon, Saph. I'd love an excuse to come back and repair something for you."

I felt my cheeks flare, blushing so hard I probably looked like a complete fool.

Jacob gather up his tool, waved at Rosie and then winked at me before leaving.

"Whoa," Roxie chuckled, shaking her head as the door clicked shut. "Jacob completely likes you. I’ve never seen him so... lost. Usually, he just grunts, fixes the pipes, and bails."

I didn't even have the energy to process that. I dragged my feet across the room, dropped my heavy backpack onto the floor with a dull thud, and collapsed face-first onto my stiff mattress. My body felt weighed down by the sheer, overwhelming gravity of the day.

"Tell me how school was," Roxie demanded, blowing a stream of grey smoke toward the open window.

"Exhausting," I mumbled into my pillow.

Roxie took a long, final drag of her cigarette before stubbing it out of the open window. "Well, I know exactly what will lighten your mood."

"What?" I asked, rolling over onto my side to look at her, instantly suspicious of the wicked spark in her eyes.

"A party," she announced.