Free The Blood Between Us by Zac Brewer

me.”
    “People? Hmm.” He raised an eyebrow at me as he took another sip from his cup. “A girlfriend, perhaps?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    “A boyfriend, then?” I gave him a look—not to deny anything, but to ask him to back out of my personal life. He held up his palms defensively. “I just want to know that you’re talking to someone when you have a bad day.”
    Boyfriends. Girlfriends. Aardvarks. Whatever I might be in to, it was my business and mine alone.
    “I have friends. We talk sometimes.” I took another drink and glanced around the café. For the first time, it really hit me that I had left Connor and all my friends on the other side of the country. And even a month was a long timeto be away. Who would I talk to here when I had a bad day?
    “What do you talk about? Your family? About what happened?” He was looking at me over the rim of his coffee cup in that way that adults do when they want you to know that they’re concerned about your well-being. That way that said, I know I’m prying, but I’m only doing so because I care .
    “No. Never about that.” This was just what I needed. It wasn’t bad enough that I’d been dragged away from my life in California to spend time with Grace—now he wanted to talk about my dead parents. One of Viktor’s conditions of my moving out west was that I’d see a counselor to deal with my grief. I’d gone twice. As far as I was concerned, it had been enough to fulfill my obligation—especially considering I hadn’t wanted to go see the guy in the first place. “Why would I talk about that?”
    “Because maybe talking about it will ease your pain.” I knew that he was only trying to help. I knew that he had the best of intentions. However, this was the one subject that I didn’t want to talk about. With anyone. Male. Female. Whatever. As far as I was concerned, the topic was off-limits.
    “Julian.”
    “I know. I know. I’m prying.” He returned his cup to the table. “Will you have one more dinner with us before we lose you to dorm life? It would make Viktor happy to have you for another night.”
    When I hesitated to respond, he said, “Come on. I’ll make a pot roast.”
    It was a tempting offer. Julian did make one hell of a pot roast. But I thought that I might be able to sweeten the deal. “And a cherry crumble?”
    A smile settled on his lips. He knew exactly what I was doing. He also knew that Viktor was the whole reason I’d come back from California. There was no way I was going to say no to an evening with the two of them. “Of course.”
    “When will you discuss things with Grace?” I had a feeling she would be invited to dinner as well, and I wanted to do my best to keep my promise. “Our arrangement?”
    “Tonight.” Julian’s brow dropped. “Are you having second thoughts?”
    “No, I just . . .” A tension had settled at the base of my spine. “She may not agree. And then Viktor . . .”
    “She’ll agree to keep the peace for Viktor’s sake, Adrien. You both care about him. There’s no reason she won’t.” He set his cup on the table and met my eyes. “Besides, I’m the one asking her, not you. She’ll say yes.”
    After a quick run to the bookstore, we returned to my dorm room with a new leather messenger bag filled with all the books I’d need for the coming school year. The door swung open, revealing a thin boy in jeans and a short-sleeved plaid shirt. His hair was dirty blond and could haveused a comb. He looked surprised to see us, but quickly recovered and smiled. “Hey. I’m Quinn. You must be Adrien.”
    “Yeah. I guess we’re roommates, eh?” I shook the newcomer’s hand.
    “Looks that way. You all finished moving in?”
    “I dropped some of my crap off earlier, but I won’t actually be here until tomorrow. Feel free to set up anything you want. Put your stuff wherever. I’m not picky.”
    “Cool.” Quinn unzipped his suitcase as Julian and I headed for the door. “See you