Free Burning Yves (Benedicts #2.5) by Joss Stirling

 

     
     
    Yves Benedict bent his head over the sink, taking deep breaths. His pale-blue graduation robes flopped around his wrists, mortar board slipping over his eyes. ‘I can do this.’
    ‘Bro, you wanted to be valedictorian.’ His elder brother, Xav, turned on the water, waiting for it to run cold. He took off Yves’ cap and put it to one side.
    ‘ Wanted is putting it too strongly. Elected, then pressured to go through with it is more like it.’
    ‘I mean, what were you thinking?’ Xav rested a cool palm on the back of his brother’s neck and let a little of his calming energy run into Yves. ‘The rest of us avoided it.’
    ‘Apart from Uriel.’ Yves splashed his face.
    ‘Yeah, but he doesn’t count. Golden boy was destined from the cradle to make the leavers’ speech at High School, the forgivable exception that proves the rule for the Benedict brothers. You, however, have flaws.’
    ‘Flaws?’
    ‘You’re way too clever for a mere mortal.’
    Yves was already feeling less sick thanks to his brother’s healing touch. The shuddering in his stomach had quietened to a tremor. ‘Good to know.’
    ‘You could’ve done the decent thing, just flunked a few classes, ended up somewhere in the middle like us, but did you? Hell no. You had to go graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Hang your head in shame.’
    Yves knew his brother’s teasing was all to make him feel better about the speech he had to give in front of the whole of Wrickenridge High, parents and teachers. And do you know what? It was working. ‘I suppose I could just go mess up that image now. Blurt out something really inappropriate. Set fire to the principal’s robes.’
    ‘That’s more like it.’ Xav patted him on the back. ‘As long as it’s not a lame rap like that guy tried last year when I graduated.’
    ‘The thought hadn’t crossed my mind.’
    ‘You get up there and tell us how you’re going to shake the dust off your feet as you leave this two-bit town in the Rockies. San Francisco here you come. No looking back as you make your technology fortune. Oh, but wait: you’ve already done that.’ Xav’s eyes twinkled with amusement, his long legs crossed at the ankle as he leant against the sink.
    Yves cleaned his glasses on the hem of his robe and resettled them on his nose. He didn’t know why anyone was impressed by his security app for the iPhone that Apple had bought. The money had come too easily for something that was to him a bit of fun. He had a knack for thinking up these things.
    The door banged open and another student came into the boys’ restroom. Fate wasn’t being kind: it was Brendan Watts, Yves’ main academic rival, seeing him at this low point. In any other school, Brendan would be a shoo-in for doing the valedictory and had made it clear he resented being passed over. The student body and teachers, however, had been unanimous in their choice.
    ‘’S’up, Yves?’ Brendan said casually.
    ‘Oh, hi.’ Yves straightened his tie.
    ‘All ready for your big moment? Gonna hit this one out of the park?’ If Yves had one weak spot, it was ball sports.
    Xav stood up. ‘Of course he is. He’s a Benedict. Come on, Yves.’
    ‘Jerk,’ Xav muttered as he marched Yves out into the corridor where the rest of the family were waiting. Trace and Uriel, the two oldest Benedicts, were talking to old teachers. Victor was hanging back, brow furrowed as he texted on his phone, acting as if he couldn’t take a break from work even for his kid brother’s graduation. The FBI had absorbed all his attention since he joined, but the family felt it was a good way of channelling his more dangerous energies. Victor could manipulate minds, a gift it would be tempting to misuse. Middle brother, Will, was throwing a football to amuse some of the younger children who were bored waiting for the ceremony to start. He was Yves’ definition of a solid, decent guy. And his younger brother, Zed? Yves didn’t even have to look for