Free The 52nd (The 52nd Saga Book 1) by Dela

did. Don’t argue. And besides, I want her to be our friend. And then if she is a cop, she can protect us if something goes wrong. Where do you think she keeps hergun?”
    “Bri, one, we don’t need protection, and two, Gabriella is married.”
    “So? Married people have friends,” she said. She sounded sonaïve.
    I laughed, baffled. “Yeah, other marriedpeople.”
    “Well, she said yes. So everyone is meeting at my house on Friday after school. Oh, and we’re crashing at my house after,” she added quickly.
    “Did I ever have a say inthis?”
    She paused. “Well, notreally.”
    “Then why did you bother to callme?”
    “I don’t know? Habit I guess. You will be there, though,” she insisted.
    “Bri, I don’t . . .”
    “Great, see you then!” Her voice went up an octave as if she’d inhaled helium. “Got to go. Tommy’s calling.”
    I tossed my phone on the pillow, went to the bathroom, and brushed my teeth, deciding to shower in the morning. After I put on my pajamas, I rolled onto my bed and stared at the white-and-red flowers sitting on the windowsill. Max and Casey must have gone to the grocery store to buy them. Mom didn’t have those kind of roses in her garden, and she wasn’t the buying-flowers type. They were nice to look at, though, and I fell asleep admiringthem.

Lucas
    CHAPTER FIVE
    Tick
    I didn’t realize how much Zara hung out with Jett. Watching them, though, I realized I was growing fond of her. The way he’d touched her in the cafeteria the other day made me cringe. I’d added myself to Zara’s History 113 class a week before. When I found out Monday that he was in the same section as Zara and I, I made Dylan work his godly measure on him after school. Jett changed classes.
    Still, that boy was relentless. He rode in her car when Zara went to pick up her last check from Lucky Pin. I knew because I followed them. I never let Zara out of my sight. If I couldn’t do it, then someone in my familydid.
    I imagined how it would go when she saw me in her class. I figured it probably wouldn’t be good, since she despised me at the moment, but the girl didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t going anywhere. I mean, I couldn’t because I was protecting her, but I didn’t want to either. The prospect of getting to know a sacrifice was too fascinating.
    I walked into the auditorium promptly at one o’clock and sat in the first row of stadium seats. In all my years of college, I’d been accustomed to sitting in the last row up top, but I wanted Zara to see me clear as day. I set my only notebook down on my lap and leaned back, rubbing the nubs of hair on my chin as I listened to her footsteps trotting nearer. I smiled, anxious to see her reaction, but when she walked in, her sling bag was sliding off her shoulder, and she fiddled with it instead of noticing me. Her gorgeousness pleased my eyes, and my stomach tensed with desire to be closer to her than I already was. I counted down as she unknowingly stepped closer tome.
    On the count of one, when she finally looked up and realized the only empty seat in the room was next to me, her mouth droppedopen.
    “Hi,” Isaid.
    She plopped the heavy brown pleather bag down on the floor and sat silently. I watched her, noting the extreme tension that tightened herbody.
    “How are you?” Iasked.
    Her eyes barely grazed mine before her chin dropped toward my arm. “So what’s with the tattoos?”
    I wasn’t ready for that. I swept my right hand over my markings . I hadn’t thought about the girl having a personality—much less not liking me. I’m breaking a tradition that could kill me, and this is how I’m treated? I still liked her, but I glanced away, bothered. “It’s a family thing. We all haveone.”
    “Like acrest?”
    “Something of the sort,” I replied.
    “What do theymean?”
    I looked back to her and snickered in a way that made her recoil. “Wouldn’t you like toknow?”
    When her gaze wavered, I leaned in, lifting one