Covenant (boyxboy)

Chapter Twenty

Connor had been sulking all morning, but when I passed through the living room on my way out of the house, he lowered his game controller and gaped at me.

Color flared in his cheeks.

I got my helmet off the wall, feeling self-conscious. Maybe the tie was too much? I never wore them.

"Y—you're awfully dressed up," Connor said.

If I was going to make a decent impression today, I had to be. I shrugged into the sleeves of my leather jacket, which didn't compliment the suit I had on.

"You're going to ride your bike like that?"

"Sure you don't want me to drop you off at Ruth's? Baraquel will be home."

Connor scooted back against the couch cushions with a scowl. "I can take care of myself, thanks."

"Don't leave the house, understand?"

"I'm not an idiot."

I paused to look at him. The next few months were going to be tough if he was this upset every time I went courting. There was such a tone of betrayal to his pouting, I wondered if he suspected my intentions. If I was successful negotiating sex at these events, I had to make sure he didn't hear of it.

"I'll be home for dinner." I pulled the front door open, stepped onto the porch, and closed the door behind me. For a minute I stood there, hoping to hear the sounds of his game start back up. The house stayed quiet.

I sighed and walked down to the driveway. With a mental command I opened the garage. My bike hulked in the center of the space, with Connor's smaller blue one parked next to it. He was just beginning to ride on his own, after several weekend tutoring sessions in a nearby bank's parking lot.

He wouldn't try to ride off somewhere by himself tonight, right? Maybe I should have made him surrender the key.

No, that would just antagonize him. Besides, the security system would alert me if he tried to leave. I rolled my bike out to the driveway, closed the garage, and headed for the school campus.

It was Valentine's Day. The official start of courting season. Last year had been a pain in the ass, but this one was shaping up to be worse; I had to talk an Elioud into sex, which I'd have to hide from Connor. If Absalom Kabelas would be choosing my bids at graduation, I had to figure out who he was likely to pick and then make sure none of his choices wanted to accept me, without alerting the rest of Council to the feigned sincerity of my efforts. All of which would take the kind of social sophistication I was so bad at.

If I failed in any of it, Connor would get hurt. That knowledge propelled me to the Brides of Heaven campus despite my reluctance, and into the boggling glitter and noise of the Valentine's Day suitors' luncheon.

Like last year, there was assigned seating at the festive tables filling the school's dining hall. I'd put more consideration into my initial three courting selections. Of this year's graduates, one had seemed particularly likely to deliver what I was looking for. And as luck would have it, she was to be my first date.

"Hi, Ezra." Jordan slid into the chair beside me at the table. She was wearing a red sequined minidress that skimmed her generous curves. Her brown hair had been braided, curled and twisted into a fancy pinned-up style, and sparkly red hearts dangled from her ears, swinging as she tipped her head back to smile at me. "Is it okay if I call you that?"

Besides my mother and Bo, Connor was the only other person who used the humanized version of my name. I rather liked it that way, but couldn't think of how to say so. "Mm."

On Jordan's other side, a sandy-haired Nephilim appeared to be waiting for her to greet him. She must have been one of his top choices for today's event as well. There were always far more Nephilim than available Brides at these things, and the seating arrangement was designed to allow the girls to speed-date multiple suitors at the same time. But Jordan didn't look at him.