Hidden Flame 26

*Avery**
I know that they said that they wanted a clean slate, but I still don’t trust it. Have they changed how
they treat me? Yes, and they had started before I was tortured and left for dead. “Fine, I will go.” I
didn’t want to sound eager and I didn’t want to not allow him a chance especially since he was the
one who noticed I was missing on Friday night. Plus, it will be nice to have another friend. Trisha is
my only friend here and I can’t be around her in public because of the Hags. What are they going to
do? Come up to Clint and question him. I wonder what he would say?
I used the rest of the class period to finish the date project. Clint offered a few suggestions here and
there, but I got the impression that he had never been on a real date. I haven’t either, but I have read
about plenty in the romance books that I read. I have not had a male friend since Tim. I hope that the
family who adopted him has given him a good life.
“Meet me at my car,” Clint says as the dismissal bell rings. I deposited the finished date on Mrs.
Moore’s desk as I exited the classroom.
Conner was waiting by my locker. He whispers, “Are you ready to go home?”
I sigh and whisper, “About that…umm…Clint is taking me to a cafe.”
I saw hurt fill his eyes before he shrugged and walked away. I feel terrible now. I also hope that this
won’t turn into a competition between them because if it does, the only loser will be me. At least,
based on everything that I have read it will be. As I made my way into the parking lot, I saw Lenore
storm away from Clint’s car. After I made sure that she couldn’t see me, I got into the passenger side
of his blue sports car.
I love blue, but I feel so out of place. I did in Conner’s dark red BMW but not as much as I do in
Clint’s Ferrari. When dragons venture into the human world, they only return with the best things
and cars are no exception. Every year, they buy the newest models too. Royal dragons control gem
and precious metal mines, so they either use their stock dividends to buy things or take some gems
or metals to sell. They also use it to pay their servants like me.
As we are driving, Clint turns on the radio. “What music do you like?” he asks.
Dumbfounded, I stare at him. “Ummm…I don’t know. I don’t have a radio. I just read.”
ar something that you like, hit this button,” he says wi
s the longest that I have ever spent time around them. I know everything about The Trio, yet I don’t
know them
p, huh? I imagined that you would like
look like the undead doesn’t me
jokes. I think that we will
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rio finally maturing into the men that I read about? If they are, the next twenty-three Mondays just
go
us what we would like. “I would like a venti berr
inement with a slight edge. Excellent cho
nd on his shoulder, “You have never ordered for yourself, have you?” He shr
,” he says as his voice upturns making
salted caramel macchiato. He loves cookies
miss. You seem to know