Chapter 27 CHAPTER 027
Reis and Ren. What weird names for a couple to have. They sound like names siblings would have. Sage thinks ‘Reis and Sage’ sounds better, more couple-like, and more fucking compatible.
The silver-haired elemental snorts at his own thoughts.
“Are you actually murmuring to yourself right now?” Xavi utters in amusement from behind Sage as he follows closely behind the elemental, his hands shoved into his pockets.
“I am. Do you have a problem with that?” Sage snaps, and Xavi chuckles.
“No, the only problem I have right now is where the heck we're going. " Xavi rolls his eyes as he says.
“You’ll see,” Sage retorts with a smirk while his eyes glint dangerously. You see, Sage has always been petty. When Sage wants something, he doesn’t sit around and cry about it. He takes it, or he ruins it for everyone else. And as he said before, he has never had a problem breaking up couples before; he’s certainly going to break this one up.
They arrive at the underground garage, which is thick with the smell of oil and exhaust, filled with different parked cars of professors, who are the only ones allowed to leave the damn academy, as if that stupid rule has ever stopped Xavi and Sage from doing what the fuck they want.
Sage stops abruptly in front of a sleek, silver sedan: Ren’s car. He smirks, eyes glinting dangerously, a crooked thought crossing his mind. “Freeze the brake,”
Xavi snaps his head at him, his brow furrowing. “Sage, what the hell?”
“Just do it, Xavi,” Sage snaps, turning his silver eyes toward his friend, the pupils blown wide with a manic intensity. "It's not like she's going to die; maybe a little accident, and she gets stuck in the woods for a while before she’s found. I bet she’ll never want to come back here again.”
Xavi stares at the lightning elemental for a minute longer, as if he has grown an extra head on his shoulder. Then he chuckles and shakes his head in amusement. “You’re crazy, dude."
“All is fair in love and war, and you don’t get to judge me."
Xavi shakes his head and steps towards the car. “I’m not judging. We’re just two eighteen-year-olds driven by hormones and infatuation,” he smirks because he knows he’ll do far worse. What if she ever comes back here? That’s just another obstacle out of the way, right? He and sage won’t be best friends if they weren't both crooked in one way or the other.
He steps forward, pressing his palms against the wheel wells, and a frost creeps over the metal, the temperature plummeting until the hydraulic lines beneath are nothing but brittle tubes of ice.
“Done,” Xavi mutters, pulling his hands back into his pockets, his expression returning to a bored look.
“Perfect,” Sage whispers, breaking into a large smile, but just then, they hear the sound of approaching steps. "Fuck," he mutters, grabbing Xavi’s hand and pulling him along.
They duck behind a concrete pillar just as the heavy metal doors of the elevator open. Sage’s breath hitches. It’s them; Reis and Ren walk out, their fingers intertwined.
Sage watches through the gap in the concrete, his nails digging into his palms as they stop in front of the car, and then Ren throws her arms around the professor’s neck and presses her lips together. The sight makes Sage’s skin crawl with a literal electric current.
Reis doesn’t see them; he’s too busy looking at her with that soft expression that Sage wants to rip off his face.
“I’ll see you later?” Ren asks with a sweet smile, and Reis nods. With one final kiss, Ren enters the car. Sage smirks as she drives out of the garage while Reis lingers for a moment, adjusts his coat, and then heads back toward the elevator, completely oblivious to the two pairs of eyes watching him.
Xavi comes out of his hiding place. “How long do you think it’s going to take before she realizes her brakes are ice blocks?” he asks, walking over to one of the parked cars and freezing the handle before dragging it open.
Sage’s eyes glimmer sinisterly. “Not for long,”
“You coming?” Xavi motions his head towards the car. “The city awaits.”
“Hell yeah.”
As if Sage would miss an adventure in the city to be stuck in some fucked-up academy. Well, the rules be damned and, of course, the consequences, because they have never cared.
~~
The city lights are a blur as Xavi’s stolen car eats up the miles between the academy and the city. By the time they reach their favorite club, the bass is thumping through the pavement, vibrating in Sage’s chest like a second heartbeat.
Inside, the club is a sea of moving bodies and flashing lights, the perfect place to disappear.
“Go get a drink, Sage. You look like you’re ready to snap,” Xavi shouts over the music, already scanning the crowd.
Sage doesn't need to be told twice. He pushes through the crowd, his silver hair catching the light. He ends up on the dance floor seconds later when a tall guy with dark hair and a sharp jawline leans in.
"You're too pretty to be alone," the stranger says, his voice a low rumble. He reaches out, sliding a hand onto Sage’s waist to pull him into the music.
Sage lets him. He moves with the beat, letting the heat of a stranger’s body press against his own, but his mind is miles away. Every time he blinks his eyes, he doesn't see this guy; he sees the way Reis looked at Ren in that garage.
He feels the phantom memory of the kiss he shared with Reis at a club on his eighteenth birthday, the one that started this whole obsession.
The stranger spins him around, whispering something about leaving, but Sage’s skin just feels cold. The guy’s hands are too large, and he smells nothing like Professor Reis.
He wonders if Ren has tried to use her brakes yet. He wonders if Reis is sitting in his office right now, thinking about his fiancée, while Sage is out here trying to distract his body and mind in a room full of strangers.
"Hey, you okay?" the guy asks, pulling back to look at Sage’s blank face.
Sage blinks, his silver eyes flashing with a sharp spark of static that makes the guy flinch and pull his hand away.
“That’s freaky, dude. " The guy grimaces, and then the next second, he walks away from Sage as he’s going to burn him. Only if he realizes the world isn't just made of ordinary humans.
Sage snorts and rolls his eyes; his mind stays stuck somewhere else because Sage is going to get what he wants one way or the other.