Gabriella Poole - Divided Souls (Darke Academy)

he relaxed and held her closer.

‘Bugger,’ he said softly in her ear as the music changed. ‘I hate this song.’

‘Good. Me too.’ She drew back from him.

‘Too fast for me anyway. I’d fall over my own feet.’

She laughed. ‘Highly unlikely,’ she shouted as the volume and the beat soared. ‘I might pop out for some air, I’m roasting.’ She hesitated.

‘Care to join me?’

Outside, clutching new drinks for both of them, Richard leaned on the balustrade beside her and handed her a glass. Nervously he

turned his own in his hands. Once again she noticed how strong they looked, the knuckles prominent, the sinews etched on his skin. Nice

hands. Attractive hands.

‘So, um.’ He seemed to be casting around for safe conversational topics. ‘What’s going on with Ranjit?’ He’d failed. ‘I, uh, I haven’t seen

him around much lately. Are you—’

‘No,’ she interrupted. ‘We’re not. D’you know what, let’s not talk about him right now.’

‘You mean, you don’t know where he’s got to either? You haven’t seen him?’ He paused. ‘You must be worried.’

‘No,’ she lied. The night was black velvet now, the stars glittering over the sea and the city. She didn’t want to think about Ranjit, not at

the moment. And Estelle was maintaining a low snarky bitching at the back of her brain, a moan about the inferiority of a mate. She

wanted to drown her out. What business was it of hers? It wasn’t as if she even regarded Richard as a ‘mate’, was it?

And yet, she was enjoying his closeness, more than she cared to admit. His arm was touching hers, and she didn’t want to pull away.

Actually she wanted to lean closer. Even as the thought occurred to her, she felt her breathing quicken. Weird. But it was hard to catch her

breath, she realised, only because her heart was skipping and thudding in her ribcage.

Stunned, she turned her head, and found he was looking at her with an expression that suggested he was feeling something too. The

same shock, the same intensity. Unable to pull her eyes away from his, Cassie took a deep breath and—

‘Hey, you guys! Quit hiding!’

They both spun on their heels in unison, breaking the contact of their bodies. Richard cursed under his breath, a wry grin on his lips.

‘Ayeesha! What’s up?’ Cassie covered her confusion with a grin. ‘Where’s Cormac? Off his face?’

Ayeesha mock-gasped and slapped Cassie’s arm cheerfully. ‘Nah, he’s good. We’re all planning a trip into town, check out some

nightclubs. It’s sociological research!’

‘Sounds good to me.’ Richard turned to Cassie with a casual tilt of his eyebrow.

‘Mikhail said he was coming, unfortunately, but I’ll make sure he behaves,’ said Ayeesha with a glower in the direction of the snotty

Russian boy. He didn’t see it, being wrapped round Saski. ‘I saw him and Sara trying to bait you earlier – nicely handled, by the way. I’ve

already given him an earful about how he’s been acting.’

‘I’ll bet you have!’ Cassie laughed, then shook her head. ‘Nothing to do with that, but you know what? I think I’ll call it a night.’

‘Really?’ said Richard, with an edge of disappointment.

‘Really.’ She touched his hand and smiled. ‘Nothing personal, seriously. It’s not you and it’s certainly not Mikhail. It’s Isabella. I felt kind

of guilty leaving her, she’s understandably been finding things difficult lately, and I don’t want to be out till all hours. If I head home and

give her some gossip, hopefully she’ll forgive me for not being around so much this term. And I do owe her for this dress.’

‘Good point.’ He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, his lips lingering a moment longer than was necessary, making her skin tingle.

Single and ready to tingle, Cassandra … Are you still trying to deny it?

Cassie blushed, ignoring Estelle as Richard continued.

‘See you tomorrow, maybe?’

‘Uh, sure. Go on, have fun. See you, guys. Oh, but Ayeesha?’ She paused. ‘Don’t let him get into any trouble, will you?’

Ayeesha gave an unladylike bellow of laughter, then hooked her arm through Richard’s and led him off. Cassie gazed after them wistfully,

then shook herself. It would have been fun – maybe too much fun. But quite honestly she was glad of the break. She needed to have a

good hard think about a few things.

‘Hi, honey, I’m home!’

Cassie barged happily into the room they shared. She’d missed Isabella, she realised; a night out just wasn’t the same without the wild-

haired, wild-brained Argentinian. They had to get back on some kind of even keel. Isabella’s was the friendship she valued most in the

world, for heaven’s sake.

For a fleeting second Isabella didn’t seem to hear her. She was at her desk in the far corner, tousled head bent. ‘It was great to see you,’