Page 58 of Lured By Shadows

“Always,” he replied thoughtfully.

Finally, I glanced over to find Rupert and Soroush watching us. It was probably because Culver had pulled me so close that I barely had room left to breathe. Or maybe, to them, I was simply another thing being studied.

Just as I was to Culver.

16

Soroush was the one who spoke first, his voice carrying an accent I couldn’t quite place.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Ira.”

I frowned slightly at that, the word “finally” catching on something in my mind, but I pushed it aside and managed a smile anyway. God, it sounded like some sort of prophecy. “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you too.”

“We will be seeing each other more often now.” There was something about the way he spoke that drew me in more than I expected, as though each word had been considered carefully before being spoken aloud.

It made sense. My ma worked for the Scarbroughs, and he was around campus. Our paths were bound to cross eventually. Still, the phrasing sent a faint shiver across my neck, as though there was something beneath it I wasn’t fully catching.

“I guess so,” I replied, though my voice came out slightly higher than I wanted.

Wanting to steer things somewhere safer before the silence stretched too long, I spoke again.

“Are you going on the trip too, Soroush?”

He hesitated just enough for me to notice.

“I cannot go this time.” Another brief pause. “I’m needed on campus.”

My mouth tipped into a small pout. “That sucks, but I totally get it. You sound like me back in high school. I never got a break. There was always something going on.”

That earned a quiet chuckle from him, warm and genuine.

“I can assure you,” he said, meeting my eyes, “we are not so different, you and I.”

I froze.

Not because it sounded threatening, but because it landed as though he knew something I didn’t. I almost asked what he meant but stopped myself. Too many people were listening. Too many eyes had quietly settled on us. Whatever he was hinting at, it clearly wasn’t meant for this table.

I leaned back in my chair, suddenly hyper-aware of everything around me. The way Culver kept watching me as though he were tracking every shift in my mood. The way Anna and Liam had gone just quiet enough to listen. The way Julius and Eunice exchanged brief looks carrying meaning without words.

Whatever Soroush had started, it wasn’t finished. It was only postponed.

The soft sound of rain tapping against the roof sliced through the tension, oddly calming. I let it pull me out of the spiral forming in my head and decided not to push anything further tonight. There was only so much strange energy I could handle in one sitting.

I turned slightly toward Culver instead. “Have you ever danced in the rain, Culver?”

He hummed, unbothered, the sound low in his chest.

“I have. Although,” he added, tilting his head slightly, “I am not much of a dancer, unless you speak of ballads.”

Of course he knew ballroom dancing. Why wouldn’t he?

“Oh, so you can dance,” I teased. “I kinda pictured you awkwardly wiggling your hands and calling it rhythm.”

A low chuckle escaped him, and my chest reacted stupidly in response.

“There is only one way to find out,” he murmured, the look in his eyes practically daring me to imagine it.

Everything he said sounded far too close to foreplay.