Forbidden Feast

Ch. 2: brown eyes and pretty boys

Mathew's eyes popped open as he jumped like someone pricked him with a cattle prod. His head slammed into his bed frame and then the floor when he flinched. Groaning, Mathew struggled against the cool floor underneath his bed, slowly putting everything together.

Yesterday, he moved into the Briggs dorm at Black Hawthorne University.

This place is where his parents were last seen alive.

It just so happened that he got held hostage at this school, but it's also the place where his father and brother, Dante, saved him.

A pair of sneakers appeared in the crack between the floor and the bed. Jace's deep voice made Mathew jump. "Do you always sleep underneath the bed?"

Mathew closed his eyes, tapping his forehead against the floor. "I wish I could say no, but..." Mathew sighed. "But I don't sleep here all the time." He wouldn't admit it, but it was usually when he had a nightmare. Closing his eyes, Mathew could recall the rain, the swarm of red eyes, and all the sharp teeth. His body remembered the pain from those vampire bites.

Jace made some sort of dismissive hum and his feet disappeared. The next second, it sounded like Jace grabbed his stuff and walked out the door. Mathew let out a sigh of relief. At least Jace wouldn't be here to watch him shamefully wiggle out from under the bed. Mathew could only take so much embarrassment before he internally exploded.

None of it had felt real since day one. He woke up every single day that first week with a start and only half the time he'd still be sleeping in his bed. All the other times, Mathew wasn't so lucky. Every time, he crawled out, meeting Jace's judgmental brown eyes and wishing to crawl back inside.

Never in his life had Mathew been so hated for no reason.

Mathew didn't know what to do or how to act.

And Jace was everywhere. Over half the classes Mathew attended, he'd walk inside and immediately spot Jace already sitting in the back of the classroom. Their eyes would meet and hit Mathew like a baseball bat to the chest and he couldn't hold eye contact long enough to gauge Jace's reaction. More and more Mathew resented Jace's good looks. He looked like a model off a sports catalog with a golden tan, dark short hair, and those dark brown eyes.

It was one thing to embarrass himself in front of a stranger.

It was another to be embarrassed in front of a hot guy that hated him for no reason.

Mathew walked out of one of the precious few classes he didn't share with Jace and immediately slammed into someone's chest. "Sorry," Mathew said, but the word caught in his throat when he looked up and there Jace was... again. This had to be a cruel joke.

The faintest sneer poisoned Jace's beautiful face. "If you keep following me, Matty, I'm gonna get a restraining order."

"I'm not following you," Mathew insisted, hearing the whine in his voice and knowing he sounded like a little kid. He could leave the Ventura castle, but he would always be the baby that still couldn't handle a little teasing.

Mathew could feel his face turn red as he tried to fight back that smug look. "Isn't it a little conceited to think that? I don't think about you when you're not around."

A small chuckle puffed out of Jace and he just breezed by with a look that he didn't believe Mathew at all. Gripping his backpack, Mathew nearly ripped his strap in two. With a huff, Mathew stormed through the hallways and raced to his next class. He barged into his advanced grammar class, tossing his bag against his desk, and threw himself down in a huff. Other students were filing in, walking right by as Mathew muttered to himself, "He thinks he's so cool. I can't stand him."