Jia Li had a hard time keeping eye contact with her friend as she was telling her story. It was horrible, remembering all of it all over again. Telling her dad right after it had happened had been hard, but part of her really just wanted to forget it had ever happened. Thankfully, once the bruises healed as long as her cheek didn’t scar, she would have an easier time. All that would be left would be memories. Then again, the dryad had never been very good at not thinking about things. It just wasn’t easy for someone who dwelled so heavily on the past.
Every time she did meet the siren’s gaze, she could see how enrapt in the story Kay was. Her eyes held concern, and it warmed Jia Li’s heart a little to know that someone else cared about what had happened. Her father had been incredibly supportive and understanding. She didn’t know if he’d ever been through anything like that, but it was practically a parent’s job to worry about what’s best for their children.
Jia Li flinched and groaned when her friend’s arms wound tightly around her, pressing against her bruises. “Yeah. I’m fine. My dad took me to the hospital to make sure nothing was broken, but I have some pretty nasty bruises. I was lucky.” Jack had definitely gotten the short end of the stick, but the fact that he’d lived through it was amazing. She was still really happy he was alive, even if he hadn’t seemed very happy about that fact. She had another bruise on her scalp that was easily hidden by her hair from where his head had collided with hers, but that was definitely the less painful of all of her battle wounds. That bruise would probably be gone by tomorrow or the next day.
Then Kay revealed that Jack lived in the Arvandor dorms. Her mind began going over the races of which she was aware that were paired in that house; aliens, angels, and demi-gods seemed like the only likely options for a race that would apply to Jack, but weren’t angels supposed to be kind and pure? Plus, he seemed to have too many earthly references under his belt to be an alien. What kind of demi-god would be able to wield lightning and heal like that?
Jia Li furrowed her brow in minor confusion when Kay began to say how she knew Jack wasn’t human. If she’d made a sexual reference, it went way over her head. The dryad let it drop because the siren obviously didn’t want to talk about it, or she wouldn’t have changed the subject. She also considered what Kay said about Jack’s father being the reason why he healed. What could someone else have done aside from granting genetics that would have forced a healing ability? Maybe genetics was all that he’d meant when he told Kay? What if that was part of what he’d hinted at when he’d implied that he hadn’t had a choice in how much his life sucked? There were too many pieces of this puzzle for her to figure this out right now.
“We should bring him something when we go check on him. Do you know if he likes pizza?” Jia Li asked her friend as she stood from the couch. She was pretty sure that if they didn’t bring him something enticing, he would just slam the door in her face. Then again, Kay was enticing, right? They had slept together, even if the dryad hated thinking about that fact.