Tempted

long tables. I’d expected the nuns to be clustered together, naturally segregating themselves from us, but they weren’t. Sure, they tended to be sitting in twos and threes, but they were surrounded by fledglings—red and blue—and everyone was chattering, which totally killed the ste reo typical image I had in my head of the nuns’ dining room being a place of prayer and quiet (boring) reflection.
    “So are you going to loiter or are you going to actually go in there?” I turned to see Aphrodite and Darius standing behind me. They were holding hands and looking very glowy and, as the Twins would say, happy-smappy.
    “Merry meet, Zoey.” Darius saluted me formally, but his smile gave his respectful gesture a warm, casual feel.
    I threw Aphrodite a see-someone-has-manners look before smiling at the warrior. “Merry meet, Darius. You two look pleased with yourselves. You must have found someplace to get some sleep last night.” I paused, glanced at Aphrodite again, and added, “Sleep or whatnot.”
    “They assured me they
slept
.” Sister Mary Angela emphasized the word as she joined us in the doorway.
    Aphrodite rolled her eyes at the nun, but didn’t say anything.
    “Darius explained to me that the fallen angel has been visiting your dreams, and that Stark seemed to be able to stop him,” said the nun in her usual manner of getting right to the point.
    “What’d Stark do?” Heath skidded to a stop and gave me a giant hug, planting a kiss squarely on my lips. “Do I need to kick his butt?”
    “Not likely you could,” Stark said, joining us from inside the dining room.
    Unlike Heath, he didn’t grab me, but his look was so warm and intimate that it seemed to touch me as thoroughly as Heath’s hug.
    And suddenly I was feeling very guy-claustrophobic. I mean, a buffet of boys sounds like a good idea in theory, but I was quickly finding out that, much like straight-leg designer jeans, it’s only in theory that the idea is good. As if to reinforce my thoughts, Erik chose that instant to join us. Venus, the red fledgling who was Aphrodite’s old roommate, was practically Velcroed to his side. Ugh. Just ugh.
    “Hi everyone. Man, I’m starving!” Erik said. He blazed the big, warm, movie star smile that I used to heart so much.
    Through my peripheral vision I could see Heath and Stark gawking at Erik and his Venus leech, who was definitely suckerfished to his side, which was when I remembered that neither of my other guys knew I’d dumped Erik. I stifled a sigh of pure irritation and instead of ignoring him with the icy attitude I’d have liked to throw his way, I planted my own fake smile on my face and beamed.
    “Hi, Erik, Venus. Well, you guys have definitely come to the right place if you’re hungry. Everything smells super-good.”
    Erik’s smile faltered for just an instant, but his acting skills were way up to the task of making it look as though he’d moved on, like, fifteen seconds after we’d broken up. “Hi, Zoey. Didn’t see you over there. As usual, you’re surrounded by guys. Damn, it always was crowded around you.” With a sarcastic chuckle he pushed past me, bumping Stark with his shoulder.
    “If I shot an arrow and thought about an ass, would it surprise you that I hit Erik?” Stark asked me in a pleasant, nonchalant voice.
    “Wouldn’t surprise me,” Heath said.
    “I can tell you
boys,
from personal experience, that Erik does have one nice ass,” Venus said as she moved to follow Erik into the dining room.
    “Hey, Venus, I have two words for you,” Aphrodite said.
    Venus hesitated and glanced over her shoulder at her ex-roommate. Aphrodite smiled her best mean-bitch sneer and said, “Re. Bound.” She paused and gave a bitchy smirk and then said, “Good luck with that.”
    It was about then that I noticed every eye in the dining room was turned to us and all the conversations had skidded to a halt.
    Erik made a possessive little motion with his hand and Venus practically trotted up to him. Slipping her arm through his, she mashed her boob against his elbow. And then the whispers started like someone had lit them with a match.
    “Erik and Zoey broke up!”
    “Erik’s with Venus!”
    “Zoey and Erik aren’t together!”
    Well, hell.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Zoey

    “I never did like him.” Heath kissed me on the top of my head and then ruffled my hair like I was two years old.
    “You know I hate it when you do that!” I said, trying to smooth back my