The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism novel Chapter 229

Chapter 229: 229 | Manipulation and Inspiration

The California sunset painted the campus in shades of orange and pink that belonged on a postcard, the kind of light that made everything look expensive and romantic and completely at odds with the fact that I’d spent most of the day being told I wasn’t good enough by a woman who could probably kill me with her pinky finger.

Sloane walked beside me on the path that wound through the lower campus, her pink hair catching the dying light in ways that made it look like actual fire. Her hand found mine without either of us saying anything about it, fingers lacing together with the ease of something we’d done a thousand times before. The Devotion’s Echo hummed with contentment, a low and steady warmth that had nothing to do with her Aspect and everything to do with proximity.

"The view here is stupid good," she said.

"They charge enough tuition. Might as well get a nice sunset out of it."

The training fields stretched out below us, empty now that evaluations had ended. Beyond them, the tree line marked the edge of campus property, and beyond that, the California hills rolled toward an ocean we couldn’t see but could smell when the wind shifted right. Halloran had been built on this elevation for a reason. Elena Halloran wanted her school visible from the waterfront. She also wanted her students to see exactly what they were training to protect.

Manipulation and inspiration weren’t opposites. They were the same thing wearing different outfits.

"We’re not going to have a lot of time for this," Sloane said. Her thumb traced circles on the back of my hand, a gesture that was probably unconscious and definitely distracting. "Classes. Training. Agency rotations. All the bullshit that comes with actually becoming Heroes instead of just talking about it."

"Worried you’ll miss me?"

"I’m worried you’ll do something stupid while I’m not watching."

"That’s basically the same thing."

She shoulder-checked me hard enough that I had to catch my balance, but she didn’t let go of my hand, which undermined the violence somewhat. The warmth bleeding through her skin had nothing to do with the sunset and everything to do with the fact that Sloane ran hot in every sense of the word.

"I’m serious." Her voice dropped into a register that meant she actually was. "Different cohorts. Different schedules. Steele has you at six in the morning for conditioning. Hale has us at seven. We won’t even eat breakfast at the same time most days."

"Then we make time for other meals."

"And when even that gets complicated?"

I stopped walking. She stopped with me, turning to face me with the sunset behind her and her eyes catching the light in ways that made my chest do something uncomfortable. Sloane Fitzgerald didn’t look worried often. When she did, it landed different than worry looked on other people. Less fear and more frustration, like the universe had presented a problem she couldn’t solve by setting it on fire.

"It’ll be fine."

"You don’t know that."

"I know I’m going to be a strong Hero." I said it like a fact because I was planning to make it one. "Strong enough that schedule conflicts won’t matter because I’ll handle whatever needs handling fast enough to make time for what actually matters."

Her expression shifted. The worry didn’t disappear, but something else joined it, something that looked like competitive fire struggling against the urge to be romantic.

"Second to me."

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