A Thin Line Between Love & Hate (Love Conquers All series) ORIGINAL VERSION

Chapter 29: "No Greater Joy"

"Who're they?" Marsha indicated the two girls who were walking their way with Josh, Wiley, and Elijah.

"My guess," Brandon said. "Patty and Grace."

"Which is the one who has her talons in Josh?"

"Grace." Even if Brandon hadn't already known how Josh felt about Grace, the look on Josh's face now was evidence enough that he wasn't happy about the arrangement. He kept his eyes down, surely afraid to let Grace or the others catch him looking at Brandon.

James said nothing, his focus on the spot where Uriah had gone into the school from the side entrance. Before today, the guy had never made a show of trying to avoid them. But after yesterday...would he now avoid James like the plague? Did he worry at all that James would tell everyone what had happened?

Brandon caught James' brief glance and the disappointment he felt was clear as a bell. He hadn't expected Uriah to acknowledge him—James was too smart for that—but like Brandon and Marsha, he'd wanted a close-up look at the guy just for savoring.

When the others approached and passed by, Marsha leaned forward and smiled. "Good morning, Elijah."

James and Brandon looked at her, stunned. As far as they knew, she'd never spoken to the guy. He appeared a bit startled as well and glanced her way.

"In your dreams, dyke," Patty snorted, and she, Wiley, and Grace laughed.

"Shut up," Elijah snapped at her, halting her and the rest of them in their tracks.

Patty stared at him. "What? I was just-"

"I don't care," Elijah said, annoyed. "You don't speak for me—ever. Do you understand?"

Josh shot a quick look at Brandon while the other three were focused on Elijah. Brandon offered him a small, discreet smile and the look that warmed Josh's eyes caused a sudden pleasant shiver to skitter down Brandon's body.

"Whatever." Patty rolled her eyes and they continued on.

Elijah hesitated a fraction of a minute, cast Marsha a fleeting glance then followed the others without replying to her good morning. It didn't faze her. She smiled and sighed dreamily, her head dropping against Brandon's shoulder. "There's a good heart in that boy, I just know it," she murmured, staring after him.

"I think so," Brandon agreed.

"The oldest one, I'm not so sure," she said. "I'd like to think so, but that guy is cold and scary. It's hard to imagine him ever expressing any kind of emotion other than negative ones." She sighed and hopped off the wall, then look at the two boys. "I hope I'm wrong."

Brandon looked at James who was staring at the ground, making no attempt to offer input. "Well, you never know about people," Brandon said. "Sometimes they surprise you in the most unexpected ways." He smiled. "We'll hold out hope for him, too."

"Amen, brother." Marsha fist-bumped him and James and headed into the school.

As soon as she was gone, James slid off the wall. "We should head in, too," he murmured.

Brandon joined him and draped his arm over his shoulder. "Cheer up," he said. "Look at it this way, he chose you. And he didn't even threaten you not to tell anyone. Whether he admits it or not, that kind of sounds to me like he trusts you not to spread it around what happened between the two of you." He hugged James' neck and grinned. "That's a good thing, baby. There's obviously a whole lot going on under the surface of that guy, and I can imagine it must be horribly stressful trying to deal with it in a home situation like theirs."