“Tess agreed to tutor all of us,” Kade answered.
Chapter 6
BASTION SPOKE UP FIRST when Kade made his announcement. “I don’t need a tutor, Pumpkin, but if you want to play student-teacher-”
“Listen, Charming, I don’t want to waste my time trying to teach manners to a pig. If you want to lose to Keir in physics, then continue to insult me,” Tess said, putting her modest lunch on the table. Her job looked to be in jeopardy before it even started.
Maybe they were just testing her limits, not unlike her younger siblings when she got home. These guys didn’t know her yet.
She sipped the coffee Bastion had bought her—easily the tastiest thing she had for lunch—and gave him a look of disdain. It involved a raised brow, a slightly disgusted twist of her lips and attempting to look down at him, which because it was physically impossible with him still standing, had her half shuttering her eyes and peering through her lashes.
“What’s wrong with your coffee?” Bastion asked, taking a seat across from her.
She blinked away her disdainful expression. “Uh, nothing.”
“You look like you bit a lemon,” Bastion said, then gave her a snide little smile. “Or was that gas?”
That jerk. “I was wondering what you’re hiding,” Tess said, deciding to go on the attack. They barely knew each other, and confronting others wasn’t really her strong point, but he got under her skin and she was going to scratch back.
“You already know about my dark tale, Pumpkin,” Bastion said. “Evil stepmother, lots of parties with girls looking to snag a prince, but nobody except a few Musketeers to keep me company once the clock strikes midnight.” He took a big bite of an apple and chewed, while she stared at him, trying to work her way through any truth to what he was saying. “What do pumpkins turn into after midnight?” he asked her once he swallowed his bite of the apple.
“Pie,” Tess replied. “Keep your secrets. It was rude to pry when we’ve only just met.” She offered him her hand across the table, shaking his when he warmly clasped hers. “I’m Tess Sinclair. This is my first day and I could use some friends, even if they prefer Musketeers to shallow girls and have a bitch for a stepmom. Personally, I value loyalty over idolization.”
Bastion tightened his grip on her hand and pulled it closer, placing a single kiss on her wrist. It was hot with his breath and a little moist from the apple. She was sure if she brought her wrist to her nose, she could still smell the fruit-laced memory of his touch.
“Clever girl, I can’t believe you let that dope think you’re a Pumpkin. If the offer of tutoring still stands, I’d like to accept,” Bastion said, releasing her hand.
She slowly pulled back. “I agreed to tutor all four of you. It was kind of a group thing.”
“Fine by me,” Keir said. “Don’t be sharing things with Bastard that you haven’t offered me from now on, especially the hanky-panky, which I would like to have explained in more detail.”
Now, Tess blushed a bit. She took refuge in her coffee, staring down at the cup as she tipped it up, making herself almost cross-eyed. It was an improvement over looking at Keir’s teasing face so similar to Kade’s after his twin made such a romantic confession before they got to the cafeteria.
“Don’t pay their teasing any attention, Tess. You’re the first girl Kade’s talked to more than a few sentences in months and the thought of some feminine company that sticks around longer than a day has the pups all in a lather,” War said, his deep voice easily heard by all of them.
She turned in her chair to face him, on her other side. His accent could make anything he said sexier, even with the slightly strange way he phrased things. He sounded like an older soul in a younger body.
“Do you want the tutoring, too?” she asked. It was best to seal the deal now.
“Of course, I do. My mum said if you came to our school, I was to make sure Kade didn’t scare you off. She’ll be disappointed that I almost failed if she hears what happened in chem before I found you.”
Tess looked more carefully over War’s features, especially his eyes. They were much paler, but the kind, teasing light, and the beautiful, dark skin were similar enough. “Ruby’s your mom?” she asked to confirm.
“Yes,” War replied. “I got to hear all about you from Kade first, then my mum. I was near bursting with curiosity to meet you and Kade had to go ruin it.”
The gossip in religion class. War must have heard everything.
“It was Rob Balor. He tried to grab Tess’s ass,” Kade said.
War’s face tightened and his gaze lost some of its warmth.
“And all you earned was one day of detention defending her? What was it, a pansy slap of a white glove across his face?” Bastion said.
“I was the one that earned the detention by stabbing my pencil down through Rob’s test and telling him off myself. Kade just made sure my point was made by breaking a few pencils,” Tess said, embarrassed to admit it out loud but not wanting the other guys to think Kade was chicken. He actually had done a pretty good job of defending her without taking it too far. “Back up won’t be necessary for the future, though. I am capable of dealing with assholes on my own,” she added.
“Rob might be hard of hearing. Doesn’t he play hockey, War?” Keir asked.
“Never made it through the tryouts for the team but he plays in practice for backup games.”
“No way. Unless he makes another crude move, nobody is going to body slam a lesson on how to talk to ladies through Rob’s thick skull, got it?” Tess said. She opened her Tupperware and eyed the cold Kraft Dinner. This conversation wasn’t good for her appetite.
“Bossy,” Keir commented.
“People that are wrong always say people that are right are bossy. It’s a common misconception,” Tess said, then she took a forkful of yellow noodles. It tasted as she expected, but it would be filling, something that was important when she hadn’t had time to grocery shop yet and the kids had to eat first.
Gluten-free and vegetarian were going to be expensive.
Everyone else dug into their meals. Bastion only ate the apple. Tess quickly wolfed down her macaroni, hungrier now that the butterflies from worrying about meeting all of these guys had flown away. They weren’t that bad.
“So, what are your digits?” Keir asked between french fries. The smell of them was making Tess’s mouth water.
“Uh, I haven’t changed my number since I moved, so it’s text only. I have limited minutes,” she warned them.
“We could make a group chat,” Keir suggested, pulling out a Samsung. Ha. Of course, the twins had phones from opposing companies. She should have guessed that one. “Give me your phone,” he asked.
She did and told him the passcode. Nothing super secret she was hiding on her phone. He asked her home address and she gave it to him so he could share it with everyone over the group chat and test it out.
“Is that how you all knew about what happened this morning so quickly, a group chat?” Tess asked. “I didn’t think you were allowed to use phones in the classroom.”
Bastion rolled his eyes at her. “We can’t admit to breaking the rules, then you would get us in trouble, Miss Tutor.”
“Well, I can definitely point out that you’re in class to learn, not chat with the boys,” Tess retorted. “Although without coffee, I would be thinking about a hundred different things at once, so thanks,” she added, tipping her half-empty coffee cup at him.
“Scatterbrained?” War teased.
“Attention deficit, or daydreamer, as I prefer to think of it,” she explained. “I don’t like the meds. They make my heart race even faster than my thoughts, so coffee is a bit of a gentler kick.”
“How much do you need a day?” War asked.
“A cup every 3-4 hours is ideal, but I can make do with much less if I’m not studying hard or doing a project.”
“So, you’re going to need a cup to start your day, one at lunch and another at the end of c
lasses, bare minimum?” Bastion said. Tess nodded, figuring he had it about right—she usually kept her reusable drinking container full of cold coffee from home and sipped throughout the day—when Bastion started giving the others orders. “Kade, you have the morning run since you share chem first period. I’ll handle lunch. Keir and War can take turns handling the after school run. She likes one cream and one sugar.”
Did he just organize her coffee supply for the entire school day? “Uh, I usually bring some cold stuff I make at home and sip at it,” Tess said, adding up in her head how much even one week of coffee service was going to cost her. “There’s no need-”
“Consider it part of the payment for your tutoring services,” Kade said.
“I appreciate the thought, really, but three coffees a day is going to add up fast. Trust me, I know the best way to support a habit like mine is to buy in bulk so I can make it by the boatload at home.”
“Cold coffee? Do you really prefer it?” Bastion asked. “It sounds more like something you put up with rather than something you would enjoy. Isn't half the pleasure from coffee the scent from a hot cup? It has to affect the flavour since the sense of smell is so important to taste.”
Tess figured Bastion wasn’t going to let her fake enjoying cold coffee. “I guess I prefer hot coffee, although iced coffee is nice in the summer. It's not really about taste in the quantity that I drink it. I just need plenty of it and I am not that picky.”
“Let’s vote on it,” Kade said. “Those in favour of buying coffee for Tess every day at school, hands up.”
Tess frowned when all of the boys except Bastion put their hands up.
“Remember, I was on your side,” Bastion said.
“You were the one that started it,” she retorted.
Bastion just shrugged and took one last bite from his apple, tossing down the core to their table.
“How about we try it for a week, and then you can tell us if hot coffee is worth it?” War suggested. Despite his name, War really seemed more the peacemaker in the group. The troublemakers were Bastion and Keir, although the latter seemed more humorous and the first had a chip on his shoulder.
Kade was an enigma. Bad boy or a good boy in disguise?
“Fine, but keep the receipts and I will pay you back when I get paid for the tutoring. We can consider it an advance on my salary, kind of paying the gas for a car on Sunday so you can drive it around all work week. Except you're going to be fueling my brain so I can focus.”
This got a round of frowns from the three guys that had voted to caffeinate her.
“The coffee is a perk, a bonus. We’re not taking it out of your salary,” Kade insisted.
Tess put a big forkful of Kraft Dinner in her mouth and chewed her options over. She could make a big fuss now, put her foot down and start drawing the line at how far she would let them push her to get their way. Or, she could let it go, a small sacrifice to make her new friends happy.
Perhaps they felt a need to give something back to her? She was offering to tutor them all, and it was their parents that were going to pay her, so this was something that they could each do on their own.
“Fine, I agree to one week and then we hold a revote,” she said, polishing off her lunch. She took a swig of her water to rinse it down.
“Is everything going to be a negotiation with you?” Bastion asked.
She grabbed his apple core off the table and put it in her empty Tupperware container to throw away later, not able to stop the compulsion to clean up. She had only been around her mom for one day, and already, she was falling back into those tidy habits. Bastion didn't say anything, although he gave her a puzzled look as she put her Tupperware away in her backpack.
“I guess you'll have to adjust to not getting your way all the time. I don't plan on spoiling you or idolizing you, and I've been on my own for too long to put up with someone else making my decisions, even the little ones. I'm sure you don't make decisions for the rest of your male friends,” Tess said. “And I'll throw away your apple later. You shouldn’t just toss it on the table. You'll make a sticky wet spot, and somebody else may have to eat there later and get dirty.”
“Keir has your number, Bossy,” Bastion said. “I like a girl that knows her own mind. Sexy. You can tell me what to do, clean up after myself, or kiss you harder. Just don't expect me to obey every little command. It would be boring if I didn't make myself a challenge.”
Tess rolled her eyes. “Everything comes down to kissing when there is a prince involved,” she muttered.
These guys needed to stop putting such seductive thoughts into her head. She was going to have a hard enough time trying to keep her mind on tutoring and avoiding the hanky-panky that was forbidden, without their encouragement. They probably weren’t even doing it on purpose. All of them seemed like experienced flirts, even Kade, despite his strange avoidance of girls mentioned briefly earlier.
Keir poked Bastion in the ribs. “At least she calls you a prince instead of a bastard. It’s a step up,” Keir pointed out.
“Speaking of nicknames, I refuse to keep answering to Pumpkin,” Tess said. “And we’re not doing taste the flavour of the day,” she added, turning in her seat to give Kade a pointed look.
“What is flavour of the day?” War said, on her other side.
It had sounded like an innocent query, so she turned around the other way to respond. “Kade suggested changing my nickname every time I change chapstick.”
Keir whistled. “She means kissing her every day to see if the flavour has changed. It might take more than one kiss, depending on how complex a particular flavour.”
“I make a motion for this manual lip-flavour check and I propose that it needs to be repeated with each coffee, in case she decides to change chapstick when she reapplies. Anyone, to second the motion?” Bastion said.
She swung her gaze across the table to him.
“What?” Bastion said, looking innocent and mischievous at once. “I'm trying to make a democratic decision here. That is what you wanted, right?”
“It’s my body. The only one that gets to vote that counts is me,” Tess rebutted, not letting him entertain the thought, although she was pretty sure he was joking. “Besides, I doubt that all four of you want to lock lips with me. We don't even know each other and I'm sure your girlfriends wouldn’t be impressed if you extended your Musketeer sharing in that way.”
War surprised her by wrapping an arm around her back and tucking her close enough to hear him whisper. “We don’t have girlfriends. Voted at the beginning of the year. Either a girl finds us all good enough for her or she doesn’t get to stay with any of us for more than one night,” War said. “And I would definitely enjoy kissing you, Tess.”
What had she gotten herself into? She might have expected that comment from Bastion or even Keir, but not from War. Was he telling her that they were all hard up for feminine company? That was highly doubtful. She wasn’t blind or impervious to their charms.
“I have a boyfriend,” Tess lied.
War let her go, but not as quick as she expected. There was some reluctance as his arm slipped slowly back to his side, trailing heat across the back of her shoulders.
“Long distance?” Keir said.
Okay, she hadn’t thought this lie through properly. “He’s in university. We’ve been doing the long distance thing since the beginning of the year,” she said, figuring she might as well take the bone Keir had accidentally thrown her.
“Really?” Kade said. He sounded pissed off. After what had happened in the hallway outside of the cafeteria, she figured he had a right to be a bit hurt by the sudden revelation. That hadn't been intended.
“Uh, yeah,” she lamely replied.
Bastion laughed and it was dark and full of trouble. “Are we so ugly that you have to try to scare us off with a lie? Heard the rumours already?”
She shot Bastion an exasperated look. “Yeah, you’re humble as Jesus.”
Kade choked
on laughter beside her. “Christ, don’t make religious jokes around Bastion. His family still goes to mass on Sundays.”
Bastion looked down at the table where his apple core had been before Tess cleared it off. She had a feeling he was thinking of throwing it at Kade.
“Uh, are you really offended by me taking the Lord’s name in vain?” Tess said, leaning over the table so she could ask it more quietly and get between the two boys before they brought any unwanted attention to their group.
She had enough trips to the principal office for the rest of the school year.
“Fuck no,” Bastion said, louder than she liked. “But Kade is right about my family. You have to genuflect just to get past the front door. My stepmom especially loves to make everyone kneel.”
“Bastard, you know Kade doesn’t want sweet Tess hearing about his summer adventures from someone’s loose lips before we get a chance to talk to her,” Keir said, giving Bastion an elbow.
The change in topic confused her.
Something was clearly going on between them all.
“Is this the Cain thing?” Tess asked.
The table was silent. It was like funeral quiet and Tess had just run over somebody’s dog. Awkwardly clearing her throat, she decided to remove her foot from her mouth and try again.
“I had a boyfriend. About two weeks before I moved here, then we broke up after I caught him frenching someone else at a party when I tried to surprise him for his birthday. So, uh, I’m not really dating anyone. We didn’t even french. He said kissing was too slobbery for him. He just liked to-uh...”
She dropped her head to the table, covering up with her arms. Her stupid motormouth was worse than a toddler on sugary pixie sticks.
“Can you not talk to anyone but us for the rest of the day? Just today?” Kade said.
“Sure,” Tess mumbled into the table, feeling relieved. She hadn’t managed to ruin everything.
“I think she asked us to french her,” Bastion said. “To show her that breaking up with slobber-lips wasn’t a real loss. Seriously, a guy that can’t kiss her mouth properly can’t eat-”
Impetuous (Victory Lap Book 1) Page 9
