Crush

by Tracy Wolff

  “I’ve been here awhile, but it was starting to get uncomfortable listening to the two of you fight.” He yawns and stretches a little, which just pisses me off more—exactly as I know he intends. “And by uncomfortable, I mean really fucking boring.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. Since, you know, I live to serve your every whim.”

  “I do know,” he agrees. “And I have to say I appreciate it, which was why I’m letting you know that this whole back-and-forth thing with Jaxon really isn’t working for me. But no worries. I know you’ll fix it for next time.”

  I am well aware that he’s just messing with me, know that he’s trying to get me upset, and still I fall into the trap because how can I not? “You’re awful, you know that? Like really, really, ‘slugs crawling on your skin’ awful.”

  He yawns again. “Old news, Grace. Try to keep up.”

  “Is this actually happening right now?” Jaxon’s voice slices through the air between us. “I’m talking to you and you’re talking to him?”

  “I don’t have a choice—” I start to say.

  “Don’t,” he says, gaze like black ice. “Don’t lie to me and say you aren’t doing it willingly. You turned to face him. I’m sorry he’s so much more interesting than I am—”

  “He’s not, Jaxon. Of course he’s not.”

  “Now, now, Grace, my brother asked you not to lie,” Hudson admonishes me. “But cut him some slack, will you? It’s not his fault he’s so damn boring.”

  I glare at Hudson. “Stop it! He is not boring!”

  “Could have fooled me.” Yet another yawn. “And here I thought you were supposed to be practicing the whole gargoyle thing this morning? Though, I have to admit, I like what you’ve done with the horns.”

  “The horns?” Instinctively, I lift a hand to my left horn and feel it. “Oh my God, it’s bigger. How can it be bigger?”

  “Now there’s a question I’m sure Jaxon’s never heard,” Hudson says dryly.

  “I’m still here, you know,” Jaxon grinds out. “I’m right fucking here.”

  “I know. I’m sorry, Jaxon. I’m so sorry. But he’s the most annoying person on the planet, and he refuses to shut up.”

  “Careful, Grace. Keep that up and you’re going to hurt my feelings,” Hudson mocks.

  “I couldn’t get that lucky!” I snap before turning back to Jaxon, who’s got a half-angry, half-amazed look on his face.

  “Is this what he does all day?” he finally asks. “Just badgers you until you look like you’re about to explode?”

  “He does it until I do explode, but yes. This is what he does. Over and over and over again.”

  “Wow, snookums. You make me sound so powerful.” Hudson bats his eyes at me, but there’s a gleam of remorse in them, like maybe he thinks he’s gone too far. I don’t trust it, but then, I don’t trust anything about him. He’s probably just sad Jaxon and I are no longer at each other’s throats.

  “Again, ouch.”

  “Again, bite me.”

  He’s not smiling, but I can see two fangs gleaming. “You keep offering that, and someone’s going to take you up on it.”

  “Yeah, well, someone already has,” I retort.

  “Don’t remind me.”

  The usual amusement is gone from his tone. Everything is gone, and all that’s left is blankness—blank voice, blank face. I’d say blank body language except he lies back down on the field, kicks one ankle over the other knee, and holds No Exit up in front of his face as he starts to read.

  It’s blatant—the “I don’t have a care in the world” and “fuck you very much” body language rolled into one—and I don’t have a clue what to say about it. Or how to feel about it.

  Before I can figure it out, Jaxon says, “I’m sorry,” and he walks over and wraps his arms around my waist from behind.

  I stiffen instinctively, then force myself to relax, even as I shift back to my human form. Because there’s no use being angry with him for being angry about this situation. Does it suck for me? Yes. Would I be pissed as hell if he had some girl in his head taking all his attention away from me, who knew everything about him before I did and worked really hard to make me feel completely out of the loop? Hell yes, I would.

  So I bury my annoyance deep and wrap my arms around his body as I lean in to him. “No, I’m sorry. I know this can’t be easy for you.”

  “None of this is easy for either of us,” he answers as he bends down and drops a soft kiss on the side of my neck. “I think I need to remember that more.”

  “We both do,” I answer. “I’m sorry I get caught up in fighting with Hudson and I forget sometimes.”

  “Don’t be sorry. Being annoying is my brother’s singular talent.”

  “Whatever,” Hudson growls, and he sounds even more pissed than he did this morning. “It barely cracks the top ten of my talents.”

  It takes every ounce of willpower I have, but this time I ignore him, keeping my attention completely focused on Jaxon—or at least as focused as I can considering Hudson is yammering away at me in the background.

  “Thank you for understanding how hard this is for me. I know it’s hard for you, too, and I appreciate how much you’re trying to make this as easy for me as possible.”

  Jaxon sighs, his arms tightening around me just a little as he responds. “Thank you for understanding my side of this mess, too. I promise, we’ll get him out of your head as soon as we possibly can.”

  “Sooner than that would be better,” I joke, and it works. Jaxon laughs.

  He holds me for several seconds longer, until we can see Flint and Macy entering the practice field with two other people I don’t know.

  Jaxon drops another kiss on my neck before pulling reluctantly away. But just before he lets me go, he leans down and whispers, “Does he really know what underwear you’re wearing?”

  “Black with white polka dots,” Hudson answers without looking up from his book.

  I sigh. “He really does.”

  Jaxon looks disgruntled, but he doesn’t say anything, thankfully.

  Hudson, however, has no such qualms. “You should wear the red ones with the white flowers tomorrow, though. They’re my favorite.”

  Before I can think of a comeback to that, Flint sneaks up behind me and grabs me in a giant bear hug. And as he swings me around—chanting “Grace, Grace, Baby” much to my chagrin—I can’t help but notice that Jaxon is showing a lot more fang than he usually does.

  Then again, so is Hudson…

  Forget YA novel, I’m living in the middle of a paranormal telenovela, and what happens next is anyone’s guess…

  Fuck. My. Life.

  61

  The Monster Mash-Up

  “You ready to show these guys how it’s done, Grace?” Flint asks when he finally drops me back on my feet.

  “How what’s done?” I ask, surreptitiously checking to make sure all my clothes are in all the right places. Flint is a very enthusiastic hugger.

  “How to fly, baby!” He throws his arms out and does a really bad impression of wings and flying as he zips around me like a three-year-old pretending to be an airplane—cute, sweet, and absolutely ridiculous.

  “I’m ready for you to show them how it’s done,” I tell him.

  “No way! We’re in this together. Well, you, me, and Eden.” He turns to the girl behind him with a grin and beckons her forward.

  She gives him a look when he waves, like there’s no way she’s going to give him the satisfaction of responding to such a plebian method of communication. But after making him wait just long enough that everyone knows she’s moving only because she wants to, she swaggers toward us, all glorious hair and “don’t mess with me” attitude.

  “This is Eden Seong,” Flint tells me when she finally reaches us. “She’s one of my
closest friends and also happens to be fire with a Ludares ball.”

  “And everything else,” she drawls, and somehow even her voice is cool.

  I can’t believe I haven’t noticed her around school before, because she’s totally not the type to blend in. She’s tall like Macy, with straight black hair that falls all the way to her butt and thick, severely cut bangs that hit below her eyebrows to the very tops of her purple eyes. I look closer, sure that they’re just really blue, but nope. They’re totally purple and the coolest eyes I’ve ever seen.

  She’s dressed completely in white—white workout pants, white tennis shoes, and white tank top that shows off a wild Korean dragon tattoo that stretches across her shoulders and down both her arms. So she’s a dragon like Flint then. Badass.

  She’s got multiple piercings—several in her ears, plus her nose and her eyebrow—and each piercing is adorned with a glittering gemstone in a different color. She’s also wearing close to a dozen flashy jeweled rings on her fingers, but instead of being overkill, it all just kind of works together to make her sparkle even more.

  Not going to lie, I love her already, even before she thrusts out a hand to shake mine and says, “Being a gargoyle is the most kick-ass thing I have ever heard of. Good job.”

  I laugh. “It’s not like I had a choice in the matter.”

  She shrugs. “No one actually gets a choice of what they are at the molecular level, Grace. It’s what you do with it that matters, and so far everything you’ve done is pretty badass.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “I do. And you should listen to me. Everybody does.”

  Again, she should come off as completely arrogant, but instead it just kind of screams of charming and total rock star. No wonder Flint adores her.

  “It’s true,” Flint tells me as he drapes an arm around her shoulders and squeezes tight enough to make Eden glare at him. “She gives the best advice.”

  Eden shoots him a “why are you touching me” look, which only makes him squeeze her harder. But when he reaches up to ruffle her hair, she ducks out from under his arm and twists it behind his back hard enough to have him squealing—not to mention coughing out a couple of pathetic blasts of ice—which has Jaxon, Macy, and the guy who came on the field with Eden, who I don’t know yet, cracking up.

  “Are you done?” Eden asks, eyes narrowed.

  “For now.” Flint gives her his most charming grin, and she just rolls her eyes. But she also lets him go.

  “Anyway,” Flint continues, “this is Eden. And this”—he turns to the white guy dressed in navy track pants, a gray compression shirt, and a navy baseball cap—“is Xavier. He’s a wolf, but we try not to hold it against him.”

  Xavier cheerfully flips him off before nodding my way. “Nice to meet you, Grace. I’ve certainly heard a lot about you.”

  He doesn’t tell me from where, and I don’t ask. If he’s a wolf, I’m not sure I want to know anyway.

  “Nice to meet you, too,” I answer with a smile. He’s got laughing green eyes and a wide smile that makes it impossible not to grin back at him. Eden may be cool, but this guy is F.U.N. It’s written all over him.

  Add in the fact that my cousin keeps glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, and I’m only more interested in getting to know this guy.

  “Is this everyone?” I ask, because I thought Flint mentioned there being eight people on a team.

  “Mekhi will be here any minute,” Jaxon tells the group.

  “And Gwen had a makeup test this morning,” Macy says. “But she’ll be here as soon as it’s over.”

  I’m super excited that Mekhi’s going to be on our team—and just as excited that Macy chose Gwen to play with us instead of one of her other friends. Gwen was definitely the nicest when I met her whole friend group a few months ago. Somehow I can’t imagine Simone agreeing the way Gwen and everyone else had when Jaxon explained just why we needed the bloodstone.

  It still feels strange to think of that time being a few months ago, since for me it feels like it’s been only a few weeks. But I’m trying to get used to it, just like I’m trying to get used to my memory likely never coming back. I hate the thought of never remembering those months, but I’m tired of worrying about it, tired of beating myself up over it.

  “I hate that you can’t remember, too,” Hudson says, but it’s a soft tone, not his usual sardonic one. He wanders over to check out the wolf, no longer pretending to be captivated by his book.

  I want to ask him what happened, want to beg him to forget what everyone says is good for me and just tell me. But now isn’t exactly the time, and how do I know I can trust what he tells me anyway?

  “So what are we doing first?” Xavier asks, bouncing up on his toes like he’s ready to take off at any second. Take off for where, I don’t know, but I’m betting he’ll be an impressive sight.

  “I think we should probably divide into teams and see what we can do together first,” Flint says, pulling a medium-size ball out of the duffel bag he’d dropped on the ground. “Macy, you want to enchant this thing for us?”

  He tosses it to my cousin, who pulls out her wand and aims it at the ball as she murmurs what I assume is a spell.

  “What’s she doing?” I ask Jaxon, completely lost.

  “Ludares is half Keep Away, half Hot Potato, but with a bunch of magical twists. The first twist is that the ball burns hotter and hotter the longer you hold it, so you’ve got to get rid of it after thirty seconds at the most or you’re going to end burned right up. And shocked, because it vibrates, too.”

  “It vibrates and burns you?”

  “Yeah, which is why teamwork makes the dream work,” Flint adds. “The ball resets itself every time a new player touches it, so you have to move it around a lot. The only surefire way to lose the game is to try to do everything yourself. You can’t do it, at least not without causing some pretty serious damage to yourself.”

  “How is this even a game?” I ask, baffled. “Let alone one they let high school students play.”

  “It’s the best game ever,” Xavier chimes in. “Especially when you fall through a portal.”

  “A portal?” I turn to Jaxon. “What’s a portal?”

  “It’s a magical passageway or door to somewhere else,” he explains.

  “I know what a portal is,” I tell him with a roll of my eyes. “I mean, what is a portal in Ludares?”

  “Exactly the same thing,” Eden tells me. “When you’re up here so close to the North Pole, several portals exist anyway, in nature. Ludares kind of takes advantage of that. Some of the school staff taps into the same kind of energy that opens portals between the poles and the sun and channels it into portals all over the arena that you can fall into.”

  “Ours don’t take you to the sun, though,” Macy finishes. “They just take you around the arena. But each one is different, and you don’t know where you’re going to be when you enter a portal. You may end up at the finish line, or you may end up all the way at the other end of the field and you have to start over.”

  “So I just jump into a portal over there”—I gesture to an area right inside the field’s boundaries—“and I could end up all the way over there?” I point to the goalpost.

  “Exactly!” Eden tells me with a grin that lights up her whole face. “Or you could end up over there.” She points in the opposite direction. “With half of the opposing team crawling up your ass.”

  “That does sound like fun,” I say, tongue totally in cheek, but the others just laugh.

  “Once you play it, you’ll see how cool it is,” Xavier assures me. “Especially since everyone gets to use their magic however they want—so the game gets really wild sometimes.”

  “Right?” Eden agrees. “Remember sophomore year, when Alejandro turned everyone on the opposing team into turtles and then he and his
teammates just ran the ball all the way down the field?”

  “Well, until the witch used up all her energy and couldn’t block the opposing wolves who broke free and ran them down,” Xavier adds with a gleam in his eyes.

  “I remember Sancha turning herself into a giant snapping turtle and nearly snapping Felicity’s hand right off. That was something to see,” Flint says.

  “Or when Drew turned the entire arena into a lightning storm and Foster nearly got struck?” Jaxon reminisces.

  “My dad was so mad. He walked around with his hair sticking up for three days straight.” Macy giggles.

  “So yeah,” Jaxon tells me. “Lots of wild times on the Ludares field.”

  A horrifying thought occurs to me. “Can’t the dragons just burn everyone on the other team?” And then another thought. “Can’t the vamps just fade to the end and win in thirty seconds?”

  Xavier’s grin gets even wider. “I like how this one thinks.”

  But Jaxon shakes his head and clarifies, “There are magical safeguards that prevent any spell or speed burst lasting more than ten seconds. Think of it as everyone wearing a personal handicap device. Our abilities are tempered.” Jaxon winks at me. “Otherwise, obviously, I’d win in seconds.”

  Everyone laughs at his joke.

  Everyone except Hudson, who turns his attention from studying Xavier to Jaxon, his eyebrows raised. “And I thought my ego was huge.”

  “So how do you win?” I snark. “Whoever’s not dead or a turtle by the end?”

  “We’re not quite that sadistic,” Eden says with a laugh, “but I like your style.”

  Xavier picks up where Macy and Eden left off, his green eyes dancing with excitement. “Whoever gets the ball over the other team’s goal line first wins. No excuses. No second chances.”

  “That’s it? You just run the hot ball down the field and cross a goal line with it?” I ask.

  “Don’t forget the ‘try not to die’ portion of that equation,” Jaxon tells me.

  “Yeah,” Eden agrees. “And believe me, that’s easier said than done at least half the time. Especially since this is the big magic show of the year—everyone is using their powers at the most spectacular level trying to shock and awe the other team.”