by BTKT
“I think the new guy likes you,” Erin said. “I heard he threatened to beat up Brett if he didn’t lay off, and I’m thinking he could do it, easy.”
“Wonder where his brother is . . . ?” Rachel asked.
As if on cue, Brody walked into the gym, followed by Melanie and Mr. Bruno.
Brody saw her and made a beeline, while Melanie and Mr. Bruno went to sit with Mr. Hoolihan and his wife.
After Brody said hello, smiling with his calm, sweet eyes, he went to sit next to Mason, which put him behind Erin. One minute later, the brown-haired girl Jenny came to sit next to him, all shy and awkward. Then Bree came in, dressed in black, and climbed up to sit by Amanda. Sasha had to force herself not to gape when a couple of Julianne’s bees made their way over to the other side of Rachel. By the time the buzzer sounded, they had a nice little group. Sasha noticed Julianne was sitting alone. She also noticed Mr. Bruno was looking up, his face creased in a frown. He looked directly at her, and she knew, just knew, that he hated her for screwing up his Raven plans. She looked away from him to watch the game.
Telluride got the ball first, dribbled to one end, and Jax nailed a three pointer. Then Ridgway missed, and it was Telluride’s ball again.
The rhythm of it, the sound of the players’ shoes squeaking on the wooden floor, the cheers and applause from the stands—it was mesmerizing. Jax handled the ball as if he’d been born with it.
After the clock wound down the half and buzzed at 0:00, the team walked to the sideline and the coach hunkered down to talk to them. Jax looked up at her, then jerked his head around at something the coach said. He nodded, then looked toward Brett, who was scowling. He gave Jax a look—a glare—and Jax said something that appeared to make Brett even angrier. Sasha was dying of curiosity. What was going on? The second half began, and the game took on a different vibe. Ridgway was losing, and picked up their effort to close the gap. With the shot clock almost to zero, Brett passed to East, and he missed. Thomas frowned at Brett, and Jax lifted his hands in a WTF? gesture. Sasha didn’t exactly understand why Brett’s pass to East was a big deal, but Coach Hightower was clearly pissed. He called a time-out, called Brett off the floor and yelled at him, arms waving. Looking mad enough to eat glass, Brett shoved the coach, and an audible gasp went up in the stands. Then Melanie stood and shouted something obscene, which caused another gasp in the crowd.
“What is up with your family, Sasha?” one of the bees asked.
It hit her, all of a sudden, that they weren’t her family. She wasn’t related to them at all. It made her sad to know she wasn’t blood kin to Mom and Dad, but knowing she wasn’t related to Brett and Melanie was a silver lining. She answered the bee, “I never actually met them until last Friday. My dad and Brett’s mom didn’t get along.”
“No wonder,” she replied. “Mrs. Shriver . . . wow, I can’t believe she just said that.”
The coach pointed toward the row of chairs, but Brett didn’t go sit down. He stalked away, through the door to the locker room, and the game resumed.
“Man, he’s history,” Mason said to no one in particular. “Nobody shoves a coach. He’ll get kicked off the team for that.”
Melanie also walked out, but not before she flipped off Coach Hightower.
“Classy lady,” the other bee said. “Maybe that’s why Brett’s turned into an a-hole. My brother says she’s doing Mr. Bruno. How gross is that?”
Amanda leaned close and whispered, “See? There’s at least one reason why he’s acting so weird. My mom was crazy like that, always embarrassing my dad and me.”
“Did it upset you so much that you made up horrible lies about your family and spread it all over?”
“Well . . . no, but I was mad all the time. I’m just saying, Sasha, maybe he’s not as awful as you think.”
She looked at her new friend, wishing so much she could explain why Brett was ten billion times worse than Amanda could imagine. But she couldn’t. All she could say was, “Something’s wrong with him. His head isn’t right. Please don’t go with him, don’t try to understand him, and please, please don’t join the Ravens.”
Turning away to face the court, Amanda didn’t reply. Sighing, frustrated all over again, Sasha did the same. As the game progressed, Jax and Thomas built a rhythm, and
the rest of the team took their lead, putting a lot of points on the board. But Ridgway managed to keep up, and the score was tied with five seconds left on the clock. Thomas raced the ball downcourt and dished to Jax, who launched a three pointer. The buzzer sounded just as the ball whooshed through the net, and the crowd went wild, yelling, clapping, high-fiving one another. “Man, he’s good.” Mason was clearly impressed. “First game we’ve won this year.” Jax was elated, beaming up at her as he walked toward the door where Brett had disappeared. It was all so male ego and normal, she grinned back. “He does like you,” Erin said. Amanda stood and said, “I’ve gotta catch up to my dad. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Sasha tried to grab her arm, but Amanda was already walk- ing away, then down the bleachers to where her dad was waiting, talking to Rose. She said something to him, he looked toward the locker room door and frowned, then she said something else and left the gym. Mr. Rhodes continued visiting with Rose, then they walked out together. Amanda must have gone to meet Brett, and Mr. Rhodes was leaving.
Feeling out of breath and a little panicky, she startled when Erin tapped her shoulder.
“Hey, Sasha, are you up for the coffeehouse?” “Do they serve food? I missed dinner, and I’m starving.” “They have sandwiches. We’re waiting for Thomas, because
Mason told him we would. Maybe Jack would like to go, too?” “I think so.” She glanced at Brody, who nodded. “Yeah, he’ll
go.”
---
This was more like it. Jax sat next to Sasha at a long table, formed by shoving several smaller ones together, and watched her shine. With the lie about her put to bed, the other kids warmed up to her, just like he knew they would. He was even having a good time, maybe because for the first time in his life, people weren’t afraid of him. With Sasha on one side and Brody on the other, his bad vibe was counterbalanced.
He bought himself and Sasha a couple of sandwiches, some soup, and several cookies.
Mason said from his end of the table, “Awesome game, Jack. Where’d you learn to play ball like that?”
“Mostly from my brothers.” “Brody, you play basketball?” Mason was clearly doubtful. “I’m not much of an athlete,” Brody said. “Our older brothers are.” Thomas finished his sandwich and wiped his hands, looking across the table at Jax. “Sorry about what happened with Brett, but it was sure a lot more fun after he hit the road.”
“I don’t get that guy. Either you want to play ball, or you don’t.”
“He’s not about the team, that’s for sure. I think he thought it would impress Reilly.”
The whole table nodded agreement, and Bree, the blackhaired girl who looked like a vampire, said, “He must have asked her to go out like fifty times, and she was always so sweet about it, because that’s who she was, but the answer was always no. Drove Brett crazy, and after a while, it made him mad. You’d think if he liked her so much, he’d be at least a little bit sad that she died.”
The girl with brown hair who was kind of a plain Jane said, “I don’t think he really liked her. She was just the prettiest, most untouchable girl at school, so he wanted her like he’d want a great car, or the coolest snowboard. It was never about Reilly.”
Plain Jane was sharp. Jax watched her while he ate, noticed the way she looked at Thomas when she thought he wasn’t looking, and in turn, the way Thomas looked at her. He gained interest as the conversation progressed. And something was going on between Mason and the girl with skinny glasses—that ironically matched her skinny body. Mason kept handing her food, and she ate it, obviously hungry. But she had no food of her own. He asked Sasha if maybe she had no money, if he should offer to buy her something to eat, and she
whispered, “Rachel has an eating disorder.”
“Aw, man. Bummer.”
He looked around the table while he ate the cookies and watched the others, wondering what was up with Julianne’s ex handmaidens. They were trying to flirt with Brody, who seemed oblivious, most of his attention on Jenny, the quiet little brownhaired girl who had the whole first season of Star Trek, with outtakes. Jax smiled, thinking all over again that Brody was the coolest nerd on Earth.
While he was wondering why Rachel had an eating disorder, and why Thomas didn’t go ahead and talk to plain Jane—when she obviously had it bad for him and he wasn’t uninterested in her—it struck him that this was a new thing for him. Other than from a purely observational standpoint, he’d never taken any personal interest in humans. He found those who’d traded their soul to Eryx and took them to Hell on Earth, then went home and hung out with his brothers. People were a job to him, another face, another lost soul.
Until today, he’d never spent much time among humans. He didn’t count what he and his brothers did some nights, trolling clubs for easy sex. People were afraid of them, and only in the night, with loud music and little conversation, could they get close enough to get what they wanted. He never wondered about the girl, why she was there, what she wanted, or why she’d agree to have sex with a stranger. He asked, she said yes, then he was gone, never to think about her again.
Now he wondered who they were, all those girls, and why they allowed a stranger to take them in the most intimate way. He brushed a crumb from Sasha’s lip while he whispered, “Why do some girls have sex with guys they don’t know?”
“Probably because they hope it’ll lead to something else.” “So it’s not because they want sex?” Her eyes met his, and she shook her head slowly. “I’m no expert, obviously, but I’m a girl, and I know a lot of girls, and I read a lot. I think for us it’s more about being romantic than something physical. And I don’t think they really like it unless it feels safe, and they really trust who they’re with.” She studied his face. “Why did you ask me that?” “I feel different. Can’t explain it, but it’s like I’m noticing things I never did before, thinking about things that never occurred to me, until right now.”
“And you’re wondering why all those strangers let you . . . ?”
“Right. For me, it wasn’t a big deal. I wanted it, so I went to get it, and I always thought they felt the same way. Now, I’m not so sure, so I wondered.”
“Why is it different now?” He stared at her, trying to figure it out. “I don’t know.” “What’s all the whispering over there?” Bree asked, laughing. “Would you guys like us to leave so you can be alone?” The whole table laughed, and the conversation drifted from one subject to the next. He hoped someone would say something about Bruno, but no one talked about high school. It was all about college applications, then some more about Reilly, which led to an interesting discussion about what happens to people after they die. He listened closely, amazed and relieved at the same time. None of these kids were in any danger of pledging soon, not even Julianne’s former friends. Those girls were the first to leave, then Bree left with some guy who worked at the coffeehouse, and Brody said he was going across the street to the bookstore with Jenny. Jax gave him a look, and he nodded, silently agreeing he wouldn’t do anything stupid. Like kiss her. Or go to her house to watch Star Trek outtakes.
That left six of them, until Thomas said, “I gotta get home and finish my history homework.” Plain Jane said, “My mom’s probably mad because they’re waiting on me to light tonight’s Hanukkah candle, so I need to go, too.”
Rachel looked disappointed. “I’m not ready to go, but I will, so I can take you home.”
“If you need a ride, Erin,” Thomas said, “I can take you.”
Erin. Her name was Erin. She smiled and said, “Thanks,” then got up to leave with Thomas. As they walked away, she turned and grinned at Rachel.
“What was that about?” he asked Sasha while Rachel and Mason went back to the counter for another round of coffee and pastries.
“It was all a ploy, so he’d take her home.” “Seriously?” “Sure. Guys can be severely clueless, so sometimes girls have
to give them a nudge. Thomas would like Erin, if he got to know her, and she already likes him, so she came up with a way to make it happen. If he really had no interest at all, he wouldn’t have offered her a ride.”
And Jax thought he was a master strategist. “Would you do something like that to a guy?”
“If I liked him and he wasn’t playing along, yeah.” “Did you try it with Tyler Hudson?” “I tried all kinds of stuff, but he never got the hint, which is how I know he really wasn’t interested.”
“Now he’s asking you out. What changed?”
She shrugged. “Beats me, but it doesn’t matter because I’m not interested. At all.”
“Because of me?” “Of course because of you.” He finished his mocha and set the cup down carefully, tracing the coffeehouse logo with his finger. “But you said—” “It doesn’t matter how this is all going to end up. Right now, right this minute, there’s nobody but you.” Something bloomed in his chest, and he thought maybe it was hope. “Since we have until next week, and we’re going to be together a lot anyway, maybe we could just sort of pretend everything’s normal, and be together like . . . you know, like . . .”
“Like we’re going out?”
That awful awkward feeling came over him, and he couldn’t look up from the cup. “Yeah. Like that.” If she said no, if she told him she’d rather just be friends until he was gone, he’d be sick.
“Okay, Jax.” Jerking his gaze to hers, he asked, “Really?” “Yes, really. You’re my first boyfriend, and maybe it’s not what I imagined, but I’m crazy mad about you, so yeah, let’s do it.”
Without thinking, he leaned over and kissed her.
Maybe she wasn’t thinking, either, because she kissed him back.
It wasn’t until Rachel whispered behind them, “Get a room,” that they broke apart. They left right after that, and he noticed as they walked out that Mason and Rachel moved to the back of the coffeehouse, to a small sofa close to the fireplace.
He held her hand and walked her to the car Brody had driven to town from the mountain. “Let’s go for a drive, then I’ll take you home before I come back for Brody.”
She got in when he opened the passenger door, then smiled at him when he got behind the wheel and started the engine. An old Beatles tune was on the radio.
He drove her up into the mountains and turned off on the road to the Mephisto house, parking at the turnout where they could see the whole valley below. He switched off the headlights but left the motor running for the heater. “Nice, yeah?”
“It’s so weird how I can see everything, like there were three full moons, but there’s no moon tonight at all.”
“Does it bug you, being able to do things regular people can’t?”
“It should, but no.”
“So you’re not mad at me for kissing you and making you different?”
“No, not mad. And since every time you kiss me it makes it happen more, I shouldn’t want you to, but honestly? Right now I want you to kiss me more than I want to breathe.”
He silently thanked Brody for taking Key’s vintage Mercedes to the game tonight. The front seat was huge, with no console, nothing to keep him from moving away from the steering wheel and pulling her away from her door to meet him in the middle. “You’re sure?” he managed to ask, even though they were already wrapped together like ivy on a pole.
“Real sure.” She kissed him first, and after that, the world faded away.
Coats came off, then his shirt and her sweater. He held her away from him and stared. She was wearing the black lace bra they’d bought last weekend, with little pearls where her cleavage began. “I never thought I’d get to see you in it.”
“Jax, you’re embarrassing me.”
“What? Why? You’re beautifu
l, Sasha.” He dropped one hand from her shoulder and traced her pale skin at the edge of the lace. “I thought there was nothing softer on Earth than your lips.”
He was so focused on the swell of her breasts, he almost jumped when her palm touched his chest. “What are you doing?”
“If you get to touch, so do I.” That she wanted to made him glad. “Jax, what’s this?” Her fingers brushed his bicep. “I won-
dered why you had a bandage, but it was to cover this tattoo, wasn’t it?”
“It’s a birthmark. Like your A, except a lot bigger.”
She circled it, tickling him. “It is like mine, only an M, and without the sunburst. It’s really beautiful.” Her fingers moved away from his arm and back to his chest while she kissed him again.
The bra came off and he had no clue who had unhooked it.
He was lost in her, in the feel of her soft breasts beneath his palms and her cool, curious hands against his hot skin, when she shifted so that she was straddling him, one knee on either side of his hips.
This was so not a good idea.
But her taste, her scent, and her beautiful breasts against his bare chest were almost enough to make him lose all reason. He’d never felt the pull of his dark side as strongly as right now, demanding he go ahead, take her, mark her, make sure she could never leave him. It would be so easy. She was as into this as he was, would go along, caught up in the moment.
“Oh, hell!” Grabbing her arms, he lifted her off of his lap and set her on the seat away from him, then clenched his hands into fists and stared ahead, breathing hard, fighting to get himself under control. Nothing had ever been so difficult.
