“No problem,” She smiled and took Bryce’s outstretched hand.
Caeden was still kneeling beside Travis’ prone form but he had removed his shirt and was using it to wipe excess blood from his hands.
“Here, you go,” I handed him the clean shirt and took the soiled one from him. Thankfully there was no blood on his shorts.
Caeden pulled his shirt on and I placed his dirty shirt beside mine in his duffel bag. I closed the trunk and Caeden pulled the key from his pocket and locked it. Both our backpacks were lying on the ground he picked his up and handed me mine.
The bell rang again, signaling the start of class.
“To the office!” Bryce said and stuck his hand out in a Superman flying move.
Travis was still slumped on the ground, not moving.
We headed as a group to the attendance office. The lady working there slid the window open. “A whole group of you late? What joy,” she said in a monotone voice. Someone really liked their job. Not.
Bryce opened his mouth, no doubt to make a snide remark, but Caeden sidestepped him. His frown was instantly replaced with a charming smile. He used his dimple, his charm, and those pool blue to his advantage.
“Ma’am we were out in the parking when we noticed a student passed out. He must have been drunk,” Caeden’s voice dripped with sticky syrup.
“Oh dear,” she said and put a hand to her chest. Her anger was gone, replaced by concern. “That’s terrible.”
“I know ma’am.”
“I’ll call someone to head out there now. Just wait a moment and I’ll write your passes,” she held up one finger.
“Thank you ma’am, you’re so kind.”
“Oh well, I try,” she blushed. Apparently even fifty-year-old ladies couldn’t resist the charm that is Caeden Williams.
She came back and wrote our passes. Caeden began to walk me to class when I pulled him into a quiet corner.
“Caeden, they’ll know someone beat him up and what if one of the other students tells. You’ll be in big trouble.
“No, I won’t,” he shook his head. “First off, Travis’ external injuries have already healed. It’ll take him longer to recover from the knock I gave to his head. So, they’ll just assume that I’m right and he’s passed out drunk. As to your second question the other kids are afraid of us. They can sense that we’re different. Trust me, the humans won’t say anything.”
“They’re afraid of us?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, “they are. They can sense that we’re a predator so they just… stay away.”
“But we’re not any different,” I choked.
Caeden put one hand beside either side of my body against the wall. “Yes, we are Sophie.” A dangerous look glinted in those cerulean blue eyes. “We’re faster, stronger, and-” his voice turned deliciously husky. “Sexier.”
His lips brushed against mine in a tantalizing gesture. “You’re definitely sexier,” I breathed.
Caeden was so close to me that my hands were flat against the wall and his chest pressed right up against me. My breath stuttered.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said.
“Do it already,” I whispered, my voice held a begging quality to it.
His lips quirked, “So demanding.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” I said and mauled him in the middle of a school alcove. My lips, my body, couldn’t get enough of him. He grabbed my thighs and wrapped my legs around his waist. My arms wound around his neck and my fingers dug into his hair. The worry about getting caught making out in the school hallway was the last thing on my mind.
I extracted my mouth from his and pressed kisses down his neck. Caeden’s very presence seemed to make me do the craziest things. I knew I needed to stop but I just… couldn’t.
Apparently Caeden had more willpower than me, “Stop Soph. Sophie, we have to stop,” he said.
I unlocked my limbs and reluctantly dropped to the ground.
My lips felt tingly and I hesitantly brought my fingers to them. Caeden gripped my waist and put his forehead against mine. “It’s getting harder,” his breath caressed my cheek.
“What is?” I asked.
“To resist you,” his fingers flexed against me.
“Oh,” was all I could say.
“As much as I want to stand here all day we better get to class,” he smiled.
“You’re right,” I said, reluctantly.
He laughed softly. “What happened to your ‘studying’ and ‘I have to make straight A’s’ attitude?” he punctuated with air quotes.
“We have some quarterly assessments coming up,” I said, “you’ll see my studying powers at their best then.”
He laughed. “Maybe you’ll show me a thing or two,” he suggested.
“You bet,” I smiled and glumly extracted my hand from his.
* * *
I stared disgustedly at the pile of homework before me and the school day was only halfway through. I mean, come on, it’s only the first day back from spring break. Can’t they give us a break? An essay in Spanish, a power point for History, and a science project! I wanted to hit my head against the desk. Just because I like school doesn’t mean I want a crap load of homework the first day back.
I pulled out my notebook and began writing a rough draft for my Spanish essay. The sooner all of this was done, the better.
Caeden sat beside me in the study hall classroom trying to balance a pencil on top of his lip. I rolled my eyes.
The power point that contained school announcements droned on in the background.
I read over the directions for the Spanish essay once more.
Write a three page paper, in Spanish, on your overall high school experience. “Sophie?” said Caeden. I studiously ignored him. Talk about classes you enjoyed/didn’t enjoy, teachers, friends, extra-curricular activities, and anything else school related. “Soph?” poke. Also talk about your plans after high school. Work? College? Dreams? Goals? Ambitions? “Sophie,” he said again and pushed me hard enough to knock me out of my seat and onto the floor. Dang shifter reflexes. Weren’t they supposed to keep this kind of thing from happening?
“Caeden!” I hissed under my breath.
“Oopsy daisy,” he blushed.
I picked myself up and brushed dust off of Caeden’s shirt and my shorts. Ugh, gross. That dust had probably been on the floor for twenty years.
Straightening my disheveled appearance I said to Caeden, “What was so flippin’ important that you had to push me out of my chair? I was trying to work on an essay.”
“Flippin’?” he quirked a brow.
“Yes, flippin’,” I said and slid back into my seat. “Now what was it?” I asked, picking up my pencil. I tapped the eraser against the desk.
He pointed to the power point and I rolled my gaze towards to it. “Chess club? Why should I be concerned about chess club?”
Caeden shook his head and chuckled under his breath. “No, it was before that. Soccer tryouts are next week.”
“And?”
“I think you should do it,” he rubbed his scruffy chin.
“Wouldn’t that… I don’t know… be unfair? I mean, how come you and the others don’t play sports?”
“Sophie,” he tipped his chair back on two legs. “I think it would be good for you.”
“To play soccer?” I organized my papers.
“Yeah,” he said, rocking back and forth in the chair.
“Mr. Williams! Put your chair down on all four legs!” the study hall teacher huffed.
“Yes sir,” Caeden saluted him and the chair smacked back down on the concrete floor.
“Caeden, I have more important things to worry about. I just don’t have the time. Besides, with the whole Travis thing-” I looked around. “Speaking of, where is Travis?”
Caeden’s grin lit the whole room. “He was escorted out of the school parking lot by the police.”
“You’re serious?” I asked, doodling o
n my piece of paper. I could never get any work done with Caeden around.
“As a heart attack.”
“I’ll think about it,” I conceded. I really would like to play again. I had always found soccer to be therapeutic.
Caeden grinned. “Excellent. I can’t wait to see you running around in those tight little shorts.”
I quirked my eyebrow at him. “Have you ever watched women’s soccer before?”
“Er… no,” he said.
“That’s what I thought. We don’t wear ‘tight little shorts’. We wear baggy shorts that we can move around in.”
“Oh,” he blushed. “That sucks; I was really looking forward to that.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “I’m sure you were Caeden.”
* * *
Caeden dropped me off at Gram’s cupcake shop and then went to do a scan of the area with Bentley. I had a feeling he may be gone for a while. They’d probably be much more thorough since Travis was apparently back.
In the back of the shop I pulled off Caeden’s shirt and grabbed up my black Lucinda’s shirt. I slipped it on and pulled my hair back into a ponytail.
Gram strode through the swinging door, “Oh good you’re here.” She noticed the too large shirt tossed over my arm and quirked a brow. “Do I want to know?”
“Probably not,” I said.
She shook her head and straightened her cap. “I’ve got some cupcakes coming out of the oven and I’d really appreciate it if you would ice them while I man the front.”
“No problem,” I smiled and headed over to the sink to wash my hands.
“Thanks,” Gram flashed me a relieved smile. The bell over the door chimed several times. “After school crowd,” she headed to the front to tend to the register.
I checked the ovens and refilled the icing bags so they’d be good to go. When that was done I tried to get a head start on cleaning the dirty pans in the sink. The timer went off and I scurried around trying to find an oven mitt. I finally found it and slid out the various cupcake trays. I then slid those into the fridge to start cooling. I found myself constantly glancing at the clock and calculating the length of time that Caeden had been gone. I was close to wearing a hole in the floor. I breathed a sigh of relief when the cupcakes were cool enough to icing. At least I now had something to do to occupy my mind.
I pulled out the blueberry cupcakes first and grabbed the blueberry icing. I loved the way the blueberries were swirled throughout the cream cheese frosting. It always looked pretty. I quickly finished icing that dozen and moved onto the next one, pink lemonade with pale pink icing. Gram always tried to have different flavored cupcakes for the different seasons. There were some cupcakes that she kept year round but most were different.
After icing several dozen cupcakes Caeden still hadn’t shown. I began to bite my bottom lip with worry. What was taking so long?
Sighing, I picked up the trays and carried them to the front and loaded them into the display. Gram was tending to a row of customers and waved her hand in thank you.
I smiled and hurried to the back so that the kids from school wouldn’t see me covered in icing. I knew I had a big streak of lavender honey icing on my cheek. I headed straight for the sink and scrubbed the icing from my face and under my nail and was that-? Ew, there was icing in my hair! Gross! I tried to get as much icing out of my hair as possible but my actions proved futile.
Since no more cupcakes would be made for today, I proceeded to clean up the kitchen, and look out the window for Caeden. With each passing second my worry escalated to epic proportions.
Some time later Gram came into the kitchen and found me pacing the floor.
“I just closed the shop up,” she said.
Her words went in one ear and out the other as I tugged on my lip and searched for a red Jeep.
“Sophie?”
“What if something bad happened to him Gram?” I asked her, not turning away from my search.
“You’d know,” she said.
I shook my head back and forth. “I’m not so sure about that.”
Gram wrapped her arms around me. “Let’s go home Sophie. You can worry there just as easily as you can worry here.”
“But-” I started to protest.
“No buts,” she said, leading me to the back door and turning the lights off. “You need to go home and have a hot bath and just… relax your mind.”
“Thank you sensei,” I crossed my arms over my chest as she locked up the door.
Gram chuckled and said, “Oh Sophie, your sarcasm never ceases to amaze me.”
She started towards her Nissan Altima and I scanned the area as I walked for any sign of Caeden. A lump had formed in my stomach and I knew it wouldn’t go away until I knew he was safe. And once I was assured of his safety I’d be sure to beat the crap out of him… and then make him sleep on the floor. Yeah, that would teach him not to worry me.
“Sophie?” Gram asked and I jolted back into motion. I slipped into her car. “I’m tired and I don’t really feel like cooking. Why don’t we go to Roma’s? Hmmm? Does that sound good?”
“Uh-hmm,” I said.
Gram’s hand wrapped around. “Dear child, you’re going to worry yourself sick.”
“I do feel like I’m going to throw up,” I confessed.
“If something were truly wrong, we would’ve heard something from one of the others, okay? Caeden would have called the pack and you would’ve heard it. You’re worrying for nothing, Sophie. Trust me. I’m sure Caeden and Bentley are just being very thorough, maybe they even found something, and they’re taking their time. Being cautious.”
Her words made sense but the ill feeling inside me just wouldn’t go away. Caeden was my mate and the thought of him in danger was just too much for me to handle.
Gram parked in front of the restaurant and turned to me. “Come on, Soph. Eat something, be merry. I’m not worrying and neither should you.”
I swallowed and nodded my head. “Okay.”
“That’s my girl,” Gram patted my knee and hopped from the car with much more agility than most people her age. I followed along behind her at a sluggish pace. Inside, she spoke with the hostess and we were led to our seats. I moved in a robotic motion. Or maybe it was more zombie like?
I slid into the booth and the girl handed me a menu. “Thanks.” Just because I felt like I was getting an ulcer didn’t mean I couldn’t be polite.
She smiled and disappeared.
I opened the menu and picked a random item so that I’d have something to tell the waiter or waitress.
Right on cue the waiter turned up with a steaming basket of freshly backed rolls and a notepad in hand.
“Hi ya’ll I’m Harley, do ya know what ya want to drink?”
“I’ll have water with lemon,” Gram said and then rose her eyebrows at me.
“Uh… I’ll have diet coke,” I said.
He scribbled in his note pad. “If ya’ll know what you want to eat I can go ahead and get that in for ya.”
Gram ordered a pasta dish and then Harley turned to me. “And what will little Miss Pouty Pants have?”
Gram snickered and I shot her a scathing look.
“I’ll have a cheese pizza.”
“Small?”
“No, large,” I smiled and shoved the menu into his outstretched hand.
He laughed and disappeared around the corner into the kitchen. I think Harley need a good kick to his knee.
Gram continued to chuckle under her breath. If she didn’t watch she was going to get the kick to the knee and not Harley.
To resist the urge to kick my grandma I grabbed a roll, ripped it in half, and proceeded to slather it with butter. I took a bite and was surprised by how good it was and the fact that I could actually eat something.
Gram finally managed to gain control and fixed herself a roll.
The restaurant was surprisingly nice with granite tables, yellow stucco walls, and accents of royal blue. I also appreciated t
he use of hand painted art.
“So, how was your first day back to school?” Gram asked.
I raised an eyebrow just as Harley returned with our drinks. “Horrible. Caeden and Travis got into a fight.”
“Oh,” said Gram and her voice rose two octaves higher. “What was the cause?”
“You seriously don’t know?”
Insider (Outsider Series) Page 11
