He laughed. “No you don’t, she-wolf.”
He sauntered off towards the boy’s locker rooms. Shaking my head I pushed the door open.
The girl’s locker room was nothing special. Gray floor tiles and cement walls. At least it didn’t smell too bad.
I showered and piled my wet hair on top of my head, securing it with a ponytail holder and a couple of bobby pins. I had brought a pair of shorts and plain t-shirt to change into. Nothing fancy since I thought I’d be going home right after the game. I dropped my dirty jersey and shorts into my duffel bag and then tossed it over my shoulder.
I jumped back three steps when I opened the door.
“Caeden!” I put my hand to my heart. “You scared the crap out of me. I thought you were waiting in the parking lot.”
“Sorry,” he pulled away from the wall, where he was leaning, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s fine,” I said as my heart began to slow to its normal pace.
He took my hand and we headed out the side entrance.
“Why aren’t you waiting in the car?” I asked, a bit confused.
Caeden scratched the back of his head and I knew he was purposefully stalling for time. “No particular reason.” He pushed the door open and we greeted by the cool night air. He scanned the parking lot before leading me to his Jeep. “That game was epic by the way,” he grinned. “You were incredible.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I had so much fun out there. I felt-”
“Normal?” he smiled again and I knew he was trying to sidetrack me from my previous questioning. I’d just let him think he succeeded and then I’d hit him with it again later. He was just being far to weird.
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “It’s nice to pretend to be normal. Even if it is only for a little bit.”
* * *
Ledo’s pizza was crowded between my teammates and my pack.
It was a cozy place with golden walls and brown leather booths.
Caeden and slid into two empty seat between Bryce and Evan. Evan clapped me on the back and said, “Boys! Our she-wolf is here!” And then they all howled in the middle of the restaurant making strangers look at me funny. I bowed my head and blushed, praying for them to stop. Why, oh why, did Caeden have to suggest that nickname? I think I’d prefer Sassy Sophie.
“We already ordered the pizzas,” Bryce said.
“Did you get enough?” Caeden grinned, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. His shirt road up a bit, showing off smooth, tan, stomach.
Bryce grinned. “We can always order more.”
“More?” Cam leaned towards Bryce. “We ordered like twenty pizzas.”
I laughed. “You haven’t seen this gang eat yet.”
Caeden leaned towards me, “I’ll go get our drinks.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“So,” Evan started, “you and Caeden.”
“Me and Caeden.”
“How long have you been dating?”
“Since October.”
Evan’s eyebrows shot up.
“What?” I asked.
“I just figured you guys had been together longer than that. You seem like an old married couple.”
I laughed. “Are we that boring?”
“Pretty much,” Riley chimed in, chewing on a breadstick.
Ooh, breadsticks! I grabbed one and nibbled on the end. Caeden returned with our drinks and took my hand when he sat down. I was comforted by his soothing warmth.
“They said the pizzas should be ready in the next ten minutes.”
“Good, I’m starving,” Bryce patted his flat stomach.
“You’ve already eaten a whole basket of bread sticks!” The guy named Carter said. “How can you possibly still be hungry?”
Bryce looked at the empty basket. “I have a fast metabolism,” his lips quirked.
Carter grumbled some sort of non-sense.
I leaned my head on Caeden’s shoulder. “What are you so worried about,” I whispered under my breath, low enough that the humans wouldn’t even know I was speaking.
Caeden swallowed. “It’s nothing,” he said. “Really,” he smiled.
I narrowed my eyes, sick of this song and dance, but I knew that Caeden was stubborn and wouldn’t tell me whatever was on his mind until he was ready. Men could be so darn frustrating.
My teammates continued to praise my soccer skills to which I blushed and ducked my head a lot.
They brought our pizzas out and Bryce grabbed a large one. Rubbing his hands together, he said, “Pizza time.” The red and black face paint was starting to fade from his face a bit.
Caeden grabbed a box for himself and opened the lid on another before handing it to me. “Don’t worry,” he leaned towards me, “I made sure Bryce ordered you a pepperoni.”
“How’d you-”
He winked,
Oh, right.
Our special mate powers gave us the ability to pick up on the other person’s favorite things, even their fears.
I lifted the lid and my stomach rumbled. I dug into the cheesy, gooey, goodness.
So, good.
By the time the pack and I finished eating the soccer players were looking at us, mystified.
“Do you all have high metabolisms?” Shane asked.
“Something like that,” Caeden shrugged with a grin.
Evan looked at my empty pizza box and then held up three fingers, “You’re hot, you play soccer, and you have a very healthy appetite. Please marry me?”
I laughed and leaned into Caeden who then put his arm around me. “Sorry, you know I’m taken.”
“Darn,” Evan smiled. “Have any sisters?”
“Only child.”
“So not fair,” he said. Evan looked over at Caeden. “You better put a ring on that before someone tries to sweep her out from under you.”
Caeden grinned and kissed my cheek. “I’m not worried,” he winked at me.
Eighteen.
“Watcha doin’?” Caeden flopped down on the couch beside me.
“Homework, you should really try it sometime.”
He snorted. “You don’t even know what grades I make.”
“I’m sure they suck.”
He grinned and his blue eyes sparkled. His dimple flashed and he licked his lips. Oh sweet baby Jesus, those lips! They were so perfectly sculpted, just enough of a curve to be seductive.
Sophie! Snap out of it and stop looking at Caeden’s lips! You need to do your homework. Don’t be one of those girls!
Caeden started laughing. The kind of laughter that had you clutching your stomach and making everyone around you laugh too.
I started to giggle when I realized why he was laughing.
I had broadcast my internal rant loud enough that he had heard it. Great, just great.
I hit his leg with my fist. “Stop laughing at me!”
He only laughed harder. I tried not to get too mad. After all, it was a relief to hear his carefree laughter again. It had been missing for so many weeks.
Caeden finally managed to gain control of himself and then began to play with my hair.
Curse him! He was making this very difficult for me. If he didn’t watch himself I might just maw him with my lips.
Finally I tossed my pencil on the coffee table and scooted back against the couch. I traced one of its flowers with my finger and noticed a small blood stain. No doubt from the night Caeden showed up as a wolf, bleeding on my doorstep.
I drew my knees up and turned to look at him. “I can’t get any homework done with you around. What do you need?”
He grinned. “Apple Blossom is coming up.”
“What is that?”
“Just a festival we celebrate here. There are two parades and a carnival. The circus comes too,” he twisted a strand of my hair around his finger before bringing it to his nose and sniffing. “Cookies,” he grinned.
“What are you getting at?”
He leaned his back against
the couch and then rolled to face me. His eyes were glowing as he grinned. “I’m saying I want to go. I need to do something fun. We both do,” he entwined our fingers together.
“That sounds fun. I’ve never been to a carnival.”
“Never?” his jaw dropped.
“Never ever,” I shook my head. “Remember, we moved a lot.”
“I can’t believe you’ve never been to a carnival. That’s insane.”
“When is it?” I asked.
“The carnival starts tomorrow and the parade is next Saturday.”
“Caeden Henry, are you asking me on a date?” I grinned, drawing my legs up.
He pretended to think, rubbing his jaw. “Maybe.”
I smacked his shoulder.
He smiled, his dimple winking at me just as seductively as he winked his eye. “I am definitely asking you on a date.”
I leaned over and kissed his scruffy cheek. Caeden was right; I loved his scruff. It managed to make him even more ruggedly handsome.
Caeden picked up the remote and began to scroll through the channels so I picked up my notebook and went back to finishing my science homework. With the last quarter of our senior year winding down it was crunch time. Teachers were already assigning our finals, knowing that in the next few weeks seniors would be unlikely to show up. Me? I’d be there till the end. Once it’s over, it’s over and I know that the only thing that I will have to consume my time will be shifter related.
Bentley, Caeden, Logan, and I, still planned to enroll at the local community college but anymore I wondered what the point was. For Caeden and I the pack, being Alphas, would always come first. The others did have choices. Like to go to college and get a job. Gram hadn’t started her cupcake shop until after Caeden’s dad had become Alpha. Amy had yet to get a regular job. I didn’t see how she’d have the time. She was always doing something for the pack.
I felt bad that I wanted a life outside of the pack, after all, they had become my extended family but… But I wanted to pave my own way.
I sighed and pulled my hair off my neck before letting it drop. I shook my head and forced myself to focus on my homework.
* * *
“Bryce and Charlotte are picking us up,” Caeden leaned against the doorway. He was dressed casually in khaki shorts, a red shirt, black Nikes, and a baseball cap turned backwards. I had to say, it was my favorite look on him.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked, finishing my hair in a fishtail braid. I tied the end in a pink and green ribbon.
“Why?” Caeden raised a dark brow.
“Because, I might explode from all the gushiness that comes out of their mouths. ‘Oh Bryce you’re so funny.’ Or, ‘Charlotte, your red hair is like a flame and I’m a moth. I’m zapped by you.’”
Caeden threw his head back and laughed. “They do talk like that don’t they?”
“It’s gross,” I said, dabbing some glittery lotion onto my arms. Cookie scented, of course.
Caeden pinched my side. “I bet you wouldn’t think it was gross if I said it.”
I smiled. “Probably not.” I dabbed on some peach gloss and said, “I’m ready.”
“Perfect timing,” Caeden pointed towards the living room where the bay window looked out onto the street, “Bryce and Charlotte are here.”
Gram was sitting in the living room watching TV. She was staying home more and more. It was beginning to make me worry.
“Bye Gram,” I bent down and kissed her cheek.
She smiled. “Bye Sophie, I love you.” She turned her wise brown eyes on Caeden, “And you tell that idiotic brother of yours to drive safely. There’s gonna be a lotta drunks out there.”
Caeden laughed and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he drives carefully.”
“You do that,” Gram said and picked up a drink off the side table. The ice clinked together.
As soon as Caeden opened the front door Bryce started honking his horn.
Oh dear lord.
“Bryce! Knock it off!” Caeden hollered.
“Get your butt in this car and I’ll stop!”
Caeden and I both jogged to the Jeep as soon as we were seated Bryce took his hand off the horn.
Bryce had removed the roof and sides of his Jeep for the summer; which meant that the braid I had worked so hard on would be ruined by the time we made it to the carnival. Darn it!
Bryce tore off down the street and without the seatbelt I would have fallen out. I grabbed Caeden’s arm to steady me, and my nails dug into his skin. I think I preferred the beast over Stella Jr. and that was saying something.
Bryce drove into town; all the while I tried not to throw up on anyone, and parked in a field. Once the car stopped relief flooded my system.
Oh thank God.
Caeden chuckled.
“Did I say that out loud?” I blushed.
“Yeah, you did, not that I can blame you. He does drive like a maniac. Although, I think my arm could have done without the squeezing you gave it.”
I glanced down at his tanned arm and saw little rivulets of blood slinking down his arm. The cuts inflicted by my fingernails quickly closed up.
“Sorry,” I bit my lip.
Caeden opened his mouth to say something when Bryce called from a few yards away, “Losers! Hurry up! Are you going to sit in the car all night?”
Caeden grabbed my hand and grinned like a little boy in a candy shop. “Carnival time!” He drug me from the car and then behind him as he headed to a ring toss game. “I think I need to win my girl a prize,” he said.
I laughed.
“What?” he shrugged. “It’s like a rite of passage. Every boyfriend has to win his girlfriend a prize,” he winked, turning my stomach to jelly.
He paid the guy and grabbed up the rings. With a flick of his wrist all the rings landed easily around the bottles. A couple of people stopped to stare. The guy working the booth was stunned.
“Which one do ya want?” Caeden pointed to the various prizes.
“Um… that one,” I pointed to a stuffed panda bear. It was either that or a bee.
“We’ll take that one,” Caeden told the guy.
“Uh, yeah, sure,” he unclipped the stuffed panda and handed it over to Caeden.
Caeden went to hand it to me and I said, “Nuh-uh mister. You’re the boyfriend, you carry it.”
Grinning lopsidedly he said, “Oh, so this is how you’re gonna play.”
“You know the saying, ‘Nothing’s fair in love and war.’”
“I didn’t know there was a war. I thought there was just love,” he kissed my cheek and took my hand, leading me towards the long line for the Ferris wheel.
“Maybe we should come back later,” I indicated the line.
“Nah,” he shook his head, his shaggy hair shaking. “It’ll only get longer.”
I reached up and fingered a dark curl on his forehead that had escaped the confines of his baseball cap. “I think you need to get a haircut.”
He laughed. “I’ll get right on that mom.”
Caeden and I were finally seated in the Ferris wheel. Caeden held the panda in his lap.
I gulped.
“I don’t think I can do this,” my voice cracked.
“What?” Caeden said and then, “Oh.”
“I’m afraid of heights,” I said, unnecessarily.
We lurched upwards a notch and I let out a squeal. Caeden grabbed my hand and with his other cupped my cheek. “Sophie, it’s going to be okay. It’s too late to get off now.”
“I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this,” I muttered under my breath.
Caeden bit his lip and I knew he was trying really hard not to laugh at me. I appreciated the effort.
“Here,” Caeden said, wiggling around in the rickety seat.
I screamed. “Stop! Don’t do that!”
“Sorry,” Caeden said. “I just thought you might feel better if you tucked your face into m
y shoulder.”
“That might be better,” I let him put his arm around me. The seat shook again and I screamed.
Insider (Outsider Series) Page 19
