She heaved an exasperated sigh and brushed waffle cone crumbs off her hands. “I don’t know, Cam. We’ve known Gus forever. I just can’t see it.”
Cammie tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ears and leaned forward. “Yeah, we’ve known him a long time, but he hasn’t hung out with us much since school started. Or even last summer.”
“Because of Kay,” Mandy said darkly.
Cammie shook her head. “Before Kay, he was hanging out with the lacrosse guys. Not us.”
Mandy nodded slowly. That was true. Over the summer, Gus had been all lacrosse, all the time, morphing from gangly nerd to superjock, sort of like Scott in Teen Wolf after he got the bite. But she’d liked Gus way before he turned into a sports guy, and she was sure he was that same guy he’d always been.
“Just because he’s into sports now doesn’t make him a jerk,” Mandy said, staying loyal to her cheer dance team. Not all jocks were jerks; a lot of them weren’t, in fact.
Cammie nodded. “I know. But I’m just saying maybe we don’t know him as well as we used to.”
Mandy considered this briefly, but pushed the thought away as she watched Caleb debate with J.T., Liam, and Jiro. She’d never seen him hang out with other guys before; he was always brooding by himself. He leaned back in his chair, listening to Liam, then he said something that made everyone laugh, especially J.T. Mandy could picture them as little kids, laughing and fake karate fighting.
The image made her smile, and she realized she was happy he’d shown up tonight. Whatever happened with their fake dating thing, Caleb could probably use a friend.
Everyone could, even broody demons.
Chapter Eleven
Take a Chance on Me
Sunday, September 25
“Caleb,” Helen called from the foyer. “Your friends are here.”
Friends. Right.
He sighed. Hanging out with Mandy’s posse last night hadn’t been a complete nightmare. J.T. had made him laugh a couple of times. Liam was smart, and Jiro was pretty cool, when he wasn’t putting his amateur moves on Cammie and pissing her off.
That girl was one hell of a cock-blocker when it came to Mandy. She’d even insisted on her and Jiro driving Mandy home last night, like Caleb was a threat, which had pissed him off, but in some ways he couldn’t blame her because he knew Cammie was totally opposed to the fake boyfriend thing.
It was probably good that Mandy had a loyal wingwoman; she might need her around Gus. He scowled as he thought of the Octo-Gus rumors and slammed his book shut.
He clomped down the curving staircase, wondering just how much to turn on the fake boyfriend act today. And how he’d survive an afternoon with the invasion of the spirit zombies.
Helen flung the door open, welcoming everyone with her beaming smile. Gaggle, Caleb thought, a disorderly or noisy group of people. Correction: a giggling gaggle, of pep-filled, spirit committee bouncing Tiggers.
They spilled into his house followed by their leaders: Mandy, J.T., and Cammie. The giggling stopped as Caleb reached the bottom of the stairs. He crossed his arms over his chest, skimming his gaze over the big-eyed geese. They stared back at him, some more boldly than others. He felt like he’d landed in the Charlie and Chocolate Factory movie, the weird one with Johnny Depp, and briefly fantasized about sending everyone down the spinning drain that sucked down Violet.
But then Mandy caught his eye, flashing him a tentative smile, and he realized he didn’t want to flush everyone down the drain. He took in her retro unicorn T-shirt that had to be authentic seventies and smirked, shaking his head slightly. She tossed her hair over her shoulders, standing up straighter, and he saw a spark of fire flash in her eyes.
He cocked an eyebrow, silently letting her know he was up for whatever challenge she was throwing down.
“J.T., is that you?” Helen asked, her voice full of happy surprise.
Crap. She remembered. He’d sort of hoped she wouldn’t. But Helen forgot nothing; he should know that by now.
J.T. grinned at Helen. “Hi, Helen. Yeah, it’s me.”
Caleb watched, horrified, as Helen pulled J.T. into a hug while everyone else laughed nervously. Mandy’s gaze shot straight to his, and this time it was her turn to smirk.
Helen spun J.T. around like a top. “Look at you, all grown up!” She shot an accusing look at Caleb. “Why didn’t you tell me J.T. was coming over?”
Caleb shrugged, relieved he didn’t blush as easily as Mandy.
“Well, come on,” Helen said, tugging J.T. after her. “Everyone come in the kitchen and let’s get to work.”
The gaggle followed Helen like she was Mother Goose. Caleb trailed behind them, wondering how a harmless fake boyfriend proposition had led to this.
Gleaming mixing bowls covered the granite counters, along with canisters of flour and sugar and not one, but two, enormous mixers. Helen had brought her personal one from home. The gaggle started unloading supplies from grocery bags, chattering and giggling nonstop.
“This is awesome,” Mandy said, looking around with wide eyes. She turned her high beams on Helen. “Thank you so much for letting us use your kitchen.”
Helen returned Mandy’s smile with her own high beams.
Great. The last thing Caleb needed was those two bonding. Helen had a bad habit of telling embarrassing little-kid stories about him. He moved toward them, ignoring Cammie’s glare.
“Caleb, introduce me to your friend,” Helen said. He ignored the speculative twinkle in her eyes and shot Helen a warning glare. There would be no twinkling around Disco.
“This is Dis—I mean, Mandy.” He nodded toward her. “And Mandy, this is Helen. She’s our…my…” he stammered, shocked to find himself at a loss for words. How could he describe her accurately? “Housekeeper” sounded so formal. So demeaning. Plus she did so much more than cook and clean. He didn’t dare say she was his surrogate mom, even though she basically was.
“I’m Caleb’s worst nightmare,” Helen said, winking at Mandy. “I’m the only thing keeping him from crossing completely over to the dark side. I feed him enough sugar to keep him on the side of angels. Barely.”
Mandy’s eyes widened, then she tossed back her head and laughed, a surprisingly sexy laugh. “Thank God for that,” Mandy said. She cocked an eyebrow, making direct eye contact with him. “He needs all the sweetening you can give him.”
He snorted, but didn’t take the bait.
Helen grinned, then dragged Mandy away to set her up in front of her personal mixer. Uh-oh. Not good. Helen didn’t let anyone touch her appliances.
“Caleb,” Helen said, “come over here and help Mandy.”
“Yeah, Caleb,” J.T. said, suddenly next to him. “Go rock that boyfriend act.”
Caleb glared at him. “Dude.”
J.T. shrugged. “What? That’s why we’re in your kitchen, isn’t it? Because you’re such a stellar BF.” He grinned, then tore open a bag of chocolate chips and reached inside for a handful. “Want some?”
Caleb shook his head, suddenly remembering the time he and J.T. had eaten two full bags of chocolate chips when they were kids and gotten in big trouble with Helen.
“Caleb!” Helen called. “Come here.”
God. He was totally eight years old again today. He stalked across the kitchen to stand next to Mandy, who was busy dumping ingredients into a giant silver mixing bowl.
“I’m going to check on the other kids,” Helen said, stepping away but pausing briefly to raise her eyebrows meaningfully at Caleb. The message was clear: behave yourself.
“You have an Alice,” Mandy said in a low singsong voice. “Just like in The Brady Bunch.”
He felt his eyebrows knit as he picked up the recipe card on the counter. “I do not have an Alice. Helen’s much more than comic relief.”
Mandy stopped pouring flour into the bowl and turned to him, disbelief in her eyes. “Alice wasn’t just comic relief! She was Carol’s sounding board. And she kept the kids in line, and she�
��”
“You do know it’s not real life, right, Disco?” Caleb interrupted. “Those people don’t live in that box with the moving pictures. It’s called a sitcom. And why are you watching crappy TV shows from the seventies, anyway?”
She narrowed her eyes at him, and he wondered again if those ridiculous eyelashes were fake. If anyone belonged on a sitcom it was Mandy.
The doorbell rang, and Caleb tilted his head. “More minions?”
“They are legion. I’ll get the door, since you might scare them away.”
He rolled his eyes. “I can do this all day, Disco.”
She grinned. “Me too, demon.” Then she pranced out of the kitchen, reminding him again of a Rainbow Pony. He laughed softly and turned back to the counter, wondering what she was making. Probably something with so much sugar it would rot his teeth.
He glanced around the kitchen feeling like maybe he had wandered onto a sitcom set. He never would’ve imagined this crazy scene of noisy, laughing people from school making a mess, measuring ingredients, banging pans, and yelling and laughing over the sounds of the mixers.
“Uh-oh,” J.T. said, appearing next to him again. “Time to boyfriend up, dude.”
Caleb glanced up, following J.T.’s gaze to the kitchen doorway where Mandy stood looking like a deer caught in the headlights, with Kay and Gus next to her.
Caleb narrowed his eyes at Gus as bolts of suspicion and jealousy shot through him. Crap. What the hell was going on? He wasn’t supposed to feel any of that, not about Mandy. But as he watched her bite her lip nervously, he felt all of those things, and more.
“Kick it into high gear,” J.T. said.
“What?” Caleb glanced at him.
“Showtime,” J.T. said, grinning. “Make it good, Red Ranger.”
He was right. Caleb stepped away from the counter and crossed the kitchen, each step bringing him closer to the redhead who was making him crazy, making him wonder what was real and what was fake. Now was as good a time as any to figure that out.
“So you guys are on the spirit committee, too, huh?” Caleb said, resting his hand on Mandy’s shoulder. He ran his hand down her back and cupped it around the curve of her waist, heat shooting up his arm and straight to his chest.
Kay’s lips pursed. “Not exactly. But I told Gus we should swing by just to see how things are going, since Monday’s bake sale is important for Spirit Week.”
He felt Mandy tense next to him.
“Huh,” Caleb said, deepening his voice. “Are you saying you don’t trust the committee? Trust Mandy?” He felt Mandy turn toward him, but he kept his stare pinned on Kay, who blinked in surprise.
“Uh, n-no,” Kay stammered. “I didn’t mean—”
“I’m sure everything’s great,” Gus said, flashing a blinding smile that made Caleb think of a horror movie. Gus put his hand on Kay’s waist, mirroring Caleb. “We just thought we’d swing by.”
Caleb’s hand tightened on Mandy’s waist. “I’m sure Mandy can find a job for you guys.” He turned and winked at her. “Right, babe?”
A cascade of emotions swirled in her eyes—confusion, frustration, gratitude…finally settling on feisty, which made him happy. He didn’t want her intimidated by freaky Kay. Or sucked in by the Octo-Gus.
“Right,” she said, turning back to Kay and Gus. “Maybe you guys can help wash bowls and stuff once we’ve got the first batch in the ovens.”
Caleb grinned, squeezing her waist in a sign of approval.
Kay wrinkled her nose. “Wash dishes?”
“Unless you melt when water touches you,” Caleb said. “Like a witch.”
Gus frowned. “Dude. Not cool.”
Kay tossed her hair. “Whatever.” She pushed past them, Gus trailing after her, glancing over his shoulder at Mandy, a confused expression glazing his eyes.
“Caleb,” Mandy scolded. “That wasn’t nice.” But her lips twitched.
“Demons don’t play nice. Especially when someone’s bagging on their girlfriend.”
She swallowed, and a blush tinged her cheeks. “Well, I…I mean…you know I don’t like Kay, but I try not to be a jerk to people—”
“That’s why you’ve got me, Disco. Your jerk in shining armor. Or black leather. Whatever.”
She shook her head, smiling. “Caleb Torrs. What am I going to do with you?”
He pulled her in before she could resist, gripping her waist with both hands, anchoring her in place. “You could kiss me. Oh wait—since Gus is here, I’m supposed to kiss you, right? That’s our agreement.”
Her chest rose and fell, but she didn’t pull away. “We never officially finalized that agreement,” she said, her voice a whisper.
He ducked his head to touch his forehead to hers.
“Caleb, I…” Her breath tickled his lips and his desire to kiss her was so far beyond fake, so real, he didn’t think he could wait for her to agree. And she was giving off a million signals that she wanted it as much as he did.
“Mandy,” he whispered against her lips, “let’s stop pr—” But he never got the truth out because suddenly Cammie was there, cock-blocker to the rescue.
“Caleb, we can’t find any more spatulas.”
“Ask Helen,” he growled, tightening his grip on Mandy so she didn’t bolt, but it was too late—the moment shattered by her damn wingwoman. He turned to glare at Cammie, matching her challenging stare with his own.
Mandy’s hands rested on his, gently prying his fingers from her waist.
Damn. They’d been so close to…to something. Something not fake. He was going to make sure to cock-block Jiro next time he went in for the kill with Cammie.
Several hours later, the kitchen counters were covered with wet, clean bowls and utensils drying on dish towels. Everyone had pitched in to clean up except Kay and Gus, who’d bolted.
Caleb carried Helen’s prized mixer to her car. “Thanks for coming, Helen. I know it was kind of crazy.” He set the box in the backseat and closed the door.
She beamed up at him as she started her Honda. “Wouldn’t have missed that for the world. And I especially liked meeting Mandy. She’s adorable. You both are.” She winked at him and pulled away before he could think of a response.
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair before going back inside. All of the spirit zombies had left with their boxes and containers full of baked items, except J.T., Cammie, and Mandy. It was just like the caf, when they hung out at his table whether he wanted them to or not.
He heard the music when he opened the front door, disgusting disco crap cranked up to maximum volume. He stalked into the kitchen, ready to shut it down, but froze at the scene in front of him.
Cammie, J.T., and Mandy were dancing in the open area of the kitchen, laughing as they did choreographed moves in time to the beat. They looked ridiculous…but they were obviously having fun. And Mandy didn’t look completely ridiculous. There was a reason she was on the dance squad, he thought, watching her body move and feeling heat streak through his body.
She glanced up, meeting his gaze, and froze in place as J.T. and Cammie crashed into her during a spinning move. J.T. lunged for the speaker unit, turning down the volume.
“Sorry,” J.T. said. “We were just…killing time.”
“Practicing,” Cammie said. “For homecoming.” She glanced at Mandy. “We’re going to head out.”
“Yeah,” J.T. said, pulling his phone off the speaker unit. “I still have homework to finish.”
Mandy crossed her arms over her chest and glanced nervously at Caleb. “Speaking of homework, I was wondering if maybe you could look over my essay again? I brought my stuff, just in case you had time.”
“Now?” Caleb asked, surprised. He felt the wingman and wingwoman glaring at him, like they were just as surprised as he was by the request.
Mandy glanced down at her shoes. “Never mind. I should’ve—”
“Yes,” he interrupted. “Now is fine.” He glanced at Cammie and J.T. “You
guys need any help carrying stuff to your car?” As in, leave. Now.
J.T. narrowed his eyes. “I’ve got my eye on you, Red Ranger.”
“Yep. Goes both ways, Blue Ranger.” He quickly stacked up their boxes of cookies, then held them out to J.T. “See you tomorrow.”
Cammie put her hands on her hips, clearly unhappy. “Mandy, if you need a ride home—”
“I’ll take her home.” This protective crap was really pissing him off. “News flash, Cammie. I’m not the bad guy.”
“Jury’s still out.” She glanced at Mandy. “Call me later, okay?”
Mandy nodded, looking embarrassed. He couldn’t blame her; her friends treated her like a kid sometimes.
After Cammie and J.T. left, Mandy recovered her composure and pinned him with a stern expression. “We need a tutoring rule, Caleb. No shenanigans.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Shenanigans? Who talks like that, Disco? And what does it even mean?”
She blushed, but she didn’t back down. “You know exactly what I mean. The tutoring part is real, Caleb, not fake. We don’t…I mean, I don’t need any distractions while we’re working on my essay.”
He nodded as he studied her worried face. It wouldn’t be as much fun this way, but she was right.
“Okay. Deal.”
Besides, maybe there’d be time for shenanigans later.
Chapter Twelve
Heart of Glass
Sunday, September 25
“Okay, let’s start at the top. Tell me why you hate this book so much.” Caleb wrapped his hands around his coffee mug. They sat in a small coffee shop Mandy had never been to before, because Caleb had insisted they needed fuel to recover from the baking session and give them energy for tutoring. Mandy sipped from her peppermint mocha. Caleb had ordered black coffee, which Mandy had called demon juice.
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