Giving him the evil eye, she growled. “Oh my God, I hate you so much right now.”
He chuckled and then shook his head, getting serious. “Honestly, princess, it wasn’t that bad.”
The heat in her cheeks said otherwise. There was going to be heck to pay when she got home from school later. Flint was used to her dad always being super protective of her mother, even herself at times, but to see him like that. With Katy. It’d stung.
Staring down at her feet, lost in her woe-is-me thoughts, she didn’t see Abel until they bumped shoulders.
“Oh, Abel. Sorry,” she stuttered, suddenly remembering their weird good-bye earlier.
He was dressed in a pair of tan shorts, sneakers, and a tight baseball shirt. It was definitely not her imagination; he was starting to fill out. He’d looked as close to skeletal as she’d ever remembered seeing someone when she’d first arrived, and in only three months, he was bulking up.
Abel eyed Cain hard before turning back to look at her. “Sorry,” he muttered, “should have been looking where I was going.”
Flint watched as he walked to the food shack, thinking maybe she should follow, say something. He was her best friend—she didn’t want this weirdness between them.
Cain’s warm hand clamped onto her shoulder. “You ready?”
Sad, feeling like the world’s biggest screwup, she sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
When they were in the car, he spoke up first. “It’s really going to be okay.”
Why was he being so nice all of a sudden? Especially today, when she’d shown her butt to not one but two very important people in her life.
Though, in the case of Abel, she wasn’t sure the guilt was appropriate, but she felt it anyway.
“You think? Because I really think my dad is pissed.”
He shrugged, shifting into a higher gear. They were taking a different route to school, heading the opposite way. She’d come this way once; it added a good twenty minutes to the drive. Which was why she’d never taken the route again. But today, she kind of liked going the long way around.
He shrugged. “It happens. I’m pretty sure Adam’s wanted to kick my butt a time or two.”
His smile made her belly roll and then it grumbled. Which was just about the most unromantic thing ever.
Nodding to the center console, he said, “Figured you’d start growling like a bear. Brought that bacon for you.”
Putty. Warm gooey putty, that’s what she was. “Ah, you shouldn’t have. My hero.” She snatched the white wrapping and took a bite of the first slice of bacon, unable to hold back the moan that spilled from her throat.
“Tomorrow’s report card day,” she mumbled around the food. “So not only is my dad pissed about the whole Katy thing, he’s going to have a seizure when he sees my grades.”
“You know what you’re getting?”
She popped another piece of bacon in her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and then said, “I’ll be lucky if I get a C minus in Wickham’s class. What about you?”
“A.” He didn’t even crack a smile.
“All right.” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say. At least I don’t live in denial.”
Cain narrowed his eyes. “What, you think I’m in denial?”
She nodded. “Oh, I know you are. All you do is tap your pencil and act like a giant loser with me. If you’re passing, it’s just barely.”
A secret gleam twinkled in his eyes. It was getting easier to read his moods. Which was weird. When she’d first met him, Flint had thought he had one attitude: Pissed off. But his eyes were more expressive than she’d ever thought they’d be.
He snorted. “See you demolished the pound of bacon.”
“Next time, make it two,” she quipped and wiped her mouth with the edge of the napkin, then bunched it up and tossed it back onto the console.
Time flew by, the twenty minutes had felt more like five, and before she knew it they were pulling into the school parking lot. As more and more groups of students filed out of their cars, Cain became more and more pensive. His smile was gone, his easy manner was now pent-up and he was uptight.
She’d think he was embarrassed to be seen with her, but at this point she was more inclined to believe that he was just like that with anyone he didn’t know.
He pulled up next to the curb. “Your dad doesn’t work tonight.”
She shook her head. “No.”
There was no inflection in his tone to give away what he was thinking. She bit the inside corner of her lip, wishing she could rub her finger along his bristled and bruised jawline. Anything to make him look at her like he had earlier. Flint clutched her book bag tight.
“See you tomorrow then.”
She frowned. “You’re not coming to school?”
“Got to hunt.”
He’d put on his glasses again and was now staring straight ahead, putting up that wall between them that she was coming to despise.
She toyed with her seat belt. “I thought you said the leads were dry.”
He turned to her, his jaw clenching and unclenching.
“Did you find a new one?”
Cain drummed his fingers on the wheel but still didn’t answer.
Which made her wonder all over again why he’d bothered telling her any of this in the first place. Clearly he wasn’t in the sharing mood, so what was the point?
“Fine.” She undid her seatbelt and opened her door.
“Lock your doors tonight. Don’t leave, you understand?”
It took everything she had not to roll her eyes at his heavy-handed manner. Just when she thought maybe they were progressing to a point that some of the ice was thawing, it would get colder and more bitter than ever.
Flint got out and then stood there, watching him drive off. The day was sunny and bright, but now it felt gray. Trees shook in the stiff breeze—winter wasn’t that far off. She could smell its nip in the air.
A hand draped around her shoulder. “Probably better that way.”
She glanced down at Janet, who was staring at the road as Cain’s taillights disappeared over the horizon. Dressed in a peacock-inspired outfit, she looked just this side of eccentric in a vivid blue jacket with golden epaulets, a pea-green corduroy skirt, and thick brown stockings. Her hair looked like a peacock’s plume the way it spiked behind her head.
Classic Janet, as gorgeous as she was, she could pull off anything. Flint would just look like a brightly painted baboon’s butt in that.
They headed up the gray stairs toward first period. The moment they walked through the doors, it was like homecoming had come and thrown up all over the place. There were banners hanging from the doors, posters on the wall, even stars dangling from the drop-down ceiling.
“What is this?” Flint looked up in disbelief.
Janet pointed. “A night to remember. Oh, how very clever.” She snorted. “I’ve seen better.”
Reminded yet again of her age, Flint’s lips twitched. “I’m sure you have.”
“So, we still on for the shopping trip?”
Flint shrugged on her backpack. “Yeah, unless of course my dad grounds me for life.”
“Why?” Janet’s brown eyes looked huge behind her cat’s-eye glasses.
“Report cards. Tomorrow.” Her stomach churned just thinking about it.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Janet patted her arm.
“No. I won’t. And if he doesn’t ground me, he’ll get all ‘Flint Allison DeLuca, I’m very unhappy with you young lady,’” she said in her deepest voice. She flicked her wrist. “Anyway, at least you’ve already got a date.”
Janet shrugged and then stood stock-still, glancing over her shoulder.
Flint turned and frowned when she saw Abel walk in. Earbuds were in his ears.
A girl bumped into him, someone Flint didn’t recognize. A pretty blonde with too much makeup on. She grabbed his arm, giving it a squeeze before laughing.
For his part, Abel looked tot
ally bored but polite.
She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she figured the girl was flirting by the way she clung to his hand. Flint curled her nose, ready to crack a joke when she noticed something she’d never seen in Janet’s eyes before.
“You like him!”
“Sssh!” Janet hissed, waving her hand in Flint’s face. “Quiet. And I do not.”
Flint glanced back at Abel, who looked desperate to disentangle himself from the blond piranha. “How long? Oh my, wow, Ja,” she squealed. “Does he know yet?”
Janet rolled her eyes and started walking. “I haven’t told him, and you’d better not. It’s weird, okay? It’s just, lately I’ve been... I don’t know.”
“What? Tell me.”
They headed down Flint’s hall, walking slowly.
“It’s just that lately I’ve been smelling something around him. I know that sounds weird, trust me.”
Shocked, Flint turned in front of her. “Wait, you smell him?”
If Janet could blush, she’d probably be doing it now. Her face was deadpan when she said, “I know how stupid that sounds. But it’s a”—she glanced around, then lowered her voice, forcing Flint to bend her head so she could hear the whisper—“monster thing. When we come across a potential match we... smell them,” she finished, mouth thinning out as if waiting for Flint to laugh.
“Does it smell like pine?”
Ja shook her head. “Pine? Why would you—” Now it was her turn for her eyes to widen. “Cain? That’s not possible.” Ja eyed her hard. “Does he know?”
The first warning bell rang.
Janet started to back up. “Lunch, we gotta talk. ’Kay?”
“Sure.” Flint nodded, confused, weirded out, and curious as she entered her class.
Wickham was all business today, barely pausing to glance at her. Thankfully, he didn’t pester her in class either. Which meant she had way too much time to think.
Mostly about Cain and why she could smell him. Even before the bite, she’d been attracted to his scent.
And it was different than the millions of other smells she was bombarded with all day long. Those scents were just... information. His made her want to stay close to him, act crazy and wild and reckless. His scent drove her nuts.
But maybe she only smelled his aftershave?
Did he even wear any?
The bell rang. Gathering up her book, she was headed out the door when Wickham stopped her by gently touching her shoulder.
“Flint, do you have a minute?”
His bespectacled eyes looked huge and owlish today. She hadn’t noticed earlier, but he’d definitely looked better. In fact, it was fair to say he looked downright scruffy today. There was a reddish-orange stain on the lapel of his shirt, and the beginnings of whiskers shaded his smooth jaw.
Kids filed out, barely even pausing to glance back at her.
“I know I’m failing,” she muttered, heart sinking and realizing immediately what it was he wanted to talk about.
His lips were thin as he nodded. “Utterly. I’m thinking maybe it’s time I call your parents in for—”
“It’s just me and my dad.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
When he crossed his arms, she was blasted with the scent of sweet milk. She’d begun to think it had nothing at all to do with Wickham in particular and everything to do with the fact that her school was literally overrun by hive.
The sweet-milk smell made her stomach growl, and she suddenly had a terrible craving for caramel. He lifted a brow.
She shifted on the balls of her feet. If her dad had to come in, that was it. No social life, no nothing. It would be over for her, at least until college. Which, all things considered, should have been the least of her worries. Maybe being locked up wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Then again...
“Look, I can tell you’re a bright kid. I’ve asked around—you’re not failing any of your other classes. In fact, you’re excelling in most. Which leads me to believe something’s going on here. Namely, Cain.”
Her heart spasmed in her chest. “What? I can hardly stand him and I know he hates me.” Recent events made her question whether that was even true anymore, but it definitely wasn’t any of Wickham’s business.
“So that’s why I saw him drop you off at school today?”
She frowned. This was getting weird. Like Twilight Zone weird. Why was her teacher fishing for deets about her and her love life? More importantly about her and Cain?
It didn’t make sense and made her weird-dar go off. Which was why her words came out a little snappier than she’d intended. “And that’s your business why?”
He narrowed his eyes at her tone. “You’re my business. I didn’t get into teaching just to watch someone with so much potential fail because of a guy. That’s why, Ms. DeLuca.”
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she counted slowly to ten, wondering if there was a point to this inquisition.
Wickham brushed his fingers through his hair. “Look, that’s not the point of this conversation. My point for asking you to stay was to find out if you’d be interested in extra credit. Right now you’re swinging a solid D plus. If you do this, it’ll bring your grade up to a C minus.”
She licked her lips as new kids started filing in, watching her and Wickham with curious eyes. “What kind of extra credit?”
“You going to Homecoming?”
She shrugged. “I don’t have a date. Not really sure. I was thinking about it though.”
“Good, actually.” His grin was weak with relief. “If you don’t have a date, you won’t be obligated elsewhere. I’m heading the setup and cleanup committee. I’d need you to come and hang decorations three hours prior to the event and then stay afterward to take down. Which of course means no after-party.”
This was both good and bad. Good because her dad would never have to know just how close she’d come to totally blowing her GPA and any hope of getting accepted into a decent college out of the water. Bad because she’d for sure miss the party of the year.
One option sucked a little less.
“Yeah, I’ll do it.”
Pulling a roll of hard caramel candy from his pocket, he popped one in his mouth and grinned. “Good.”
Well that totally explained the smell. Jeez...
The class was almost full at this point, and she knew she was going to miss her next bell. Wickham grabbed a pad and pen off his desk, then started to write something.
“And Ms. DeLuca, a bit of unsolicited advice—stay away from that boy. He’s trouble.” His brown eyes gleamed with a mysterious flicker of something she couldn’t name.
The worst of it was, he really meant it. She heard it in his tone. And that totally pissed her off. It was none of his business.
Spine instantly rigid with disgust and fury, she snatched the tardy slip he handed her and didn’t bother responding.
The bell rang and Wickham was back in teacher mode, calling the class to order as she walked out. Her stomach grumbled as she headed for the nearest candy vendor and bought a roll of hard caramel candy.
Lunch couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter 25
“Hey.” Flint dropped down into her seat, casting a quick glance at the table behind them. The twins were there.
Seth waved hi. Or maybe it was Eli.
She still couldn’t tell them apart.
And why weren’t they with Cain? She thought they always went hunting together?
“Hey.” Abel sounded glum as he took a bite of his ham sandwich.
Flint looked at Janet, who was staring down at her pudding cup. Rhiannon was giving Flint big eyes, as if to say “what the...?”
All she could do was shake her head and shrug.
Flint unrolled the first of her three tacos and said, “How’s the wrestling-stud quest going, Rhi?”
Rhiannon growled, tossing her carrot sticks onto the tray. “Awful. Tara Dean,”
she said, drawing out the name, “already asked him and he said yes. The moron.”
Janet laughed. “Though in his defense, he totally looked desperate to make the switch. Did you see how big his eyes got? And then when he looked at Tara—oh man, it was pathetic.”
Her friend was sounding like her chirpy self again, and Flint grinned.
“Well, his loss. I asked Joe.”
Abel screwed his face up. “Who?”
“You know, gap-tooth Joe.” Rhiannon tapped her front tooth.
“Oh, you mean John,” Janet said. “Gap-tooth John. Joe has the scar.”
“Whatever.” Rhiannon shrugged, looking completely bored. “I almost don’t want to go anymore.”
“ Nuh-uh.” Flint shook her head. “Homecoming was your idea. I don’t even have a date and I’m going because of you. You can’t bail now. Plus—”
Abel’s head shot up and he cut her off just as she was about to whine about Wickham’s extra-credit assignment. “Cain didn’t ask you?”
Flint gave him a get-real look. “Why in the world would you think he’d ask me?”
Eyes as big as saucers, Abel shook his head. “Why not? Because he’s only been acting crazy around you lately. Suddenly wanting to hang out with you... I just thought,” he muttered.
Flint pursed her lips when Ja dropped her head, staring down at the sandwich in her hands.
Abel checked his watch. “I gotta bail. Promised to help my friend before class.”
“Mmhhmm...” Rhiannon twisted her lips. “Help. Don’t think I haven’t seen you passing Monique your homework assignment before class so she can copy.”
Standing, Abel ignored her and instead asked Flint, “You stopping by the circus tonight?”
“No. Dad’s home for the night. One of his rare nights off. I think we’re doing the whole domestic family thing.”
“Oh, okay then.” He turned to go.
“Bye!” Janet chirped at his back.
He just waved and sauntered off.
“Bye,” Janet mimicked herself in a high-pitched falsetto. “Epic fail.”
Rhiannon just patted her shoulder, a shared look passing between the two girls before Rhi got up and nodded, then left as well.
Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1) Page 24