Ghost Bird: The Academy Omnibus Part 1: Books One - Four

by C. L. Stone

  Sang the Cheater

  I woke up as Victor made the turn onto Sunnyvale Court. I yawned, rubbing at my eyes, surprised I had actually fallen asleep.

  Nathan smiled at me as I sat up. “Are you going to want a nap or swim?”

  “Swim.”

  His face brightened in a way that made me blush.

  Victor parked in Nathan’s driveway. We got out and took armloads of the bags into the house. Nathan pointed to the square kitchen table in the dining room and we dropped the bags on top of it. Collected together on the table, the pile was overwhelming.

  “I don’t think it will all fit in my closet,” I said.

  “Will you quit worrying?” Gabriel asked. He chopped me on the head and fished out the bag that had the bathing suit in it. “Go put this on.”

  I started to second-guess my choice in bathing suits. I hadn’t thought ahead enough to think of the guys seeing me in a bikini.

  Gabriel sensed my hesitation and shoved me toward the bathroom.

  When I was locked inside, I washed my face to refresh myself after sleeping in the car and borrowed some of Nathan’s toothpaste, brushing my teeth with my finger. I folded the clothes I had worn, taking extra care with Kota’s shirt.

  When I finished dressing, I stared at myself in the mirror. The suit appeared just as daring as it had in the store. Was this me?

  A gentle knock sounded at the door. “Sang,” Gabriel called to me. “Stop being nervous.”

  With my cheeks flushed, I unlocked the door and opened it. Gabriel leaned on the doorway, his arm up on the frame and his head resting against his bicep. He was already in his swimming shorts. His slim frame was cut, his abs defined, and a line of brown hair came up from his groin, through his abs above his belly button before the trail faded. How did I miss this part the day before yesterday in the woods? Maybe I was too distracted by my stung legs to notice. He was easily one of the slimmest guys in the group, but he was exquisite.

  His eyes drank me in again and the side of his mouth curled up. “Knockout,” he said quietly. He grabbed my hand, his slim fingers folding over my palm. He tugged me back into the kitchen.

  Nathan wore red swim trunks. Victor was still dressed, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the gray granite kitchen island. They talked in hushed voices. Gabriel stepped out of the way so they could see me. Their eyes widened and mouths popped open.

  This was worse than if they had said they didn’t like it. Heat tickled my cheeks.

  Gabriel lifted my hand above my head and twisted it slightly so I would spin. The hem of the miniskirt flew up around my waist.

  “Can I dress or what?” Gabriel asked.

  Nathan’s cheeks reddened, his eyes bouncing back and forth from my face to my legs to my breasts and everywhere. Victor’s fire eyes were blazing. His eyes slid very slowly to my legs and back up across my body.

  “Come on, Trouble,” Gabriel said, as he clasped my hand tight and led me toward the living room. “Let’s go try it out.”

  As we walked through the living room, Nathan’s voice floated to us. “That was so worth every penny.”

  Victor replied, “I don’t think I spent enough...”

  ♥♥♥Outside, Gabriel insisted on spreading a thick layer of suntan lotion on my back and stomach.

  “Sunburns are not for you,” he said, as he dabbed my nose with a little lotion.

  It was Nathan who finally pulled me away from him. He picked me up into his arms. I laughed, wriggling against him as I knew what was coming. He didn’t stop at the pool’s edge. He simply continued walking and we splashed together into the water.

  The clouds were wisps in the sky. Freshly mowed grass and an ocean breeze tickled my nose along with the chlorine. The day was perfect for this.

  Gabriel took a shallow dive from the edge, and popped up on the other side of the pool. He shook his head, his blond locks scrambled into the mix of his dark hair.

  Victor emerged from the house. He wore plain gray swimming shorts. The silver medallion still hung around his neck. His shoulders and chest were just as toned as Gabriel’s. While Nathan beat them both in definition and mass, they were all fit, and prime examples of Academy students.

  Victor squatted down to sit on the edge of the pool and slipped into the water without a splash. He did a quick lap across the pool under the water and surfaced. Water slid across his trim abdomen. He raked his wavy brown hair out of his eyes. I couldn’t believe how beautiful he looked.

  “You know what this means now that we have Sang,” Nathan said, distracting me from watching Victor. “We’ve finally got even teams.”

  “For what?” I asked. I untangled my clip from my hair, twisting my hair against my head and putting the clip back to keep it out of my eyes.

  “Everything,” Nathan said. “There’s been seven of us for so long, we’ve always had uneven teams unless someone bowed out.”

  “So I am useful,” I said, grinning. The water energized me. I didn’t realize how down I’d been until that moment when my blood was pumping through my veins again. How long had I been sleepwalking through life?

  He smirked, splashing water at me. I laughed, pulling away to swim under the water to the other side of the pool. When I got there, Nathan was right behind me. He bumped into me on purpose and broke the surface, slapping the beige concrete patio. “Another race?”

  I nodded, flicking water away from my brow. “What do I get when I win?”

  He laughed, his hand pressed against his chest. “I guess you don’t want one of my shirts now that you’ve got your own.”

  “Maybe I do,” I said, as I fixed a teasing stare at him. “I will steal all your clothes and then you’ll have to go out with Gabriel.”

  “You have to beat me first.”

  I took off under the water, holding my breath and racing toward the other end. There was no point in waiting for him to say go.

  It didn’t take him long to break my lead and he touched the other side quickly enough to straighten up out of the water and lean against the edge on his elbows as if he’d been waiting for me for hours. When I came up on the other side, I made sure to splash him more.

  Victor was in the corner, leaning against the wall. He tilted his head at us. “What’s this?”

  “Racing,” Nathan said. He turned to me. “And I get all the strawberries off your smoothie when we go out next.”

  Victor’s eyebrows shot up. “Betting?”

  “Hell, yeah,” Gabriel said, coming up next to us. He held his arms above his head and stretched. I got a better view of his abs. His shorts slid down his hips, stopping at the curve of his butt. “What’s the winner get?”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “It’s whatever you want.”

  “You better watch that,” Victor warned, but he smiled and got into a racing position against the wall. “Asking for whatever we want might be more than you’re willing to give up.”

  “Hey,” Nathan said, a warning tone in his voice.

  This seemed to confuse Victor, but he shook his head dismissively. “Are we going?”

  I kicked off with my legs. The others shot off but it was Nathan who won again.

  “Ha!” he said, his laugh cutting through the air. He pointed at my face. “I get shotgun next time.”

  I smirked and stuck my tongue out at him.

  “Well this will suck a lot if Nathan wins every time,” Gabriel said, pouting.

  “He might not,” I said, slipping him a wink. He caught it and made a devilish grin.

  This time I took off again, but I didn’t swim my fastest. Instead I waited for Nathan to get close and I grabbed him around the waist, using what little power I had to push him out of his projected forward motion. He grinned at me under the water, catching me around the hips and stood up, breaking the surface.

  I struggled and pushed against his arms. I laughed, breathless.

  “You little cheater,” he said as Gabriel tagged the other side, winning.
r />   “It’s not cheating if you don’t set the rules,” I said.

  “I won,” Gabriel shouted at us from the other side of the pool. He pointed in my direction. “And I get your damn clip for an entire week.”

  I gaped at him. “And I bothered to help you! I want it while we’re swimming.”

  “After,” he said.

  “And why does everyone want my stuff?” I asked, pushing against Nathan again who was still holding on to me.

  They all laughed at me.

  Nathan hefted me up over his head. “Get ready for it,” he said.

  I held my breath as he tossed me easily across the pool. I landed with a splash, catching Victor in the face with water.

  I swam to the surface, laughing. Victor had his arm raised to ward off the splashing. His fire eyes smoldered and a pleased smile played across his face.

  Gabriel cannonballed into the water and popped up next to me. “Okay, I have to see you do one of those.”

  I splashed at him, thinking he was joking. He came after me with a wicked grin. I scrambled to get out of the way, running against the resistance of the pool.

  Victor stepped in front of me, and we collided. My hands pressed to his chest in an effort to keep myself from falling over. “Tell him I don’t have to?”

  Victor laughed; his arms encircled my bare middle and nearly lifted me out of the water as he tugged me toward the wall. “No,” he said. “I want to see it, too.”

  Gabriel climbed out of the water. I wriggled against Victor, who held onto me easily with a strength I wasn’t expecting. Gabriel took me from Victor.

  Gabriel carried me until we were standing at the edge of the middle of the pool where the water was the deepest. Nathan and Victor sat together on the deck at the other end, their feet in the water.

  Nathan cupped his hands together and shouted, “Make a bigger splash than Gabriel, and you get your clip back.”

  I brightened.

  “No fucking way,” Gabriel said.

  “What if you win?” I asked him.

  His blue eyes glowed at this. He leaned into me to whisper in my ear. “I get that clip forever.”

  My heart stopped and my breath escaped. “Hmm,” I said, pretending to ponder it. “And it’s whoever does an awesome cannonball splash, right?”

  He nodded, his crystal eyes still intense on me. His back was to the pool. I placed a casual hand on his chest. His eyes lit up again.

  “You’re on,” I said.

  And I pushed at him as hard as I could.

  His face popped in surprise and he grappled for my arm. It was too slippery to hold onto and he fell back into the water in a mess.

  I did a sloppy cannonball next to him, but used the momentum to swim to the other end of the pool under the water before Gabriel could grab on to me.

  Nathan stood up on the edge of the pool, laughing. Gabriel was catching up to me. I reached out for Nathan. He snagged my hands and hauled me from the water until I was on my feet next to him.

  “No fair,” Gabriel said. “She fucking cheats.”

  “Yup,” Nathan said, beaming proudly as he kept a hand on my back, fingers spread over my bare skin. It warmed me and yet my insides were doing flips.

  Gabriel swiped his hands at my ankles. “Get back here.”

  I laughed, squealing and leaping out of reach. Nathan looped an arm under my knees and carried me. I threaded my arms around his neck to hang on. He started running from the pool. Gabriel flew onto the patio, giving chase.

  “Hey!” A voice boomed over the sound of our laughter. “Don’t run with her like that.”

  Nathan stopped cold and stiffened. He let go of my legs to let me stand but still held my waist.

  We turned together to see North coming through the front gate near the side of the house. His black tank shirt and his dark blue jeans were dusty. He carried a couple of overstuffed book bags on his back.

  Behind him from the gate stepped Silas, Luke and Kota, similarly dusty. As they looked at us, shyness sparked through my core. I slipped a finger to my lower lip, blushing as their eyes fell on the pink plaid miniskirt bathing suit.

  “Sang baby, don’t let them do that to you,” North said. “He’s going to slip and crack your head.”

  “Well look who all decided to show up,” Gabriel said behind us. He hooked his arm around my neck even as Nathan still held onto my hip. Gabriel pressed his side against mine, which in turn made me lean against Nathan. Skin on skin.

  My core vibrated.

  “We came to make sure you weren’t dead,” Kota said. His eyes hadn’t left my body but he smiled as he touched a forefinger to the corner of his glasses. “No one checked in but I can see why.”

  My cheeks heated again. “Sorry.”

  Gabriel chopped at my head. “Shut up. You’re not sorry.”

  “I’m not?”

  He smirked, and tugged at my arm. “Let’s do it, Nathan.”

  Nathan seized me around the stomach and Gabriel snatched up my legs. They held me tightly so that even as I squealed and laughed and tried to break free, they hauled me up over their heads. They walked over to the pool and shifted until I was hanging above the ground. Nathan had a hold of my wrists and Gabriel had my ankles and they started swinging me like I was a hammock between them.

  “One,” Nathan shouted.

  I drifted precariously over the water.

  “Don’t...” North bellowed at them.

  “Two,” Gabriel said.

  There was no three. I flew, splashing into the water sprawled out on my back. I twisted under the surface and swam for the other end of the pool. I pulled my body hard against the water resistance, using an arm motion Nathan had showed me before to get to the end. I slapped the deck with my hand. Nathan had been on my heels but he was too late.

  “I win,” I said, making a face at him. It wasn’t a real race, I knew. I just wanted to say it.

  “Shit,” he said, but he didn’t look at all disappointed.

  The new arrivals disappeared into Nathan’s house. When they came back out, I was up in Nathan’s arms about to get flung across the pool. I only caught a glance of them all in bathing suits before I started flying. I hit the water, letting myself sink to touch bottom.

  I felt the water shift. Silas came at me, wrapped his arms around my stomach and hauled me up until I was cradled in his arms.

  “Hi Silas,” I said in a soft voice, oddly shy again as his big hands held me, hugging me. My bare, soft stomach met with his hard muscles.

  “Hi aggele mou,” he said. His wet black hair stuck to his forehead. A droplet slid down against his cheek. “Miss us?”

  I brightened. “Yup.”

  “Well, we’ve got all night.”

  My fingers traced my parted lips. “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t you know? Erica said to come over and we’re all hanging out tonight.”

  Was that what she meant? “You mean sleeping over?”

  He laughed, nodding.

  My heart beat wildly at the thought of spending the entire night out with all of the guys. Were they sure we could? I was having so much fun now that I was completely forgetting my parents and everything that had happened. I checked the others to see if they had been listening and looking for confirmation.

  North, Luke and Kota stood in the pool. They were talking together at one end with Victor, Nathan and Gabriel.

  At first I was distracted because it was the first time I had seen Kota without a shirt. I was thrown into near shock. He seemed just as well-built as the others. Why had I thought before that he was weaker or was it just the almost geek-like stereotype he resembled? He was almost as defined as Nathan, but slightly slimmer, smoother.

  Then it was seeing them altogether with their shirts off. I felt myself taking in a slow breath, in awe of their bodies, their striking handsomeness. How in the world did I end up friends with them? It felt like an eternity had passed since the first day and I had forgotten where this started
. I felt so out of place compared to their shocking good looks and various talents. Plain Sang didn’t belong.

  After I had gotten my eyeful of them, I overheard my name being mentioned and I strained to hear.

  Silas lifted me a little higher in his arms. “So do you really want to fly?”

  My eyes popped open and I grinned wickedly. I knew this was a distraction, but I was too excited to care. “How?”

  He let go of me until I was standing next to him. He backed up until he could stand waist-deep in the water and positioned his hands out in front of himself as if he wanted to give me a boost. “Put both of your feet in my hands,” he said.

  I dropped my hands onto his broad shoulders. My fingertips tingled at the touch of his bare skin. I slipped a foot into his hands, and pushed myself up until I could get the other one next to it. He wrapped his fingers around my feet.

  “Bend your knees a little,” he said as he lifted me slightly out of the water.

  I wobbled, mostly due to nerves, and my hands gripped at his shoulders.

  “I’ve got you,” he said. His face floated close to my belly. I sucked in my stomach but steadied as he used his shoulder to bolster me at my thighs. “I’m going to move down into the water and push you up and out. You should get ready to jump from my hands at the same time. Push yourself off.”

  I let out a slow breath as he grasped my feet. He slipped into the water until it was up to his shoulders.

  I bent my knees slightly, waiting.

  “Ready?”

  “No,” I said in a tiny voice. I shut my eyes and squealed. “Do it.”

  He grunted as he lifted, shoving me up to boost me into the air.

  “God damn it, Silas,” North yelled as I put my full energy into jumping from Silas’s hands.

  I was flying. I somersaulted, flipping over until I hit the water with my knees, almost upright.

  I surfaced and could hear Gabriel hooting. The others laughed. North tried to give me an angry eyeball, but he was grinning.

  Gabriel backed away from the others and stepped to the edge of the pool. He jumped, doing a full front flip and shallow dive, zooming under the water toward me.

  I scrambled to get behind Silas thinking Gabriel was after me again. Gabriel surfaced, nodded at Silas and they did that silent communication.