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“I’m here. Sorry, what?”
Her irritated expression melted clownishly into a conspiring grin. “I was asking you the deal with Cade. You’ll have the inside scoop, considering you’re Coach’s daughter.”
“I don’t know anything about him.” My flat tone pierced a hole in Selena’s pleasant mask.
“Don’t lie. He’s living with you; you must know something. What’s he like at home?”
“I don’t know. We don’t speak,” I ground out.
Winter watched me across the table, her icy-blue eyes nearly the same shade as Cayden’s, except hers held an arctic chill that never seemed to shift.
Selena snorted. “Well, that I can believe, why would he talk to a loser like you?”
Warmth heated my cheeks as her entourage of hangers-on snickered behind us.
“Don’t be a bitch, Selena. It’s not a good look,” Eve interjected.
“Let’s go. It smells like boiled jockstraps in this place,” Winter muttered, casting a suspicious look at the kitchens.
“We aren’t leaving until Bug tells me something interesting about Cayden. She’s clearly trying to keep all the gossip to herself. She doesn’t want to give anyone an edge in the competition to score the new Ice God first, but I don’t take no for an answer.”
While Selena had been talking, I’d become aware of a growing quiet surrounding our table. Either everyone was listening to our conversation or something else had shut them up. Winter stared over my shoulder. When Eve settled back and smirked at Selena, I knew. We weren’t alone anymore.
“That’s funny. I don’t take no for an answer either, do I, Lillian?” Cayden’s deep voice danced across my nerves, making me even jumpier.
Selena shot up, flushing. “Cayden! Hi. We were just talking about you.”
I could feel Cayden right behind me now. His presence seemed to radiate through me. He was right there.
“Were you? What were you saying?” he asked, nonchalantly sliding around Selena to lower himself into her vacated seat.
That brought him right next to me. He sat with his back to the table, facing me. I stared straight ahead at Eve, ignoring the hot feeling of Cayden’s eyes on the side of my face.
“I-I was just suggesting to Lily that she throw a party to welcome you to Hade Harbor.” Selena was a smooth liar; I’d give her that.
“No need to worry, Selena. Beckett’s got that covered,” Marcus said from somewhere behind me.
I was pretty sure that all four Ice Gods stood around us now. The silence in the cafeteria was deafening.
“Oh, good…” Selena trailed off.
Cayden still watched me. “So, is that all you were talking about? Nothing juicier?”
I shook my head stiffly. Eve raised her eyebrows at me. I was being weird, but I couldn’t help it. I felt like a butterfly being pinned to a board. I was impaled on the needle of my journal, just waiting for Cayden to pull my wings off in front of everyone.
Cayden picked up Selena’s lunch tray and handed it to her. “Here you go.”
Winter blinked at him, clearly surprised by the move, but grabbed her own tray and stood, getting the message.
“Are you sitting here?” Selena asked after a moment of stunned silence.
“Looks like it,” Cayden said.
Beckett and Marcus rounded the table and loomed over the people sitting farther down until they moved. They sat opposite me and Cayden, next to Eve. Her brother, Asher, swung into the recently vacated seat to the other side of Cayden.
Selena clung on, clearly not believing her eyes. “Um, I’d love to eat with you, get to know you better,” she said, pasting on a winning smile. “There’s a table over on the side where we usually sit.”
Cayden had turned his attention to his tray. “I like this table just fine.”
