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Selena hung on, clearly not getting the hint. “But there aren’t any free seats at this table,” she pointed out.
I fought a smile as Cayden cracked the lid of his bottle of water, shot a dismissive glance at the resident queen bee, and shrugged. “That sounds like a you problem,” he tossed at her before focusing his attention back on his friends and food.
After an agonizingly long minute where Selena stood behind him, seeming to consider either yanking me out of my seat or stabbing Cayden in the back with a plastic knife, she turned on her heel and left, her entourage following like a gaggle of shocked geese.
“That was something,” Eve muttered in her food.
“Someone needs to knock Selena down a peg and remind her that she doesn’t rule shit around here,” Asher said. He glanced over at me. “Was she mean to you, Lily?”
Cayden tensed beside me. I shook my head. Asher nodded and went back to eating. As Eve’s brother, Asher might be the Ice God I knew the best, but that didn’t say much. I pretty much stayed out his way. That being said, I knew that he looked out for me a little, as an extension of his sister. Since I was her only friend, he no doubt wanted to make sure nothing upset her, by upsetting me.
“So, Bug, what’s it like sharing a bathroom with this guy?” Marcus said, giving me a grin.
I shrugged.
“Come on! You’ve got to have the inside scoop. Rumor has it he doesn’t shower with any of us because we’d be too intimidated by the sight of him naked to perform in a game…is that true?”
I coughed with surprise at the topic, and water went down the wrong way. I kept coughing, my face turning hot. A large hand landed hard on my back.
“Breathe,” Cayden murmured.
I sucked in a long, slow breath, trying to ignore the desperate urge to cough. I continued to take long, deep breaths as the coughing spell subsided. Cayden’s hand stayed on my back. Not smacking it anymore, just resting there. His palm was huge, spanning the entire space between my bra straps. Everything about the guy was just big.
Marcus leaned in and spoke in a dramatically loud whisper. “It’s the opposite, isn’t it? It’s a micropenis.”
Cayden’s hand was still on my back, and now, it made slow circles, sending a confusing heat through my body.
Cayden kicked him under the table, and Marcus sank back, cupping his knee. “Ow, motherfucker!”
“Are you ready to go? I’m ready,” I stammered to Eve, pushing my chair out and standing.
Eve nodded, looking a little taken aback but getting up. I could always depend on my best friend to follow me, even if it meant abandoning half our lunches.
“Leaving so soon? Don’t worry, you can tell me the shower thing later, alone…” Marcus called to me, laughter in his voice.
I grabbed Eve’s hand, and we moved away from the table.
“Leave her alone. She’s Coach’s daughter. Off-limits, you know that,” Asher muttered to his friend as we left.
We wove through the tables, and students I hardly knew stared at me as we went. Everyone was curious about Cayden, and now me, too, by extension. The new hotshot was living with me. Everyone would have questions about him. We got to the doorway and waited for someone to pass through. I took one last glance over my shoulder.
The Ice Gods were deep in conversation, laughing and joking as they ate. All except one.
Cayden’s eyes met mine, sending a shiver through me like a lightning strike.
Lily
I managedto convince my parents that I had to stay over at Eve's to work on an art project. My dad really wasn’t into the idea but eventually relented. While he didn’t like that part of the town, he trusted Asher and Eve’s mom. I’d head over there as soon as I finished my shift at the local vet clinic where I worked. It was the best experience I could get in the small town of Hade Harbor, in a field that was somewhat related to epidemiology. It wasn’t ideal, but I enjoyed it, and I loved the animals.
“Lilypad, there you are,” a voice called to me halfway through my shift.
I glanced up. Tyler, the other high schooler who worked at the clinic, leaned in the doorway to the back office.
“Hey, Tyler. How’s it going?”
He grinned. The guy had a million-dollar smile. I could say that objectively, even though he wasn’t my type. He had the energy of some of the golden retrievers we saw in the clinic. I liked something else in a guy.A touch of darkness.The words ran through my mind in Cayden’s voice and sent me into a panic. When had he gotten so far inside my head that I heard him even when he wasn’t around?
“I can’t complain, though Coach is putting us through the wringer to get ready for next month’s game, all thanks to your new player – Cayden West, is it?”
