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“Wow, you really do know your way around here.” It was kind of strange that she’d never mentioned it before, but I didn’t have time to think about it before we were stepping back out into the rain.
We ran toward the pool house, past the huge aqua pool on the way. Rain rippled the surface, and I could only imagine how freezing it was.
We got to the pool house just as the door opened. I fought a groan when I saw who was leaving.
Winter and her best friend Selena. Selena was queen bitch around Hade Harbor High and also head cheerleader for the football team. A tall, willowy bleached blonde, Selena was supremely confident in her power. Selena looked us both over before her catty smile clicked into place.
“Wow, Eve, I didn’t know you were coming,” she said with a fake friendly voice.
“Yeah, Winter mentioned it, so I just thought I’d come,” Eve said.
I knew how talking to Selena hurt her. She’d tried out for the cheerleading team a few years in a row and always been miles above everyone else, but she never got a spot. She’d finally asked Selena why she was never picked.
“Sweetie, it costs a lot to take care of our football players and travel to their games. I didn’t want you to feel stressed about it. It’s best this way.”
I could hear the words in my head, Eve had repeated them so often. It had really upset her, but eventually, she’d bounced back. She was too cool to be a cheerleader, anyway. With her black nail polish and dark red lipstick, Eve had an edgy, Goth style that didn’t mesh with Selena and Winter’s preppy polo shirts and denim cutoffs.
Selena tapped a pink talon to her lips. “And you thought you’d bring Bug with you? Brave choice.”
Bug. Irritation filled me, but I fought to keep it from my face. Selena was looking for a weakness, and I wasn’t going to give her one. I hated the nickname, though. Ihatedit. Give one presentation about why germs and bugs were cool and how you wanted to study epidemiology, and wind up with the most unglamorous nickname in the world. Lesson learned, a little too late, it seemed. Last time I checked, being terminally uncool wasn’t a crime, and yet I was still doing time for it.
“Whatever. I need a drink,” Winter interrupted from behind her friend, her beautiful blue eyes showing her boredom.
Winter was well named. She had an icy, aloof energy that never slipped. She really was made of ice. With her artic blue eyes, and white blonde hair, she was a snow queen made real. Her natural beauty was what Selena tried to imitate, but fell short. She was nearly as rich as Beckett, or so I’d heard, and seemed terminally bored with life. Selena rolled her eyes but let us past.
“Have fun at the party, Eve. You too, Bug.”
I took a long breath through my nose, channeling my inner Zen monk. Responding to Selena was a waste of time. Soon enough, I’d be across the country, making a fresh start at college in California, giving presentations about bugs to people who were actually interested. I couldn’t wait.
“Sorry,” Eve muttered to me as we entered the pool house.
“It’s not your fault Selena’s a bitch,” I reminded her. “Let’s just have fun and see what games they have here. Beating your ass at air hockey will cheer me up,” I teased.
She laughed, forgetting her bad mood. “Right, you couldn’t beat me even if Coach Williams was the ref.”
The main room was huge. It was insane to call it a pool house. It was really an annex of some kind. A small kitchen stood at one end, and several other rooms branched off the hall beyond the main room.
The music was quiet in here and the conversation low. The lights weren’t blaring, and there were plenty of soft, empty seats. I headed for one, just as the soft clink of balls at the pool table caught my attention. I glanced toward the table, wondering who else was hiding out in here, and froze.
Marcus Bailey, another one of the Ice Gods, was playing, along with someone else.
Someone new.
His silhouette was immediately familiar. He had dark hair, cut short, and his black hoodie was long gone, and beneath, a simple black T-shirt and jeans. His shoulders were just as broad as they’d promised to be when he’d towered over me in the parking lot. His ocean-blue eyes caught mine and held. He paused in the act of leaning down to take a shot. I froze in place while he abandoned his shot and slowly straightened up, his eyes boring into me. His mouth and angular, strong jaw were instantly recognizable, but nothing could have prepared me for the effect of his entire face. He was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
He leaned on his pool cue, and those blue eyes narrowed. He knew I’d recognized him. He’d clearly recognized me, too. His gaze moved from mine, down to my throat, and then lower. He perused my body with a look so thorough, it was like a touch.
“Hot damn, who is that?” Eve whispered beside me.
I shook my head. “I have no idea.”
“I wonder if he’s the new ace. I heard that we’re getting a transfer student who’s going to win nationals for us,” Eve was saying, totally oblivious to the fact that I was caught in a staring contest with the guy across the room.
Her words took a moment to register. Wait, this guy was transferring to my school?No. Please, no.
School was awkward enough without adding another guy into the mix. Ugh, and a hockey player, too. He probably worshipped my father and couldn’t understand how cool Coach Williams had ended up with such a nerdy daughter.
A loud whistle cut through the tension. “Little Eve… the ultimate forbidden fruit. Does Asher know you’re here?” Marcus asked, smiling broadly at us. He leaned his fit body against the pool table and grinned. Marcus was the most approachable of the Ice Gods, which hardly made him less intimidating. He always seemed to be in on a secret joke, an ever-present smirk on his handsome face.
