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“It’s on loan,” he said, putting his hand in mine. “While we’re working together.”
He shook once, then let go. He proceeded in his art therapy, and I did with mine. It must have worked in the end.
I didn’t check my phone once.
Chapter Fifteen
Sloane
My time spent with Ares “Wolf” Mallick required long days and even longer hours when we finally got started on our piece. The transition to the canvas had been seamless, and we hammered out a ton of work over the next few days. Actually, we worked so hard I found myself dreaming about galaxies instead of my usual stress and strain. It was a nice release.
And go figure working with him.
The two of us surprisingly worked pretty well together. He didn’t like to talk, and I didn’t either. I definitely knew who I was working with. Whenever I seemed to move, I felt his eyes in my direction, which was a stiff reminder of what we actually were. We weren’t friends.
But we weren’t feeling like enemies as much.
We’d been able to find some common ground, and that common ground kept me sane and working. He never gave me crap about checking my phone, and even less when I had no messages from my brother. He just kept working beside me, his earbuds in. I did the same while I brushed strokes along the car and canvas, and even though we were two planets working in our own little worlds, it felt as if we were on the same planet. It was probably one only another artist could get.
We had plans to work tonight too, but he sent me a text telling me he had to bow out. I was surprised until he mentioned it was football. His coach was having some of the varsity run drills. I wondered how long something like that could last since we did work long hours, but then he said he had a student council meeting after that.
Student of the Month indeed.
Something told me there was more to the boy with the attitude than met the eye. I told him fine and would probably just work on my series. I hadn’t gotten to work on it at all this week. It’d also be nice to be close to Bru even though he’d probably be sleeping, and Dr. Richardson was supposed to come by tomorrow to check on him. It was hard to tell how my brother was doing since he did sleep so much, and it’d be nice to talk to the doctor myself.
Since I did have my evening free, I decided to get some paints after school. I was coming out of the art supply store when I noticed a girl in a Windsor Prep uniform rushing into the street. She’d come from the direction of the grocery store next door, and the bottom of her bag exploded, oranges spilling into the street.
“Crap,” she squeaked, running after them. Hiking out to assist, I grabbed the closest orange, and it took me getting that close to realize who she was. She’d had her head down as she scrambled, her dark hair covering her face.
Of course, Rainbow Reed would be chasing oranges in the middle of a mini mall. I just felt like that was literally something she would do. She gathered a bunch before she followed my knee-highs up to me.
Her eyes expanded in width, but before she could say anything, a blond woman raced up behind us.
“Rainbow, honestly,” she said, laughing with the words. The woman was gorgeous, Bow’s height and with blond hair nearly the color of Wells Ambrose’s. Hers was natural blond, though, and the woman’s bib overalls gave her a more youthful appearance. She sported them with cute heels. “Darling, you had twenty feet to the car.”
“Sorry, Mom. You know I’m a klutz.”
“Something I’ve apparently cursed you with.” The woman grinned. “Catch your father looking at us, he’d be laughing at us both.”
The woman nearly dropped her own bag when she said it, making her laugh. Her laughter was so high-pitched it reminded me of her daughter’s voice. If anyone questioned this woman was Bow’s mother, they wouldn’t. I definitely saw it.
Her mother was scattered grabbing the oranges, but Bow was still looking at me. It took her a moment to start helping her mom and her mom a moment to realize I was helping. I’d gathered a couple before she saw me.
“Oh, thank you,” the woman said, standing. She took me in. “Oh, are you from the school?” She faced Bow. “Bow, is this your friend?”
Bow’s lips parted. Friend was definitely a strong word. I hadn’t been her and the rest of Legacy’s favorite person as of late, though, I didn’t know exactly how Bow herself felt about the situation. The boys were her brothers, and she obviously followed along with them.
But then, she looked at me, really stared. A harshness met a normally soft gaze, and when she pushed away her hair, she barely gave me her eyes.
“Mom, this is Sloane,” she said, the tone of her soft voice matching how she looked at me. It was rare I saw Bow Reed angry. Actually, she was entirely too sweet, but today, my appearance was met with aggression. Bow lifted a hand in my direction. “She is from school. Yeah.”
I’d say ouch, but I knew what this was. She still believed I’d crossed her brother, no blood tie or not, and the only reason Ares was being decent to me was because he needed something from me.
And don’t forget that.
I couldn’t forget my place amongst them, and this bond Ares himself had mentioned. They were family, and this was their world.
Mrs. Reed didn’t know about all this drama, though, and I put my hand out when she gave me hers. “Hi, Mrs. Reed.”
