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Victor went to the trunk of his car, pulling out a clean white shirt. “Always carry a spare.”
“I can go put it on in the restroom,” I said.
“Put it on here,” Gabriel said. “No one’s watching.”
“I can’t...”
“Just do it quickly.”
My cheeks lit on fire. I accepted the shirt. Victor stepped back into place, his back turned to me. Gabriel hung his arms over the open door, blocking the window with his frame. The boys focused on cars around us, distracted.
I ripped the big t-shirt off. The warm, moist air of the south touched bare skin that I was sure had never before been exposed. I slipped my hands through the sleeves of the shirt, catching the Armani label. I was pretty sure that was an expensive brand. The shirt was probably more expensive than all of my old clothes combined.
While it was still big, it was far nicer than the t-shirt. I buttoned it up to my neck. “Okay,” I said.
The guys all turned around, checking out the finished product. The hem of the shirt stretched over the top of the shorts-turned-skirt. It was enough and hid the wrinkle where Gabriel had used duct tape to correct the size.
Victor’s fire eyes lit up to a smolder. “It’s not bad. You look pretty good in my clothes.”
“It’ll do for now,” Gabriel said. He picked up my wrist, unbuttoning the sleeve and rolling it up my arm to make a cuff above my wrist. “At least you won’t be tripping over your shorts today.”
Relief washed over me. Gabriel approved for now. The guys had come to the rescue again. “Thank you. Really, I mean... thank you,” I said, my words fumbling. There was no way to express the feelings I had for them at that moment. How many times have they gone out of their way to help me? I was starting to lose count. It made me wonder why they bothered to be around me when I really was so much trouble.
Gabriel’s eyes fell on my face. He stared at me for a moment, his lips moving but nothing was coming out.
Nathan collected my wrist. “Let’s get out of here before anyone thinks we’re taking turns.”
I had no idea what he meant but the others followed close behind.
On the bus that afternoon, Danielle never got on.
“She got sent home around third period,” Derrick said on his way to the back seats.
“Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it?” Nathan said under his breath, the corner of his mouth lifting.
Weekend
I dreamed of a hovering dark ghost that wanted to devour anyone who did wrong. Thieves, murderers, rapists, it enveloped them in darkness and they disappeared.
And I was the thing it wanted the most.
“Sang,” Victor’s smooth baritone voice drew me from the depths of my dream. My forehead was resting on his arm that he had stretched out underneath my head and I’d been curled into him. His free hand swept over my cheek, brushing my hair from my skin. “Wake up.”
I half remembered Luke saying we were late the morning before, and I sat up quickly, afraid I’d slept in again. “What’s wrong?”
Victor rolled onto his back and looking up at me. “I was going to ask you that. You were shaking.”
I sucked in a slow breath through my nose, stretching my back and pushing a palm at my face. “I was?” Did I always shake when I was sleeping? No wonder I scared Silas so much.
It was dawn. I realized it was Saturday. We weren’t late for anything.
“Were you dreaming?” he asked. He sat up, the blanket falling away from his chest. He’d taken off his Armani shirt he’d worn the night before and was left in a ribbed tank shirt he’d worn underneath. It was fitted to his chest and stomach. My eyes refused to stop staring at his lean, strong physique. It was the most undressed I’d ever seen him. I barely remembered him crawling into bed. After letting Luke sleep in the bed with me the night before, it felt wrong to chase him back to the attic.
I blushed when I realized he was staring at me with the same intensity.
“Mmm... maybe. I don’t remember,” I said, the fib dripping from my lips and I was more than positive my lie was obvious.
Victor’s fire eyes sparked. “Are you sure?”
A finger wandered to my lip, and I nodded, afraid to admit to lying and afraid to tell him the truth about the dream. His fire eyes forced me to put extra effort into not shaking in front of him. The dream seemed too small a thing and unimportant.
Victor’s head tilted, looking uncertain. “Okay... well do you want to get going?”
I nodded. Not that I really wanted to go but because it gave me an excuse to escape his questioning and a chance for him to forget, or so I hoped.
He pulled himself up until he was standing on the floor. “Go shower and dress. I’ll call Nathan, and let him know we’re heading over.”
I started to move and then paused. Something felt out of sync to me. I was still half asleep, uncertain of exactly what it was.
“What’s wrong? Do you hear something?” he asked. He was standing by the attic door, looking back at me.
My cheeks warmed again when I realized what I was missing was sitting in someone’s lap. They’d done it so often that now when it didn’t happen, I felt out of place. It was Victor’s first night with me. He didn’t do it like the others. Maybe he didn’t want to.
“Sang,” Victor stared at me for an answer.
I shook my head. “Sorry,” I said. I drifted to the closet, pulling out the clothes I wanted to wear.
He frowned, waiting until I was at the door before he opened the attic and crawled inside.
I drew a bath, taking a little extra time to wash, shave and take care of my hair. Victor had warned me we were going out today and I didn’t want to look as shaggy and worn as I felt. I wanted to soak but I knew Victor was waiting for me.
The bath drained as I dried off. I slipped on the pair of blue shorts I’d worn into the woods and a light gray shirt Kota gave me after we got home from school.
I opened the bathroom door and leapt backward. Victor was leaning against the doorframe in the hallway. My hand fluttered to my chest. “Victor?”
His fire eyes locked on mine again. “Do you always take baths in the morning?”
What was he doing in the hallway? He could tell I was taking a bath? If he’d been listening at all, he must have known. How long was he out there?
“I... well I felt like one,” I said, which was mostly true. “Did I take too long?”
He shook his head slowly, the fire dimming. “No,” he said, the soft frown remaining on his face. He turned away from me. “Check on your mom and let’s get out of here.” His voice dripped with something heavy, downcast.
It broke my heart. Maybe there was a reason he didn’t like me. I’d been lying to him all morning. I summoned some courage and pressed forward, vowing to try to be honest with him the rest of the day.
My mom was asleep in her bed and I left her a banana, a box of raisins and a bottle of water. Marie was asleep, her music playing and would sleep until late in the afternoon. I was surprised she was home, but I suppose she couldn’t go out to Danielle’s house every evening. Her parents might notice. Maybe I should have been worried that my mother or Marie would check on me. According to Victor, we had too much to do and he didn’t seem too concerned if we were caught out.
We met with Nathan in the woods behind my house. He was kicking at some leaves near the wood slab bridge. When he heard us coming, he looked up, smiling.
“Got everything?” he asked me.
I nodded, hiking my book bag up on my shoulders. They’d warned me to bring anything I’d needed as we might swim at some point. There wasn’t much in my bag except for a change of underwear and the charger for my phone. I had the phone tucked into my bra.
Kota, Silas, North and Luke would be gone for most of the day at the diner. They were going to be putting in a new floor, bringing in tables and overseeing the installation of a new walk-in freezer and other equipment.
Nathan reached for my hand, wrappi
ng his fingers around mine. “Let’s get going. I left Gabriel at my house.”
Victor trailed behind us, and my heart weighed with the guilt of the terrible morning we’d had. I wanted to take it all back. I was worried he didn’t like me now.
We walked through the woods to Nathan’s backyard. Nathan led the way to his back porch and opened the sliding glass door for me and Victor.
Victor walked around us, collapsing onto the leather couch. Gabriel was sitting on one end. He handed off a controller to Victor. I caught Soul Caliber, a fighting game, on the wide screen TV. The couch was wide enough that all four of us could sit. Victor scooted closer to Gabriel and let go of the controller long enough to pat the seat next to him, his eyes expectant on mine.
Relief flooded through me. He wasn’t going to stay mad at me, at least.
I dropped my book bag on the floor by the foot of the couch and sat down next to Victor. Nathan sat on the edge, putting one arm on the armrest and stretching to put his other arm on the couch over my shoulders. His fingers dropped over my collarbone.
I willed my heart to stop fluttering so much.
“When are we going?” Gabriel asked, clicking buttons on the controller. I wasn’t able to tell which fighter he was. They were both about half drained of health according to the screen.
“When the stores open, I guess,” Victor said. “Around nine or ten or so.”
I squinted at them. It was barely dawn now. “You guys wanted me come over this early?”
