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“Yes?” I asked, trying not to sound peeved. I was tired of fighting.
North turned to me, holding up a thinly sliced piece of strawberry. He held it out toward my lips. His eyes met mine, softer now. His thin frown asking me if I was still mad without asking out loud.
I picked up on what he wanted. I opened my mouth. He pushed the strawberry toward my lips, popping the berry into my mouth. The tip of his finger brushed at my lips before he pulled away.
I chewed the strawberry, sharing a soft smile. I wasn’t angry. I only wished he trusted me like he often asked me to trust him.
Something caught my attention, and my eyes found Uncle’s.
My heart thundered at his expression.
He was frowning after North. He’d witnessed the intimate moment I’d shared with North and disapproved.
I focused on my job, confused, unable to ask anyone the questions formulating inside me.
THE LIMIT OF JEALOUSY
We spent a couple of hours prepping desserts, dinner rolls, cutting up vegetables and more. When it was getting close to dinner, though, Uncle shooed me, Nathan and Kota out. We’d helped enough and he had other people he wanted to train.
That evening, I fell into bed at Nathan’s house. After trading punches with Kota and Nathan and working at the diner and the late night the day before, I was spent.
I woke up wrapped up in blankets in Nathan’s bed. I blinked, stretched and yawned and sat up, finding myself alone. Did they ever get to sleep?
I smelled Kota’s spice scent, and Nathan’s leather and Cypress. There were pillows on either side of me that looked used, so I thought perhaps they did sleep next to me but maybe got up before I did. The clock glared ten a.m. at me. That surprised me. They were letting me sleep in? They never did that.
I crawled out of Nathan’s bed, stumbling on the carpet and blurry eyed. I padded out to the hallway. “Kota?”
Silence.
I stepped into the kitchen, eerily still. “Nathan?”
Nothing.
I flinched. The kitchen looked clean. The living room was quiet. I checked the bathroom. The house was empty.
I checked outside, the shed door was closed, the pool and the yard abandoned.
I paused in the living room. I wasn’t sure what to do. Were they at the diner? I suspected if they didn’t wake me, it was probably Academy business. I was surprised they didn’t tell me they were leaving. Or if they did, maybe I was too asleep to remember.
What surprised me the most was that no one had called or checked in.
I found my phone in Nathan’s bed, mixed up in the sheets. When I pushed the button, the phone didn’t turn on. I groaned, realizing I must not have charged it.
I stood in Nathan’s bedroom, unsure of what to do. It amazed me at how much I relied on the others now. I felt awkward being alone inside Nathan’s house and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do for the day. It amused me. Before I had thought it odd that Kota seemed to guide my every move and here I was lost and waiting without him. How crazy was that?
I checked Nathan’s closet, finding shorts and a shirt to wear for the day. Even then, I hesitated, wondering if there was something I’d end up doing and would require me to wear something else. Without knowing what they wanted, every move seemed awkward. It was tempting to spend the day relaxing and doing whatever I wanted to do, but a deep part of me knew what I wanted was to be around them. The truth was I enjoyed their company a lot and it made me happy and satisfied when I was with them. I didn’t feel so lonely and felt much more confident when they were by my side.
I dressed quickly. I knew Nathan had a similar phone and I could probably charge my phone there but I didn’t know where he kept it and I still felt awkward being in his house alone. I left, making sure to lock up behind myself and walked home.
When I got to my house, I felt a strange sense of returning to something not quite right. At first, I thought it was because I’d spend two nights away from the house, and I’d never been gone for that long before.
I stepped into the living room. Soda cans and water bottles littered the floor, along with an empty bowl, popcorn kernels still at the bottom.
More than what a single person would consume.
Eyes wide, I tiptoed through the house. Out of habit, I checked my parents’ bedroom first. It was empty, the air almost stale from disuse.
I treaded my way through the hallway and up the stairs. On the landing, I paused, listening. Quiet.
I tiptoed to my room, twisting the handle and when I’d opened it a crack, letting the handle go slowly as to not make any noise. I pushed the door open, careful not to let it hit the wall.
A figure was outlined in my bed under my blanket. Someone was sleeping there.
I figured it could be Luke or Gabriel or one of the other guys. Why did he come here and not over to Nathan’s where I was? Kota would have told them I was there. Or maybe they slept over here for another reason. It didn’t bug me, but I was confused.
I sniffed at the air, trying to figure out which one it was, only I couldn’t catch a scent I was familiar with. I thought for sure it must be Gabriel. He smelled different all the time. I tiptoed closer, and smiled to myself. I’d surprise attack whoever it was.
I angled myself, trying to figure out the best place to jump on the bed so I wouldn’t hurt him where I landed. I counted off from three in my head and jumped.
I landed with my knees on either side of the body, my hands on the blanket to pin whoever it was down. “Boo!” I called out, but my voice cracked with laughter at the end.
A shout barked from under the blanket and I was flung from the bed. I landed hard on the carpet, tumbling. I cried out in surprise, not expecting to have been thrown that hard.
The blanket was yanked back. Derrick’s sleepy face appeared, looking stunned and creeped out.
My mouth fell open and I sat up quickly. “Derrick! What are you doing here?”
He blinked at me as if he was unsure what I was asking him. His eyes flittered around the room, he shook his head, recognition settling in. “Oh. Sorry. Your sister said you were at Kota’s.”
I got up on my knees. “You spent the night?”
Derrick nodded.
“Did you stay up late?” I thought I should have been upset, but I wasn’t. It simply surprised me. I didn’t know Derrick and Marie were friends.
“We were watching movies downstairs,” he said, moving to the edge of the bed and rubbing at his face with a palm. “My sister is over in Marie’s room.”
My eyes widened but I recovered before he stopped rubbing at his face. Danielle was here. How much did they know? “Sorry about jumping on you. I thought you were ... um ... I don’t know. Gabriel or someone.”
He smirked. “Marie said they slept here on occasion. I didn’t know it meant in your bed.”
I blushed. “It’s not like ...”
Derrick rolled his eyes and waved a hand at me. “No, I know. They’re perfect gentlemen. They probably sleep in their clothes and facing the wall and everything.”
“You’re not going to tell people at school, are you?”
Derrick laughed, standing up. He was wearing jean cutoff shorts and a t-shirt advertising a band I’d never heard of. He combed back his bowl cut dark brown hair. “And risk the wrath of Blackbourne? No, thank you.”
“He wouldn’t be like that.”
“Oh yes, he would,” Derrick said. “Are they downstairs?”
“They aren’t here.”
He blinked at me. “Seriously? Are they on their way?”
Why was this hard to believe? I knew they were around a lot. I couldn’t blame him. They seemed to be my shadow lately. “I don’t know.” I showed him my dead phone. “I woke up and they were gone. Forgot to charge this.”
“You better do it,” he said.
I hesitated. My problem was the phone charger was in the attic, and I wasn’t sure I was supposed to tell anyone I used that space. He knew about the Academy though, and he hadn’t told anyone, as far as I knew.
That alone was tempting. He might be able to tell me more about it. If I showed him some trust, maybe he’d show me some in return.
“Can you keep a secret?” I asked.
Derrick shifted an eyebrow up. “I guess so.”
“I just don’t want Marie or Danielle finding out,” I said, and moved to the half-sized attic door. I knelt on the floor, and opened the door. I reached in, flicking the light switch.
