“Fine,” I breathe, offering up a brittle smile. “Just, you know, last week I was a normal girl. Today, I’m blowing up trees. A lot to take in.”
He squeezes me tighter to his side, his lean body hard against mine. “How about until we know more about your magic, we stick to normal stuff? School. Junk food. Watching crap on TV.”
A breath of a laugh escapes my lips despite my anxiety, and I answer, “That sounds like a good idea. Should we watch one of theAvatarseries? Felix seems to like it a lot. ”
Nolan chuckles. “You have no idea. If he was able to operate the remote, it’d already be on.”
Chapter 13
Callie
I’ve somehow managed to survive this crazy week, but only just. Finding out I’m a witch and an heiress with supernatural friends, at least one sporting an eight pack and wings, seems to be my quota. It’s the end of the day Friday, and I’m a mandatory pep rally away from freedom.
Each grade is sitting in their own section of the auditorium, and the cheerleaders are trying to get us excited by having us compete on who can cheer the loudest. Both Connor and I wince when they get to the sophomores. They’re really hyped for the varsity away game.
I’m sandwiched between Connor and Donovan, who sport about as much school spirit as I do. At least I clap. Mostly, we’re watching the spectacle in front of us that is Nolan trapped between two aggressively amorous girls. The pretty brunette on the right is leaning in close, her breasts pressed against his arm, while the equally attractive redhead on the left is flipping her hair and has a hand crawling up his leg. They keep trading between giggling and stroking Nolan to glaring at each other. Any minute now, I swear they’re going to start tugging on his arms like two toddlers fighting over a beloved teddy bear.
Nolan’s being his charming self, trying to pacify them, but I can see the strain in his shoulders and the unyielding, rigidness of his posture.
I tug on the leather sleeve of Donovan’s jacket until he leans down. I gesture towards Nolan, then murmur, “Shouldn’t we do something?”
He sighs, his breath warm against my skin. “Like what? Want me to scare them off?”
I don’t like the idea of him physically intimidating them, even if these girls don’t understand the meaning of personal space. I shake my head, and he sits back up. Biting my lip, I pull the sleeves of my new Princess Leia sweater over my hands, struggling to figure out a different way to help. Somehow, I doubt simply telling them to knock it off will do much. Would Nolan even appreciate me meddling like that? He’s clearly unhappy, but for whatever reason, his Casanova rep seems more important than his personal comfort.
Connor looks at Nolan, then at me, clearly hearing what I asked even over the loud cheering in the auditorium.Super wolf hearing at work. He taps me on the shoulder and motions for me to stand up. I have no idea where he’s going with this, but apparently, Donovan does, nodding his head when he trades looks with Connor.
They shift to make more room between them, crowding and slightly terrifying the people sitting next to them. Connor tugs me so I’m turned sideways and leaning into him, my hands braced on his broad shoulders while he holds me at the waist to keep me from toppling over. Donovan gets Nolan’s attention and motions to the now Nolan sized space between them.
Uh, they better not be planning on putting me between the rabid girls. I like my hair and eyes right where they are.
Relief floods Nolan’s face as he climbs from the girls’ grasps. At first, there’s matching pouting faces when he settles shoulder to shoulder between Connor and Donovan, but they’re quickly replaced with scathing glares when Nolan pulls me onto his lap.Ah, it all makes sense now.
I lean back into Nolan, the scent of cracked pepper and engine grease teasing my nose, and grumble, “I should just get ‘human shield’ tattooed on my forehead.”
Nolan wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on my shoulder. “That’s not necessary,” he quips. “A stenciled shirt should be more than enough.”
I groan and roll my eyes. It took one week. One week of poking, hugging, petting, and overall friendly invasion of my personal space to get me to the point where sitting on Nolan’s lap, or being tugged every which way by Connor, doesn’t bother me. Trying to initiate these kind of interactions still feels awkward, and this level of comfort is limited to only the guys and my aunt, but hey, it’s progress.
Slanting towards Connor, I mumble, “If I end up missing, check the trunks of those girls’ cars first.”
He smirks and pats me on the head, which I translate as he’d make sure to sniff me out if I disappeared on them.
“Don’t worry,” Nolan teases, giving me a squeezing hug. “We made sure to chip you while you were asleep. Can’t have my human shield nabbed while we’re not looking.”
“Hilarious,” I drawl and attempt to elbow him. Doesn’t quite have the sameumphwith his arms around me. Sitting up, I peer around and notice I can’t find Kaleb or Felix. “Where’s Casper? And how did Kaleb get out of this?”
Donovan snorts. “He didn’t. Kaleb is captain of the varsity football team and will be out soon. Has to do a dumbass speech and everything, and he hates public speaking.”
“Felix is hanging out with him because it’s less crowded,” Nolan adds in my ear, brushing my hair to the side.
“Poor Kaleb,” I lament. “Is he bad at it?”
Donovan cuts me a look, one heavy black brow raised high. “Kaleb? Bad at something? No, he’s fine at public speaking. He just hates it, because he doesn’t like to be the center of attention.”
“He hates being the center of attention,” I echo slowly, “and he thought captain of the football team was a good idea?”
Donovan shakes his head, leans forward on his knees, and looks at me. “Kaleb didn’t volunteer. They made him team captain, because he’s the only one who has two brain cells to rub together.”
