“So, um . . . it’s password protected.” I held up the cell phone.
A slow grin spread across his face. He wasn’t looking at the phone. My gaze followed his, and I stifled the urge to slide under the covers.
“You don’t disappoint, do you?” He gestured to my sleep top with the words “Hands Off My Spell Books” emblazoned across my chest.
I shrugged as if seeing my choice of sleepwear was no big deal and waved the phone in the air. “Eyes up here, partner. We have a mystery to solve.”
Caden angled his head, studying me as if I were the mystery. The weight of his stare filled the room with the same charged energy from before.Could this dorm room be any smaller?What was I thinking, agreeing to let him stay here? If I had any sense, I would have dipped into my limited savings and shelled out for his hotel room.
I cleared my throat to break the spell.
“I don’t suppose you’re a cell phone hacker?”
“Did you try her birthday?”
“Okay, so not a hacker,” I said under my breath as he dropped his bag and settled into his makeshift spot on the floor. “Do you know anyone who can help us? Someone you used to work with on your old team?”
He paused from shaking out the blanket. A muscle tightened in his jaw. He didn’t answer. Emotions flickered across his face as if he were trying to decide a lesser evil. Why did he hate any mention of his past? I had a right to know why I was constantly stepping on land mines around him.
Finally, he held out his hand. “I’ll take care of it.”
“If it’s uncomfortable, I can talk to them.”
“I said I’d take care of it. Toss me the phone.”
He caught it and stored it away in his bag. His movements were almost robotic as he rolled up his towel and tucked it under his head. He lay back, eyes open to the ceiling. A quiet moment passed. I checked on Loki, who was still curled up on the edge of the bed, then I followed suit, sliding under the covers and turning out the light.
We lay there in silence, letting the darkness settle. My thoughts drifted to Ivy and how she would have handled tonight; what she would have said to win him over and gain his trust. She probably would have been the first one out the window, performing a cartwheel on the ledge just to prove she could. Everything came so easily to her.
Families were like that though. There was always one whose star shined a little brighter. I never minded before, but now, I wished I had a little more of her luster.
“Do you have any siblings?” I asked the ceiling.
The floor answered. “An older brother. Three years my senior.”
“Are you two close?”
He rolled onto his side, and so did I. We were facing each other even though it was hard to see anything in the dark. Maybe the concealment made it easier to talk.
“We were, but not anymore.”
“Yeah, Ivy and I weren’t close at the end either. When we were kids, we followed each other around like we’d been wrapped in a rubber band. It never mattered that we were so different. But then she started training, and things changed.” I rested my chin on my hand and stared into the dark. “What’s your brother doing now?”
“Leave it, Graves.”
“No, tell me.” I lowered my voice, mimicking his deep tone, and said, “Strong teams are formed from—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” he growled.
“Why not? It makes sense. Besides, we’re stuck with each other. You can’t pick your family, and you can’t pick your team.”
Caden heaved a sigh. “Actually, mine were one and the same. Ben, my brother, was the leader of our team. I was his partner.”
Whoa, I hadn’t expected that. It was unusual for members of the same family to work together. Caden should have been like me, waiting in the wings, going about his life like a normal person.
I leaned closer to the edge of the bed as if those couple of inches would help me see him better. “What happened? Why did you transfer?”
A bitter laugh escaped his throat. It was self-deprecating, and my mind drifted back to the moment at the party when we first touched. I’d felt his fear of failure, his own ridicule. I wondered if it stemmed from his relationship with his brother. Whatever happened between them hadn’t ended well.
