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Damien looked behind me to where I usually sat. “Your friend not here today? Her name was Kat, right?”
“Yeah, her last class cancelled for the day, so she and her boyfriend left early to go see a movie,” I explained, shrugging my shoulders. “I’ve still got one more class for the day though, so I’m stuck here.”
“Oh, that sucks.” He looked like he genuinely meant it. “How much time til your next class?”
“Almost thirty minutes.”
“Why not sit with us?” One of them chimed in, but I didn’t see who.
“Yeah! We can keep you company,” The shorter blond one from the day before, added. He lounged nearby, kicked back against one of the trees as he bounced a rubber ball off the wall.
“I’m gonna tell Anna, you offered to keep another woman company,” Barrett teased.
“You know it’s not like that,” he responded, suddenly flustered.
I giggled. “It’d definitely be more fun than doing schoolwork in the library.” I set my books and bag on the ground before settling down on the grass.
“Since you assholes didn’t bother introducing yourselves yesterday, this is Cas.” My back stiffened as Damien introduced me to his friends, trying my hardest not to avoid their gazes.
“Cas, that’s Zephyr.” Damien motioned to one of his friends who sat nearby. I remembered meeting him at the mall, as well as during our brief encounter the day before. The contours of his muscles pressed against his fitted t-shirt, and his smile reached his strikingly pale green eyes that almost glowed against his tawny skin. Despite his size and a build that looked like he could take a lion one on one, there was a strange sincerity to his face that eased my nerves somehow. He smiled and gave a light wave of his hand.
“Of course, you met Barrett.” Damien glanced toward him; I couldn’t meet his eyes fully. Barrett barked a laugh without acknowledging me. I imagined he was enjoying the memory of how he’d scared me.
“Sorry about yesterday,” Barrett said, holding his hands up in surrender. I questioned whether he really meant it, and I narrowed my eyes briefly.
“Then you’ve got, Vincent.” Damien pointed to the shorter blond one, who’d gotten flustered when Anna, who I assumed was his girlfriend, was mentioned. He paused his game of wall ball, his shoulder-length, dirty blond hair swaying as he sat up to acknowledge me with a smile.
“That’s Cole.” Damien nodded to the guy sitting near Vincent. I smiled, remembering how he’d stood up to Barrett for me. He lifted his hand to comb his curly black hair out of his face as his dark eyes rose to meet mine.
He gave a half smile. “Nice to formally meet you, Cas.”
“His girlfriend, Amara, and that’s James.” Amara glanced at me, but only for a moment. She seemed more interested in checking out potential split ends in her black hair. Still in that brief second that our eyes met, her expression showed a sincere lack of interest in meeting me, and I immediately averted my gaze. She was beautiful, full lips painted in a deep red, smooth tan skin. Clearly, she was too good to associate with a wall flower like myself.
Completely opposite from Amara’s reaction, James’ red beard stretched with his cheeks as he smiled, gesturing a wave. I was caught off guard by his Scottish accent when he spoke. “Nice tae meet ye, Cas.”
Damien leaned in, picking up on my curiosity. “James moved here from Scotland a few years ago to help his grandmother out.”
This was probably the most people I’d met in one sitting. My social anxiety was beginning to work its magic, and I tried to not act like the ‘hermit who rarely socialized with other humans’ that I was.
“How long have you lived here?” Cole asked, leaning forward to see me around the others. The question was a welcome distraction from my nerves. I caught a momentary irritated glance from Amara directed at Cole, but I tried to ignore her.
“Pretty much my entire life. When I was little, my dad got a job and we moved here.”
Cole’s eyes flicked to Damien for a half second, something unspoken passing between them. It was so fast that I almost didn’t catch it. I glanced back and forth at them, a bit confused but too anxious to say anything.
Barrett sat up, propping his arms on his knees as he leaned forward next to me. He chimed in, as if to explain their subtle exchange. “Damien’s just been wondering where you’ve been his entire life.”
My cheeks heated, and Damien’s hand rose to his face, a sigh expelling from his mouth. His tone was laced with warning. “You guys, I swear.”
“Don’t let him fool you, he hasn’t shut up about you since the mall,” Vincent whispered into my ear, and I bit my lip, stifling the urge to giggle with them. The group laughed as Damien swatted at Vincent, but he slipped out of reach.
I couldn’t fight the smile that spread across my face. “He warned me that you guys were menaces. He wasn’t lying.”
“Absolute scum of the earth,” Damien added. He glared at them, but I could faintly see a smile looming behind his annoyed expression. A tiny feeling of satisfaction bloomed in me; it was oddly comforting to see that someone like him could be embarrassed by something. It was a relief to not be the only one.
“I’m going to go get a drink. You want anything, Cas?” Damien asked as he stood.
“Sure, I forgot to grab a water. Can you get me one?”
