Chapter 47: Chapter 47
Heather
When I woke, it was to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. Bright light glowed at the edges of my curtains. I’d slept through the rest of night like a rock. I stretched as I reveled in my refreshed state of mind.
And then I remembered I wasn’t alone.
I shot out of bed, but he wasn’t there. I walked over to the bathroom.
Empty.
He was gone. I should’ve been glad. It shouldn’t have ruined my good mood. But it did. It kind of hurt.
Why was I in a good mood in the first place? It’s not like I really wanted him to stay with me. Did I?
That damned boy was bad for my brain.
I got ready as fast as I could, and peeked into Serena’s room. She wasn’t there either. I checked the time. She’d be in the cafeteria still. I grabbed a pair of black lace gloves that stopped at my wrists and ran out the door.
When I got to the cafeteria, a boy was waiting at the door. He held out a tray for me.
"I don’t need any help," I said. I cringed at my own words.
He looked at me like I’d just kicked his puppy. "You need extra protein after the attack. Just wanted to make sure you knew."
I was officially a terrible person. "Thank you," I said as I took the tray. "I didn’t know. I really appreciate it."
He nodded, and walked off.
Hopefully some food would help with my mood. I piled my plate high with scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, and pancakes, and went toward our table.
Brent’s laugh carried over the voices in the room, warming me. He was sitting at my table.
With my new friends. He pushed out the chair between him and Leslie without standing up. That was a slick move. I couldn’t ever tell what was going on with him. He ignored me half the time, and the other half alternated between bossing me around and being so perfectly sweet.
It was beyond confusing.
Still, I couldn’t just give him what he wanted all the time. That whole claiming me thing still bugged the crap out of me. I plunked my tray down next to Xander on the opposite side of the table. The conversation stopped.
"You smell...confused...annoyed...I don’t know but I don’t like it," Brent said.
"That’s really creepy. And makes me feel like I need to take another shower." I crumpled in my chair. "Normal people say, ’You look upset.’ Just FYI."
His smile faded. "I’ll leave."
Shit. Now I’d kicked two puppies. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that to sound...I just...I’m going to shut up now." I’d never had a boyfriend. Brent was my first kiss. My first everything. Him sleeping in my bed meant something, even if he was a furball. It hurt that he’d left before I even woke up.
Was he embarrassed of me? Or ashamed? Or worse—was it only his wolf that wanted me?
I shoved my tray to the middle of the round table and rested my head on the cool Linoleum. A warm hand settled over my back.
"Don’t touch her," Brent growled.
I whipped my head up. Bossypants was back with a vengeance. "Seriously? Please don’t tell me that after your days long disappearing act—which, by the way, you were painfully consistent with this morning—"
"Heather—" Brent started, but I held my hand up.
If we did this here and now I was totally going to cry. "Let’s talk about it later."
No one said anything as I downed half my Diet Coke in one gulp. Maybe it would’ve been better to go for the regular Coke these days, but I’d grown accustomed to the taste. A girl needed a little something familiar when surrounded by the completely unfamiliar.
The sounds of the cafeteria as people moved around, grabbing their breakfast and chatting about last night’s attack, filled the silence at our table as I took a bite of food.
Brent looked across the room as Mr. Langdon walked through the door. They were having some sort of unspoken conversation that involved minute changes in body language. Brent nodded and stood up.
"Catch you later," I said. It sounded pitiful, even to me. For once it’d be nice to be the one doing the leaving.
He walked around the table and squatted next to my chair. "I have to, mon coeur. I want to stay here with you, believe me. I need to win your trust. I’m sorry I left before you woke this morning. I’m an idiot and I didn’t know it’d hurt your feelings or else I would have stayed. But I have to go now and I hope that later you’ll give me yet another chance." He kissed my cheek and rubbed his nose from the corner where my neck met my shoulder up to my ear. He breathed in deeply, scenting me, and I felt it all the way to my core. "Je t’aime, ma chérie."
My heart skipped a beat. Did he just say what I think he said?
No. I must’ve misunderstood
I wanted to hang on to him, but stubbornness was in my nature. I wouldn’t be forced into any relationships. But after last night, my resolve was weakening. Brent was addicting, and I was hooked before I ever got to Texas.
I watched him until he was at the door. He glanced back and smiled, and then was gone.
Leslie scraped her chair against the floor as she got up.
Serena broke the silence first. "Adrian, can you help me with my meta lab?"
"Hey, if you want help, babe, all you gotta do is ask. I love helpin’ the ladies." He grinned.
"Don’t be such a dork." She picked up a biscuit and chucked it at him.
He plucked it out of the air and took a bite. "Yum. Thanks." He winked at her. It was really nice to see them flirting. Serena always counted herself out of the whole mating-game. Which reminded me... "So, why haven’t you picked one?" I gestured to the tables of guys.
Everyone at the table stilled.
"I haven’t shifted yet," Serena said quietly. She looked down at her plate. "I had a run in with some witches a few years back. Mr. Langdon thinks they cursed me. I wouldn’t want to stick anyone with that."
Adrian reached across the table. "Hey. I told you I was working on it. Brujo blood, remember."
"Brujo?" I said.
"Witch. I’ve got some in my lineage a ways back. It’s a pretty diluted but strong enough that I can cast minor spells."
"I know what brujo means, but isn’t it just a bunch of hippie stuff. At least, that’s what my dad always says about my cousins and they claim to be brujos."
Adrian studied me. "You looked a little Latin but your name threw me."
I nodded. "Half. Dad’s one hundred percent white-boy. Mom’s Mexican."
"So when you say cousin, you mean as in somewhere along the line we had a relative in common kind of a thing, or cousins as in mother’s sibling’s kids."
I laughed. Mexican families were typically really large. My mom joked that in her hometown on the Texas-Mexico border everyone was cousins somewhere down the line. "As in my mother’s nephews and my aunts and uncles and my grandmother...basically everyone on my mom’s side."
He ran his fingers through his short black curls. "How are you just now telling me this?"
I shrugged. "I didn’t realize it was a thing."
Xander nudged me. "It’s a really big deal, and might explain a few things."
It explained nothing. "You guys are being extra weird, and that’s saying something given the fact that you’re already freaks of nature."
"You’ve got a bit of a pot and kettle scenario going on with that statement. You might be even more of a freak of nature than the rest of us." Xander leaned back to balance his chair on two legs.
I moved to knock Xander’ balance off, but he laughed and slammed his chair down.
The bell rang. I hadn’t even eaten my food. I was so screwed. The past few days had shown me that Serena was right. Anytime I didn’t eat enough, my temper was short. I had to eat to keep the wolf at bay, and with my moods running so hot and cold, I couldn’t afford to skip a meal.
"What do I do now?"
Xander grabbed my tray, and two slices of bread off his. He piled eggs, bacon, ham, and potatoes on one slice, and then topped it off with the other, making the biggest breakfast sandwich I’d ever seen.
"Adrian, toss me that biscuit," Xander said. He caught it without looking and cut the biscuit in half. He made a smaller sandwich with it. "Eat this now." He grabbed a napkin, wrapping the massive sandwich. "Eat this one in class. I’ll bring you a snack later."
"That’s sweet, but you don’t have to," I said.
"It’s no big deal. I have a study session first period. I have time to grab you something."
I looked into Xander’ blue eyes as he got up. "Thanks. I seriously appreciate it." Everyone was already clearing out. It was nice to have a friend to look out for me.
"My pleasure, cutie."
Fire burned my cheeks, but guilt quickly washed the heat away. Why did I feel like I was betraying Brent by flirting with Xander? It wasn’t like we were married or anything.
