Cricket (Cricket Kendall Book 1), page 14
At one point, Cas leans back against my bedside table, and the journal I’d hidden between the table and the bed falls into view. Cas picks it up and smirks at me. “Is this your diary?”
I shrug nonchalantly and smirk at him. Theo raises his eyebrows and holds his hand out to Cas. “Let me see that.”
Before Cas can hand it to him, I use my magic to quickly pull it out of his hands. But Theo is faster than me. He leaps off the bed and fucking tackles my journal to the ground. Grinning triumphantly, he tells Hollis, “Hold her down.”
Hollis pulls me all the way into his lap and wraps his arms around me with his head on my shoulder. “Seriously?” I snort at him, but he just grins in response. The guys are being so dumb, but I can’t deny that it feels amazing to be held in Hollis’s strong arms.
Theo opens the cover of my journal and dramatically flips ahead a few pages. He squints down at my writing and clears his throat. In a squeaky, girly voice, he says, “Dear Diary, Theo Ashbrooke is the sexiest, most handsome guy in the entire world. He makes me so wet, and I want to have sex with him so badly!” Theo chuckles and shakes his head. “Oh, Cricket, you should have told me. I’m sure we can work something out.”
“God, you are so full of shit!” I giggle wildly when he winks at me.
Cas rips the journal out of Theo’s hands and stares down at my writing. “What the fuck? You can’t even read this.”
Hollis snickers close to my ear. I can’t help laughing along with them. I don’t mind their teasing. Like Hollis said, it feels like I’ve known them for years.
Cas eventually gives up trying to read my messy handwriting and puts the journal on top of my bedside table. The guys stay over until about eight-thirty. Theo promises to pick me up for school again tomorrow. Theo and Hollis hug me tightly before they leave, and Cas only gives me a tight smile.
After they’re gone, I eat dinner and talk to my parents on the phone. I tell them about my first day and my new friends, minus the werewolf stuff. I love my parents, and they’ve always been super lenient and open-minded, but I’m worried they’ll make me move back to Florida if they find out what I’ve been up to the past week. I feel worse for keeping things from the twins, but I don’t trust Em not to mention anything to our parents. For now, I just want to enjoy myself and get to know Theo, Hollis, and Cas better.
Chapter Eighteen
On Tuesday, I wake up much earlier than usual. I’m so excited and restless to see the boys, so I want to wear something cuter than I did yesterday. I only have a few dresses that are appropriate for school, but one of them is a navy-blue lace sheath dress with cap sleeves and a ribbon tied at the waist. My brother, Emerson, always says blue is my best color because it makes my eyes pop. I also wear my gold sandals and an exuberant number of bracelets, rings, and necklaces. Even with my crazy, messy hair, I think I look pretty good. By the time I get downstairs to the bookshop, Theo texts me he’ll be here in fifteen minutes.
Since I have some time, I decide to go next door for a coffee. When I walk into the Little Owl Café, Katy’s filling the display case with fresh pastries.
“Good morning, pretty girl!” she says.
I grin at her. “Hey, what’s up?”
“It’s been a slow morning so far. You about to leave for school?”
“Yeah, my friend should be here in a few minutes to pick me up.”
We talk while she makes me an iced mocha latte and puts some delicious-looking chocolate donut holes into a paper bag for me. She refuses to let me pay, so I shove a ten-dollar bill into her tip jar.
After I leave the café, I stand by the curb outside of Flora & Feathers. I’m sipping my drink when Theo pulls up in his jeep. Cas is sitting in the front seat. I move to get in the back seat behind Cas when Theo barks, “Cas, get the hell out.”
Cas rolls his eyes and gets out, holding the door open for me. I take my backpack off and mumble, “You really don’t have to do that.”
He glares at my outfit and snatches my backpack out of my hands without a word. I stare at him, dumbfounded. What did I do now? I thought things were okay between us last night, that he wanted us to be friends. I slide into the front seat and smile at Theo, trying to pretend like everything is fine. He has a huge smile on his face as his eyes sweep over my body.
“You look really pretty today, Cricket,” he says in the sweetest voice when he finally meets my eyes.
The comment makes my heart flutter, and I don’t feel upset about Cas anymore. I grin back at Theo and raise one eyebrow. “So do you.”
He scrunches his nose and laughs, pulling back onto the road to Hollis’s house.
I set my drink in the cup holder and open up the bag of donut holes, popping one into my mouth. They taste so good, I almost moan in delight.
“Hey, you’re not going to share?” Theo pouts.
With a teasing grin, I pick one up and hold it close to his mouth. He laughs and grabs my wrist gently as he bites down to put it in his mouth. He keeps hold of my wrist while he’s chewing, and when he finishes, he lightly bites down on my fingers and sucks on them one at a time.
My face flushes in arousal, and I bite down on my lip to keep from moaning out loud. Theo’s nostrils flare, and he turns to smirk at me. He knows exactly what he’s doing to me.
When I hear Cas growl quietly from the backseat, I pull my hand away from Theo and turn to look at him in bewilderment. His face is blank at first until he gives me a cocky smirk.
“What about me?”
I smirk back and simply hold the bag out for him so he can take his own. Cas gives me this adorable pout, and I can’t help laughing out loud.
Without asking permission, I turn the radio on and hook up my phone to the Bluetooth. I press shuffle on one of my Spotify playlists, turning to smile at Theo. I honestly don’t even think anything of it because Theo always asks me to choose what we listen to whenever we hang out.
“You actually like this?” Cas asks in a condescending tone.
“Cigarette Daydreams” by Cage the Elephant is playing. I spin around in my seat to frown at Cas. He’s being so rude to me, and I don’t understand it. Feeling hurt and pissed off, I grumble, “I can change it if you don’t like it.”
He scoffs. “I didn’t say I don’t like it. I asked if you like it.”
Shaking my head in exasperation, I say, “Obviously I like it if it’s on my playlist!”
As we pull up in front of Hollis’s house, Theo growls a warning at Cas to be nice. Hollis slides into the back seat beside Cas and glances between me and Theo. “What’s going on?”
Ignoring his question and the fact that Cas is being a confusing asshole, I smile brightly at Hollis. “Good morning!”
He smiles back and tells me the same before repeating his earlier question.
Still sounding super condescending, Cas says, “Cricket has decent taste in music.”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised.” I glare at him over my shoulder.
“It was a compliment,” he says, like I’m the one being ridiculous.
“Hey, Cas. Your hair doesn’t look as bad as it did yesterday,” I say. He scowls and flares his nostrils, instantly running a hand through his perfect hair. I give him an innocent smile. “What? It was a compliment.”
Hollis bites his lip to hide his smile, and Theo’s nose is scrunched up in amusement. Theo reaches over to ruffle my hair. “Be nice, little witch. Cas is sensitive about his hair.”
“I know. That’s why I said it.”
Theo and Hollis laugh, and Cas grumbles, “Shut the fuck up, you guys.”
As I’m offering the bag of donut holes to Hollis, I roll my eyes at Cas. “Oh, calm down. You’re so stupidly perfect looking, it makes me want to throw up. I honestly can’t even imagine what would make your hair look bad.”
The boys go quiet, and Cas’s face slowly breaks out in a huge grin. “You think I’m attractive?”
Theo and Hollis stare at me blankly, and I let out a laugh in surprise. “Are you joking? Of course I think you’re attractive. The three of you are the hottest fucking guys I’ve ever seen in my life.”
They’re blushing, and Theo turns to grin at me. “Really?”
“I just assumed it was, like, a wolf thing or something. I don’t know why you all look so surprised.”
“A wolf thing, huh?” Hollis chuckles. When I turn to look at him, he’s smiling brightly with a faint blush on his cheeks.
“Yeah, I don’t know.” I laugh, feeling slightly embarrassed. “You guys do a lot of weird things.”
“Like what?” Cas gives me a crooked smile.
“You’re all constantly sniffing me, for one.”
Cas and Hollis look at each other and blush again, and Theo snorts out a laugh. “I told you, you smell good!”
We arrive at school and park in the same spot we did yesterday. I ask Hollis about it, and he confirms that parking spots are assigned. He points a few spots over and tells me that one is his. I wonder what kind of cars Hollis and Cas drive. Do they ever take turns, or does Theo always drive everywhere?
As we get out of the jeep, Hollis pauses to take in my outfit. Theo walks around the car, takes my backpack from him, and throws his arm over my shoulders.
With a cheeky grin, he asks Hollis, “She looks pretty today, doesn’t she?”
I expect Hollis to blush or look away like he did yesterday, but instead, he meets my eyes and smiles. “She looks beautiful.”
Even as Theo pulls me along into the school, I don’t tear my eyes from Hollis’s gaze. He walks on my other side, and his fingers lightly brush against mine. I feel butterflies erupt inside my chest at them touching me and complimenting me like this. I quickly shove the feeling aside.
I’m not as nervous as I was yesterday, so I take in more of my surroundings as we walk into the building. It seems like literally every single person is looking at us, and a lot of people are whispering to each other as we pass by. A few girls even glare at me. When I glance up at the guys, they seem oblivious as they talk quietly amongst each other.
My first class is U.S. Government with Theo and Cas. When the bell rings, Hollis pulls me away from them and wraps me in a hug.
He lowers his head to whisper in my ear, “Will you sit next to me at lunch today?”
“Of course!”
“Don’t let them tease you too much.” He smiles and tucks a strand of my witchy hair behind my ear.
“Ah, she loves it.” Theo gives me an adorable, lopsided smile. “Come on, little witch.”
I follow Theo up the stairs with Cas just behind me. I worry that Cas is staring at my butt like yesterday, but when we get to the top of the stairs, he gives me a regular friendly smile. I half expect him to take my hand like he did yesterday too, but he walks by my side a couple of inches away.
Ugh, why is this bothering me so much? I feel so needy right now. Why am I upset that he’s not touching me? Theo and Hollis keep touching me, and it’s setting me on edge and making me feel totally sexually frustrated. I remind myself the reason I decided not to sleep with Theo in the first place was because it would ruin any blossoming friendship between us. Now that I’m also connected to Cas and Hollis, it would definitely make things weird if I slept with one of them. It should be a good thing that Cas doesn’t seem to want to be touchy-feely with me. It’s less of a temptation on my part.
The classroom is set up with individual desks, and Theo sits behind me like he did in our Statistics class. Cas sits down on my left side.
He smiles at me, showing his cute little dimple. “I’m sorry if I sounded like a dick in the car earlier. What other bands do you like?”
I bite my tongue to stop myself from saying something sarcastic like, ‘Are we going to start every conversation with you apologizing to me?’ He’s trying to be nice. I list off some of my favorites and tell him about some concerts I’ve been to with Emerson and Killian. Theo comments now and then on a specific band he likes, but he mostly stays quiet and softly plays with my hair. Cas likes a lot of the same music I do, and he seems genuinely happy talking to me.
When the bell rings and the teacher, Mrs. Quinn, starts taking attendance, Theo keeps playing with my hair.
“Are you going to do this the entire time we’re in here?” I tilt my head back and smile at him.
“Yep. I love your hair. It feels so good,” he says, his voice carrying a bit of a growl.
“You’re probably just tangling it up even more.” I laugh.
He shrugs and smirks. Cas glances sideways at us, and I can see other people watching us too. Every time I look at someone sitting near us, they quickly look away. The class period passes relatively quickly. We get our textbooks and our first homework assignment, and it’s easy to whisper with the boys without getting caught or disrupting the teacher.
Mrs. Quinn lets us sit and talk quietly for the last five minutes of class. Cas reaches over and rummages through my backpack without asking. He pulls out my schedule and the smaller bag with my gym clothes for yoga class. I sit back and watch him in amusement. He’s acting so fucking adorable, like a nosy, overbearing mother.
He frowns at my schedule. “Why are you taking a second science class when you’re already in AP Chemistry?”
“I like science. Chemistry is similar to the stuff that Aurora does, so I’ve always liked it. And my old school didn’t offer Astronomy. I thought it would be cool.”
Cas neatly puts my schedule back in the front pocket of my backpack and smiles. “I like science too. But I’m in AP physics instead of chem.”
“What’s your favorite subject?” I ask Theo.
He gives me a lopsided smile and shrugs. “I like math alright, I guess, but school’s not really my thing. I’m not as smart as Cas and Hollis are.”
He doesn’t say it like he’s upset or holds it against his friends. He just says it matter-of-factly. “Hollis likes reading? He told me he’s already read all the books on our reading list for our English class.”
“Ha, that sounds like him.” Theo laughs. “Hollis is a really good writer, too. That’s why Paisley is so weirdly obsessed with him.”
“Jesus, you have huge fucking tits.”
Theo and I turn to stare at Cas, who has taken my sports bra out of my gym clothes bag and is glaring down at it like he’s personally offended. A few other students are gawking at him, too.
“Give me that.” Theo snatches the bag and bra off of his desk.
He proceeds to look at the size on the bra’s tag that shows 36D, and then he looks up at me with a sly grin before not-so-subtly looking at my chest.
“You guys are idiots.” I snort and shove the bra back into the small gym bag, zipping it up before cramming the entire thing into my backpack.
They’re laughing when the bell rings, and we make our way out of the classroom. Theo holds my backpack in one hand and threads his fingers through mine with the other. Cas’s next class is upstairs, and before we separate from him, he hesitates like he wants to say something. But he looks at Theo and glances down at our intertwined hands, and he grumbles that he’ll see us at lunch before walking away.
Theo walks me all the way to my next class in the science wing, and I can’t help thinking our hands feel like they fit perfectly together. When we get to my classroom, I’m surprised to see Hollis standing against the opposite wall with a strained smile. Paisley is beside him, talking animatedly. When Hollis sees us, he looks so fucking relieved, and he brushes past Paisley to pull me into a hug.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him happily, squeezing him back.
He smiles down at me. “Theo and I have Environmental Science together next, and it’s just down the hall from here. I was waiting for you guys.”
I can’t help glancing behind him to see Paisley glaring at me. I ignore her and talk to the guys. When there’s only a minute left before the bell, Theo hands my backpack to me.
“Behave yourself, little witch. We’ll meet you after class.”
Chapter Nineteen
When I walk into the classroom, most of the seats are already full. The high-top tables fit four students with two on each side, facing each other. I feel a nervous tremble when I realize everyone is staring at me. At one table, I recognize the guys Theo introduced me to outside of our math class yesterday. I’m about to sit with them, but then I notice Brennan, the guy I met at the candy shop downtown. He’s at a table with two other people, and there’s an empty seat beside him.
“Oh my god, Cricket!” he exclaims when he recognizes me.
Feeling completely relieved, I practically skip to his table and point at the empty seat. “Hey, Brennan! Can I sit here?”
He waves his hands, animatedly gesturing at the seat. “Of course!”
I smile at the guy and girl sitting with him. I recognize the girl from my English and astronomy classes, and I think the guy is in my French class.
“Holy crap, guys, this is the girl I was telling you about. We met at the shop the other day!” Brennan tells his friends. He turns to me and says, “I’m so glad we have a class together. I worried we wouldn’t run into each other at all.”
“Me too!” I say sincerely. I pull out a new notebook and pencil, and I look across the table at Brennan’s friends. “It’s nice to meet you guys. I think we have a few classes together?”
Their names are Erin and Jack. Erin’s a pretty Asian girl with long, silky black hair and hazel eyes, and Jack has shaggy, dirty blond hair and blue eyes.
“Yeah, we have English and astronomy together,” Erin confirms. She grins and leans across the table to whisper, “You and Hollis are so cute together!”
