Cricket (Cricket Kendall Book 1), page 16
Theo pulls back and laughs quietly. He looks way too proud of himself. I know he isn’t completely unaffected because his eyes are dilated and he’s flaring his nostrils like crazy.
“See you later, little witch.” He smirks and walks away.
Chapter Twenty
I’m fucking mortified. I scowl when I look at Cas and Hollis. Their faces are blank at first, but Cas sighs in annoyance and puts his arm around me like he had before.
“Goddamn it,” he grumbles. “We’re going to be fucking late now. And fuck Theo. Now we have to walk next to you while we can smell that you’re fucking aroused and not do shit about it.”
My body tenses up and I flush in embarrassment. Hollis walks on my other side and looks at Cas over my head, growling low in his throat at him.
“Shut up.” Cas rolls his eyes. “I’m thinking out loud. And don’t fucking pretend like her scent isn’t driving you insane right now.”
We continue rushing through the hallways, despite how embarrassed I feel. I grimace and cover my eyes. “Can you please stop talking about the way I smell?”
“Don’t be embarrassed. Theo just did that to fuck with us.” Cas grins at me with his dimple showing.
“Too late.” I scowl. “And what do you mean? Why would he do that?”
“Even though Theo is trying to appear possessive of you, he hasn’t technically claimed you. Which makes you fair game for us. Theo is trying to...dissuade us, or prove that he could claim you if he really wanted to,” Hollis says, appearing flustered.
I bristle and try to pull out of Cas’s hold, but he tightens his arm around my shoulders. He sighs in frustration. “Cricket...”
“I’m not a fucking toy for you guys to play with.”
Hollis jerks back like I slapped him, and Cas stares at me in astonishment. “Of course not. That’s not what we’re saying at all.”
But I’m so fucking livid right now. I just want to get away from them. I breathe angrily through my nose and stare down at the floor. I hear the bell ring overhead, so we’re officially late for class too.
Cas grunts and stops in the hallway, pulling us all off to the side in a small alcove. “Fuck it, we’re already late. Cricket, look at me.”
Hollis stands behind me so my back is practically pressed against him, and Cas stands right in front of me and uses his fingers to tilt my chin up. He’s close enough that I can make out tiny gold flecks in his spectacular green eyes, and I already feel myself softening. Ugh, why does he have to be so pretty? I’m so freaking angry right now, I don’t want to be distracted by my fucking hormones.
Cas’s voice is surprisingly sweet when he says, “I know you’re not a toy or a possession. Hollis knows that, and Theo knows that too. You’re one of us, part of our group. I don’t understand why or how yet, but it’s really fucking obvious that you’re part of our pack now. Our number one instinct is to protect each other. But it’s also instinct for us to compete with each other if more than one of us is interested in the same female. I know that sounds fucked up.
Hollis gently places his hands on my shoulders from behind me and sighs. “We all respect and admire you so much.”
“Please, please ignore us when we’re acting like fucking idiots,” Cas whispers.
It’s really hard to keep the scowl on my face. With Hollis’s hands on my shoulders and Cas staring into my eyes like I’m the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen, I can’t stay mad. I feel like these guys are a part of my soul, and it’s so overwhelming. I lean back against Hollis and smile up at Cas.
“You guys really suck. It’s impossible to stay mad at you.”
Hollis chuckles softly and pulls me closer, wrapping an arm around my waist. Cas beams down at me, and his fingers gently brush against my cheek.
Once we step out into the hallway, I turn to face them. My voice is practically a snarl when I say, “But I swear to god, you guys had better not fuck with me.”
They widen their eyes and nod at me. We’re super late for art history, so we hurry the rest of the way to class. When we reach the classroom, Hollis holds the door open for me to step through first, and Cas steps in behind me.
The teacher looks up in surprise at us. She’s younger, maybe just under thirty years old. When she sees Cas and Hollis on either side of me, her mouth drops and a blush forms on her cheeks.
“Sorry we’re late. We went to the wrong classroom by mistake.” Cas gives her a flirty smile and runs a hand through his hair.
She clumsily picks up a clipboard and giggles. “That’s okay. We just finished taking attendance and passing out books! What are your names?”
Cas points to each of us in turn. “Hollis Wakefield, Cricket Kendall, and Cassian Seymour.”
The teacher blinks at him before checking our names off on her clipboard. “The three of you have very interesting names.”
When Cas continues grinning flirtatiously and runs his fingers through his hair again, I glance at Hollis and raise an eyebrow. He presses his hand to the small of my back and bites his lip to hide a smile.
“Okay! Well, I’m Ms. Romano. Each of you go ahead and grab a textbook and take a seat.”
Cas grabs three textbooks from the pile on her desk and heads to a table off to the side. All the tables are long enough to sit four people, and there are only a few sporadic empty seats left in the classroom. There are two guys sitting at the table where Cas sets our textbooks. He stares down at the guys without saying anything. They both sigh and get up to find other seats.
I bite my lip and shake my head at Cas, but he smiles innocently and pulls my chair out for me. I sit down between the guys and focus my attention up front. Ms. Romano stares at us in bewilderment. After a few seconds, she clears her throat and picks up her lesson where she left off before we walked in and disrupted everybody. She pulls up a slideshow on PowerPoint while we take notes.
During class, the guys continuously lean in to tease or joke around with me. I draw cute little cartoon wolves on their papers, which makes both of them chuckle. When class is over, Cas takes my gym clothes bag out of my backpack and puts my art history textbook in with my government and chemistry books. He gives Ms. Romano one final flirty grin before grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the classroom behind him.
“God, you’re shameless.” I smack his arm playfully.
“What?” He shrugs and smirks. “We didn’t get in trouble, did we?”
Hollis laughs and grabs my other hand. I giggle when I realize I’m holding hands with both of them at the same time. Supposedly, everyone at this school is already talking about me. I’m confident of my place in their group, so I’m not really all that worried about making other people like me. Still, I’m all too aware of people gawking at us and whispering my name as we pass by.
It only takes us a few minutes to get downstairs to the gym. Hollis points out a smaller room beside the gym where my class will be. Cas hands me my gym bag but keeps my backpack. When I try to grab it from him, he just says, “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”
“We actually have gym together right now, so we’ll meet you here after school is over.” Hollis grins.
“Hey, guys!” I spin around to see Chloe. I haven’t seen her since talking to her in our statistics class yesterday. I nearly forgot she’d be in this class with me.
“Hey, Chloe!” I grin happily. Her hair is even bigger and wilder than it was yesterday, and she adjusts her glasses while she smiles around at me, Cas, and Hollis.
She grins teasingly at the boys and tells me, “I’ve known Cas and Hollis forever too. I’m sure I’ll be able to think of some good stories to tell you during class.”
We share a conspiring smile. Cas glares at Chloe and grunts. “What?”
“Yesterday, Chloe told me that Theo cried in the middle of class in sixth grade when your teacher was reading Where the Red Fern Grows.” I giggle.
The guys glance at each other, and Cas turns to Chloe with his signature flirty smile. “You know, I’ve always thought you and I should have been really good friends. You don’t really want to tell Cricket anything embarrassing about me, do you?”
“You should know better than to try that on me, Seymour.” Chloe snorts and pulls me into our yoga class.
The room reminds me of a ballet studio. It’s large and spacious, and one wall is completely covered in mirrors with a beam running along it. Chloe and I are greeted by an older woman with black hair pulled into a messy bun. She introduces herself as Mrs. Gallagher, asks our names, and assigns us lockers in the locker room. She checks us off on her attendance sheet, tells us to go and change, and then come back to grab a mat and find a spot on the floor.
Chloe and I make small talk as we head into the locker room. A few girls are already changing. I’m not the most modest person and I’m confident in my body, so I don’t have a problem changing in front of everyone. I don’t hesitate at all to slip my dress off while still casually talking to Chloe.
Her jaw drops and she blushes before laughing. “Jesus, Cricket. Now I get why those boys are all following you around like a pack of depraved puppies.”
“Thanks, I think.” I laugh. I’m totally calling them that later, it’s too good.
I finish changing into my yoga pants, sports bra, and a loose tank top. I slip on a pair of socks and carry my tennis shoes with me, hoping the teacher doesn’t have a weird rule about having to wear them. I used to take yoga classes with my mom twice a week in Florida, so I’m excited to take lessons for free at school every other day during the week.
As Chloe and I are leaving the locker room, I run into Paisley. She’s with two girls. I’m pretty sure they’re the girls I saw in the bookshop with her when I hung out with Theo for the first time. When they pass us, they stop and glare at me.
The short girl with a red pixie cut stage whispers to her friends, “Figures the slut would make friends with the lezzy.”
“Watch your fucking mouth,” I snarl in her face. She can say whatever she wants about me, but there’s no way I’m going to stand by and listen to her say shit about Chloe.
Paisley and her friends look terrified, and they quickly shuffle past us. Chloe turns to grin at me. “Damn, girl!”
We leave the locker room and make our way to the yoga studio, set up mats beside each other, and whisper quietly back and forth.
“Those snarky bitches shouldn’t get away with calling you that.” I tell her, still scowling.
“I’m used to it. But holy shit, dude, you were scary! You’re just like Theo.”
“What does that mean?” I give her a quizzical look and think of that weird little mafia thing I witnessed between Theo and Xavier at lunch.
“Well, you know, Theo and his friends are popular. They’re attractive, they’re charming, they’re fairly wealthy, straight girls love them. All the typical high school shit. But they also kind of control people? I don’t really know how to describe it to someone that hasn’t grown up around here. Even when we were little, whenever Theo heard about someone being messed with, he and his friends ‘took care of it.’”
When Chloe sees the look on my face, she laughs and pulls her curly hair into a ponytail. “I know it sounds insane, like something out of a movie or a comic book.”
Everything in my life is like something out of a movie or a comic book, so I’m really not surprised. And honestly, it makes me like the guys even more knowing that they somehow feel responsible for protecting the people around them. Chloe hands me an extra hair tie, and I gratefully take it and pull my hair up out of my face.
Everyone else quickly settles into the class. There are fourteen girls, including myself and Chloe. Luckily, Paisley and her friends stay on the opposite side of the room from us. Chloe tells me the other girls’ names. The girl with short hair is Nadia, and the tall girl with the afro is Sabrina.
Mrs. Gallagher talks about herself for a few minutes. She owns a yoga studio downtown and teaches at the high school part-time. Starting next class, she wants us to change in the locker room before coming into the class for roll call. She leads straight into a lesson for beginners, and I quickly find myself relaxing and focusing on her soothing voice as I go through the different poses.
I feel my magic humming happily just beneath my skin. Things have been so freaking insane since I moved here, and my gift has been changing and growing. I realize that this type of relaxation and meditation is exactly what I need, and I need to make more time for it. Toward the end of class, we’re all in the tree pose—Vrikshasana—when I hear the door open. I keep my eyes closed and try not to pay it any mind.
“Can I help you boys with something?” Mrs. Gallagher asks, sounding very annoyed at the disruption.
I shouldn’t be surprised when I hear Theo’s smiling voice. “Our class ended a few minutes early. We’re just waiting for Cricket.”
Oh my god, they’re idiots. I open my eyes and turn to glare at him. Theo, Cas, and Hollis are standing in the doorway, staring at me with stupid ass grins on their faces. I flip them off, staying in pose. Chloe giggles quietly beside me.
“You can wait outside for her, thank you,” Mrs. Gallagher says.
“Please, we’ll be quiet, I swear.” Theo literally fucking pouts.
I grit my teeth and growl at him. “She said get out.”
Cas and Hollis look at each other and walk out the door. Theo grins and crosses his arms challengingly. I don’t know what game he’s trying to play, and I’m still irritated about that move he pulled on me after lunch.
I breathe angrily out of my nose, set my foot back down on the ground and glare at him. “Theo Ashbrooke, get your dumb ass out of here right now.”
He sighs dramatically, drops his arms to his side, and walks out of the room. It’s quiet for a few seconds. Half the girls in class are smiling at me, and the other half are glaring. Chloe laughs so hard she actually snorts.
Mrs. Gallagher sighs and rubs her temples. “Cricket Kendall, please see me after class.”
Ugh, great. They’re not even in this class and they’re getting me into trouble. We spend the next five minutes doing a few cool down poses, and Mrs. Gallagher lets everybody head off to the locker room so they can leave for the day. Chloe gives me an encouraging smile.
When everybody else is out of the room, Mrs. Gallagher stands in front of me with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised.
“I’m sorry about my friends. I’ll talk to them and make sure they don’t do that again.”
She chuckles and shakes her head. “Oh, don’t worry about them. I know boys at your age can be a handful. It seems like you keep them in line fairly well. That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about though.”
“Oh.” I raise an eyebrow.
“You’re not a beginner, are you?” she asks, smiling.
I shake my head and tell her about the yoga classes I took regularly with my mom when I lived in Florida.
“It shows! Your form is excellent. I’ve actually been looking for an assistant to help me out with some of my busier classes on Saturdays at my studio. Is that something you might possibly be interested in?”
“Yeah, absolutely!” I exclaim.
She gives me the address of her studio and asks if I can come by after school tomorrow so she can show me her typical routine for her classes. The studio is just around the corner from the bookshop. We talk for a few more minutes before I finally walk out of the classroom with a smile on my face.
Theo, Hollis, and Cas are standing right outside waiting for me with wide eyes. Cas is messing with his hair, and Hollis is nervously biting his lip.
“Did we get you in trouble?” Theo gives me a guilty smile.
“No, she actually offered me a job.”
Cas laughs in surprise, and I smile at him as I walk by to get to the locker room. I’ve only walked a few steps when I turn my head to tell them I’ll be right back. Instead, I find them staring at my ass with their mouths open and their eyes wide. It’s so fucking obnoxious and hilarious that I laugh.
Hollis is the only one that looks embarrassed, and he quickly pulls his eyes back up to my face. Theo and Cas are both still scanning my body completely unabashedly.
“Maybe we should switch classes,” Cas mumbles.
“Don’t you fucking dare! Yoga is supposed to be calming and relaxing. I don’t need you guys in there distracting me and panting at me like a bunch of horny dogs!”
“But you look really fucking sexy!” Theo says, never taking his eyes off of me for a second.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “You’ve practically seen me naked. How is this any different?”
He shrugs and gives me a lopsided smile. “I don’t know, it just is.”
Cas glares at Theo and snaps, “When did you see her practically naked?”
“Haven’t you seen how she dresses outside of school? And you were just digging through her closet last night!” Theo laughs.
“Whatever, guys. I’m going to change.” I roll my eyes and walk into the locker room. Chloe is just about to leave. Paisley and her friends are still here too. I tell Chloe what Mrs. Gallagher asked me. I’m still changing when Chloe leaves, promising to see me tomorrow. I finish getting dressed, fold my gym clothes up and place them in my new locker, and shake my hair out before walking out to meet the boys again.
