Page 56 of Burning Embers

Jake watches his friend’s retreating back before turning towards me and wincing.

“I’m sorry about…” He gesticulates wildly but doesn’t finish his sentence.

Dec pipes up. “He’s sorry Kain’s a dick.”

Jake nods decisively. “Yeah. That.”

“What’s his deal anyway?” I don’t know who I’m directing the question at, but surprisingly, it’s the stranger—Ashton—who answers.

He steps in front of me with a sort of lethal grace best reserved for predators in the wild.

It’s the man I noticed before—the handsome man with dark skin, tightly curled hair, and golden-flecked eyes. This close, I can see the hardness of his jaw, almost as if he’s constantly clenching it, and the keen intelligence radiating from his eyes. His no-nonsense stare examines me from head to toe, and I wonder what he’s thinking.

Whatever it is has his jaw clenching even tighter—a feat I didn’t think was possible. A vein in his temple pulsates.

“Jealousy,” he answers gruffly, his eyes never leaving my own. “Isn’t that what makes everyone a jackass nowadays?”

Emery takes over the conversation, coming to stand beside his friend. “Kain is our…neighbor, so to speak. And we’ve never really gotten along with him and his two brothers.”

Ethan stands on Ashton’s other side. “The three of us and Reid—who I don’t think you met yet—have been friends for years. And Kain and his brothers always resented our friendship.Now that his brothers have graduated and left the school, Kain feels the need to overcompensate by being a complete ass to everyone.”

He shifts slightly, and I see that he changed his clothes from when I last saw him. He now wears aLegends of ZeldaT-shirt that clings to his muscular frame. Or maybe he just took off his sweatshirt. I try to remember what he had on before, but my mind comes up blank. I was a little too focused on…well…everything else.

Including his beautiful face.

Errr…not beautiful. Handsome.

Sexy?

Stop being a weirdo, Iz!

“Well…” I scratch at the back of my neck, suddenly unsure of what to say or do next.

I feel as if everyone in the cafeteria is staring at us, varying expressions of shock and disbelief on their faces. Not that I’m necessarily surprised—all three of these men have a magnetism that pulls people towards them.

And from what I gathered so far, they’re not the type to befriend any new students. They seem to stick to themselves.

“I’m starving!” Emery groans dramatically and flops himself into the seat beside Dec, opposite me.

I flash him a grateful look, and he winks in response, causing my body to flush with heat.

“Somebody feed me before I perish,” he says.

Ethan quickly claims the seat on the opposite side of me and also offers me a quick smile. Unlike Emery’s, this one is tentative and almost shy, not a hint of arrogance to be seen.

The third man, Ashton, remains standing, his jaw still clenched and his eyes narrowed on my face. The intensity of his glare makes me shift from side to side anxiously.

“Umm…did you want some of my food?” I ask, inwardly cringing at how awkward I sound.

Ashton blinks at me once, twice, three times…and then seems to come out of whatever trance that has gripped him. He shakes his head and moves closer, a hand extended.

“I apologize for my rudeness.” He has a deep, almost raspy voice. It rumbles through me with the force of an earthquake. “I’m not usually so…laconic. My name is Ashton. And you are…?”

“Izzy.” I give his hand a firm shake, trying to ignore the pinpricks of heat that migrate from where we connect. It isn’t an unpleasant sensation by any means but still shocking enough to elicit a gasp from me.

Ashton pulls his hand away instantly, his lips firming.

Emery chuckles wanly. “I swear this school is full of static. I’m constantly getting shocked.”

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