Page 28 of Caelum

I had to laugh. “Yes, Luke, she needs to be saved.” When he grinned at me, I told him, “They’re not all bad.”

His grin faded into a grunt. “They’re like fucking fleas. Once they’re on you, they won’t get off.”

He wasn’t wrong. Stefan and his Pack had serious attitude problems. They liked to think we were in their faces all the time because we came from rich countries while their backgrounds were the opposite, but money didn’t make you any less of a dick.

Nestor and Eren weren’t too bad. They were actually decent, but Stefan and Dre were constantly hormonal.

I wasn’t sure what their problem was, but whatever… Dre, for all his attitude, had suffered for his arrogance in the ring a few days ago. Reed had pounded him into a whole other world of pain, and I’d been cheering him on.

“She look lost to you?” Reed asked, breaking into my thoughts.

“We’re all lost at the start,” I excused, watching the new girl, Eve, as she stared up at the TV on the wall like it was a safe she needed to crack open.

If it weren’t for the intelligence in her eyes, I’d seriously think there was something wrong with her. And I really felt bad for thinking that, considering for most of my life, people had thought there was something seriously wrong with me too. If I heard any more ‘he’s a cookie short of a full jar’ references, I’d probably lose my fucking shit, but Eve? There was definitely something weird about her.

She stared at TVs like Reed stared at the chocolate muffins in the cafeteria. Half like they were his reason for living, and half ‘why do you make me eat you when Coach has told me to cut back?’

As I watched her press the frame of the TV, I cleared my throat. “Is she looking for buttons?”

“I think so.” Reed tilted to the side, and I knew exactly where he was looking—ten guesses that it wasn’t the TV.

“Her assisfine,” I admitted.

“Fine?” He grunted. “You need to check the dictionary for a definition on that word. I bet it bounces when you fuc?—”

“She’s too innocent. Any dope can see that,” I interrupted, but my cock did harden at the image that shimmered into being at his words.

It would totally bounce and would undoubtedly be a perfect handful for grabbing and tugging her back onto my dick.

I shifted in my seat, faintly embarrassed to be sporting wood over a few dirty thoughts. I wasn’t a kid anymore. I was almost twenty. Jesus, you’d think I’d have more control over my cock by now.

“Innocent or slow?” Reed whispered, and I elbowed him in the side.

“Don’t be a dick.”

“I’m not. You didn’t see her yesterday trying to figure out the e-readers. I mean, seriously, one button and it turns on, bro. It’s not hard.”

My lips curved. “No, but I did see her clothes when she came in. She’s obviously from somewhere…” I grimaced. “Like a cult or something. That outfit was pureTheHandmaid’s Talewithout the red cape.”

“No, just a brown one.” He shuddered. “Sticky beak alert, but…”

“But?” I asked, cocking a brow at him. It wasn’t often his Australianisms came out, but when they did, it always made me want to laugh.

“What’s Stefan’s game?”

“He wants into her panties,” I hazarded a guess.

“Yeah, of course, but there’s more. He almost bitch-slapped James the other day for checking out her ass.” He snorted. “In fact, look over and you’ll see we’re being graced with his attention too.”

I cut Stefan a look and saw Reed was right. We had one side of the common room and they held state at the other. Since we were the two Packs who were constantly fighting shit out, trying to best each other to get to the top of the class, it fit that we had our eyes on each other during downtime.

And Stefan’s ire was definitely more than just territorial…

I could see why Reed was so curious.

Stefan had banged most of the girls in our year without forming any attachments. But the new girl? The chick who didn’t know how to turn on a TV? No, he was pissing on her like a dog would his yard.

I watched as Eren got to his feet and approached Eve. He showed her the remote and pushed the big red button. She jerked back when the sound came on, and I had to snort at the look on her face when the first scene that came on was a knife going through someone’s belly.