Page 42 of Pack Baines

“I’ll buy you all black ones when classes end,” he snickers, pressing a kiss to my temple. “So, you’re into photography?”

My chest warms as my heart flutters rapidly with the sweet display of affection, and I find myself leaning closer, enjoying his touch. “Yeah. It’s something I always wanted to do. I still have the really bad photos Creek printed for me from that terrible disposable camera. The ones of us all when the sun was setting?”

“I remember,” he says softly.

“Well, it stuck. I couldn’t get a camera until a year or so ago, though, so it took some time building my portfolio in time to apply here,” I explain.

He squeezes my hand before adorably offering, “I’d love to see your work if you ever want to share.”

“Sure,” I agree readily, smiling up at him in delight, a floating feeling in my chest appearing knowing he’s interested in knowingmore about me. Not that there’s much more to find out than they all already know. I can’t say I’ve changed all that much over the years. More closed off, maybe. More hesitant to trust. But otherwise, I’m still a people-hating introvert who prefers to remain indoors with books, movies or music, and good food. And now that I have my guys back, their company wouldn’t go amiss, either.

When he slings his arm over my shoulder, I’m pulled from my thoughts and decide to ask, “Are you guys all taking classes here?”

“Mhm,” he answers, playing with my hair as he guides me to the building where my first class is. “Want to hazard a guess on who’s doing what?”

I make a show of pretending to pick up the gauntlet he’s thrown down, and smile when he snorts. Then I start listing them all on my hand. “I think Creek is doing something gym related, because he was always a glutton for punishment. Remember when he willingly went to the gym all summer and then quit when he couldn’t get the rest of us to go with him?”

“His parents made him his own at home,” Lowie adds, shaking his head fondly at the memory. “But you’d be right. He’s studying to be a personal trainer.”

“He’s going to own his own gym like he wanted?”

“That’s the plan, Angel. Who else?” he prods, squeezing my shoulder.

I think about it for a moment, before settling on, “Evron is surely doing something with his culinary skills, right?”

Lowie nods. “Our resident shirtless cook wants to be a baker. I’ll let him explain why. Two down, three to go.”

“Is Geo still into sports?” I wonder.

Lowie nods again.

“Football, right? Fullback?” I question, sure I’m right but the words coming out at questions regardless.

“Fullback for our very own Wolverines. Season starts in a couple of weeks, so you’ll get to watch him play. Maybewear his number on your back just to drive him a little crazy,” Lowie winks, and I grin at the thought.

“That leaves you and your brother,” I mumble, humming to myself. “Last we spoke about it all, you wanted to be a game developer. And Leylan said something about owning a library. Not sure what degrees you’d need for that, though.”

“Close enough for me. I’m in tech development. I can branch off into gaming through that. As for my twin, you’re way off.”

“He doesn’t want to own a library?” I blurt, confused. That was something Leylan and I dreamed about regularly. He promised to stock all of the books I could ever dream of, and I swore to always keep him company there.

“Oh, no, he still wants that. But that has nothing to do with what he’s doing here at North Five,” Lowie explains, stopping outside a large, red-brick building covered in dark ivy. “As it was, my brother has found a passion for science.”

“Yeah?” I ask, both impressed and thrown off by the revelation. Lowie grins at me like he has a secret, and I narrow my eyes at him. “What’s that look for?”

“I don’t have time to explain Leylan and his choices. If I did, you’d be late, so I’ll just say it was unexpected, but it makes sense. Ask him later,” he rushes to say, turning me to face him and tugging me into an embrace that smells like sandalwood and coconuts.

My frown deepens even as my arms wrap around Lowie’s shoulders. “Later?”

Lowie presses his forehead to mine and smiles before he sweetly asks, “Come over tonight? Spend time with us all? I know the others will be hella fucking jealous that I had you all to myself last night, so we should really be fair, right?”

Snorting, I run my hand through his hair and nod. “You’re so right. It would only be fair.”

“Knew you’d see it my way,” he teases, before he kisses me and steals all words and thoughts and… what was I saying? By the time he pulls back, I’ve completely forgotten the conversation at hand, and I’m forced to blink rapidly at the guy smirking at me like a smug little shit. “I like that dazed look you have going on, Angel.”

I shake my head and roll my eyes, pulling him into one more kiss before shoving him away with a smirk. “Get lost. I’m going to be late.”

Lowie chuckles, blows me an air kiss, and says, “Have a great first day, Angel. I want to hear all about it over pizza tonight.”

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