Page 16 of Feel Free to Scream

“Then we must be pretty too, or they would have kicked us out,” Lily declares.

I grin.

Once I start paying attention to the people more than the art and interior design, I feel some probing stares, like they can’t really place me, but no one seems hostile. That doesn’t stop me from feeling like I’m an imposter, in the wrong clothes, in the wrong house. I don’t belong here.

“As I live and breathe. Lily Trueman, here on my street.” A tall guy with an incredible physique his vest does nothing to hide approaches my roommate, smirking.

I see her stiffen, which is a little out of character, given nothing really seems to get to her.

“Cross,” she sneers, with a glare I wouldn’t have thought her capable of.

He only grins wider. “Want to introduce me to your pretty friend?”

“Not particularly.”

Ignoring her, Cross offers me his hand. “Hector Cross. You’ll have to give me your name or I’ll call you Barbie.”

“What is it with old, unusual names in this town?” I wonder. “And I’m Claire. Definitely not Barbie.”

So far, I’ve heard Aurelius, Darius, Markus,Magnus, and now, Hector.

“Well, Claire, you can blame the name on those guys.” He waves in the general direction of a group assembled on one of the comfortable-looking dark green sofas.

Unless I’m mistaken, the Markus, Marius, and Aurelius are amongst them.

“The Kellers’ grandfather was a palaeophile, way into lost civilizations, dead languages, that type of stuff. He called his kids Arlo, Augustus, and Marcella. They, themselves, chose Grecian names for their kids after that. The daughter married Eriks Goltz, the most loaded man in town. He sets trends. So, my sheep of a mother decided to hop on the trend. I just go by Cross.”

“Hector suits you,” I say, because, well, the golden tan, the pile of defined muscles, dark hair, and ever-changing amber-hazel eyes definitely give the impression of strength.

“Pleasedon’t encourage him. His head is plenty big enough,” Lily begs me.

I’m definitely trampling over some history, and I certainly don’t want my new friend to be mad at me, so I take my cue, hooking my arm around her elbow. “We need to find Keller; he has our drinks.”

Cross’s smirk morphs into a full-on smile. “Oh, I got it. No need to hold up a sign screaming I’m spoken for. No one’s going to encroach on Keller’s territory. I just wanted to see my favorite little cosplayer squirm.”

I can’t decide what, amongst everything he just said, shocks me the most. “I’m not—” I was going to say I’m not spoken for, but that’s not right; I am. Just not by Keller. The fact that he assumed so makesmesquirm much more than Lily. “We’re not…” I try again.

Lily saves me. “Come on, Claire. He’s not worth the bother,trust me.”

As we walk away, in the direction Keller took to get us those sweet drinks he promised, I whisper, “What was that all about?”

Lily rolls his eyes. “He’s a player on the college hockey team. Which is terrible, by the way. What are they thinking, playing hockey in California? They don’t even have snow half the time. Anyway, it’s like him and the rest of his hockey friends haven’t left high school. They just love picking on my friends and me for being…” She shrugs. “Us. I don’t mind too much, but they’re just horrible to Liv. You’ll meet her eventually; she’s painfully shy.”

“Ugh, I know the type.” I glance back at the guy who’s watching us walk away. “I didn’t get a bully vibe from him, though.”

“I suppose he’s not the worst of them,” she admits reluctantly. “But he doesn’t stop anyone, and he could.”

I’m silent for a while. I never really thought to blame someone for their inaction, as such. This makes me scrunch up my nose. Back home, some of Noah’s friends were pretty terrible to anyone they didn’t consider consequential. It was awful to watch, and I was pretty certain the only reason I was left alone was because I was with Noah. But Noah has never actually said anything to stop any of them. When I think about it, it’s pretty messed up. At the time, I was just glad the bile wasn’t thrown at me, so I just kept my head down and didn’t think much about it.

We enter a second lounge, with bookshelves filled with both academic texts and fiction; anything from graphic novels to classics, and fantasy titles. I would have expected gaming consoles and DVDs from a college house, but instead, this study-slash-lounge-slash-bar has a reading nook. The seat’s taken, but I can imagine myself claiming one of those deep armchairs and tuning out the world, a good book in hand.

“They don’t even have a TV,” I muse.

“There’s a home theater on the first floor, actually.” I was too focused on the room and missed Keller’s approach until he was right in front of us, two drinks in hand. “Ladies. I asked for something sweet, and Luke made you what he calls a porn star martini.”

I’m blushing like an idiot. Porn is another word that shouldn’t cross Keller’s lips in public.

“Oh, I know that one!” Lily says, taking her glass eagerly. “Thanks.”

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