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“Yeah,” I said back. My brain was already sorting through my existing thoughts, trying to come up with plausible lies that I could tell her because there was no way I could tell her the truth—that we were werewolves and mates.
“Spill,” she instructed as I opened up my locker and got some of my books out.
“He likes me and I like him,” I explained vaguely as I closed my locker and spun the combination
“Those are definitely not enough details. He is the player of the school and then a couple of days after you arrive he is suddenly holding your hand and looking all loved-up,” she said, watching me for a response.
“You do realize I’ve never seen him hold hands with a girl ever,” she added.
“It just kind of happened. He isn’t the shy type and he told me that he liked me and I’m attracted to him—any girl would be—so we are dating,” I lied with a shrug. We were way more than dating; we were forever.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Scarlett
Keri tried to pump me for as many details as she could but I tried to keep things vague. I wasn’t used to keeping the whole ‘I’m a werewolf’ secret so I thought it was best to keep my lies simple so I’d remember them.
“I bet you his kisses are hot,” she said as we’d walked to my first class of the morning.
I remained quiet but the smile on my face confirmed what she suspected and she shook her head at me.
Keeping my thoughts to myself was exhausting. I knew with time it would probably get easier but, because it was a new thing, half the time I forgot and I would get a knowing smile from a couple of the students who passed me in the hallway.
It didn’t help that the thoughts that I kept forgetting to keep to myself were the ones of Cade. It was disconcerting that other people had access to those thoughts of him.
I didn’t see much of him in the morning because he wasn’t in any of my classes.
I was glad he didn’t feel the need to crowd me. I didn’t want to become one of those couples that were joined at the hip and couldn’t do anything without the other.
For me, being with someone was about balance. It was nice to spend time with them and to do things with them, but I also wanted to be able to do things without him.
When the lunchtime bell went off, I made my way to the cafeteria.
When I walked into the cafeteria, he wasn’t sitting at the table with his pack. Blake was sitting at his usual table with his pack when he spotted me. He gave me a smile and I smiled back at him.
Although I belonged to Cade’s pack, I didn’t feel comfortable sitting with them without him and besides, I spotted Keri sitting at our usual table and I refused to leave her sitting on her own so I walked over to her.
I got a few looks from my pack as I sat down across from Keri, but I ignored them.
“You’re not going to sit with lover-boy?” said Keri as she glanced to Cade’s usual table.
“No. I’m going to sit with my friend,” I stated as I opened my soda and took a tentative sip.
A few minutes later I looked up to see Cade strolling into the cafeteria. He stopped for a moment when our eyes met and he noticed I wasn’t sitting at his table.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if he was going to get angry or not, but I was determined to sit with Keri whether he liked it or not. It would just make things easier if he wasn’t upset.
I couldn’t pull my eyes away from him as he walked toward me. I studied his expression, but it was blank.
When he got closer, he gave Jake a nod as he passed his usual table and came to stop by mine. Nervousness stirred in the pit of my stomach as I looked up at him.
He took me totally by surprise when he smiled as he sat down next to me. He pressed a gentle kiss to my lips and then he put his arm around me.
It took me a few minutes to recover from the slight shock. I introduced Cade and Keri.
“Nice to meet you,” he said to Keri and flashed her a smile. I appreciated the fact that he was making an effort to be friendly to my only friend in the school.
“You, too,” Keri said.
