Page 29 of Shrouded in the Dark
Seth was looking at his pizza, his arms on either side of me on the table. He took a bite of his slice while looking nonchalantly over at Jasper.
“If it’s war, I’m on her side.”
When he spoke, I could feel the vibrations in his chest. I wanted to lean into his chest, but that wasn’t something a friend did with a hot guy friend. Right? I looked over at Jasper and his mouth had dropped in a little O.
“Ok, that’s seriously cheating. We’re supposed to be on the same side, Seth!” He threw one of his used napkins at Seth. “I want a garlic knot!”
I had to bite my lip from laughing at how exasperated he sounded.
“You didn’t order them. Becca did. If you want one, perhaps you should try asking nicely.” He took another bite of his pizza. “Like this.” He looked down at me. “Becca, can I have one of your garlic knots, please?” His eyes glinted with a hidden message.
I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to do, but I was going to go with it. This was fun. I took one, and as I took it out of the box, Jasper groaned in defeat. I didn’t hand it to Seth, though. I put it up to his lips with my own smirk and a raised eyebrow. Two could play this game.
It backfired spectacularly.
Seth’s eyes met mine again. They’d darkened and he opened his mouth to take a bite from the garlic knot. He bit it in half but his lips touched my fingers, which sent a zing through me. He smirked as he chewed. My groan of defeat joined Jasper's.
“Fine. I wave the flag.” I knew I was blushing bright red, but I grabbed a clean napkin and waved it in the air.
Seth swallowed and laughed. He brought his hands back to my waist, squeezed once before lifting me off of his lap back into my seat. I couldn’t believe he was able to easily pick me up like that.
I took a sip of my tea trying to get my blush under control. I looked up and caught Cody watching me. He stuck his tongue out at me and I lost it again.
“Can I have a garlic knot, please?” Jasper was overly dramatic as he asked the question. He laid his arms on the table and stretched out his hands. He clenched them open and closed a few times. “I need the garlicky, buttery goodness in my tummy!”
That did it. I choked on the tea as I had started to sip it and started to laugh in the midst of choking on the liquid as it tried to go down. I slapped at my chest as I tried to catch my breath, for once not because I was having an anxiety attack. Seth and Jasper reached out at the same time, slapping my back. That helped and as I took a grateful breath of air, I pointed at Jasper accusingly.
“That was a set up!”
He laughed at me as Seth joined him. I glared between the two but it had no real heat. This was probably the most fun I’d had in a long time. Sans Felicity.
Axel had been quiet while he ate and just watched us throughout dinner. I leaned back in my chair as the others started to talk about what they were going to do tomorrow. He was staring at his phone with his eyes down.
I stood, picked up my plate, grabbed Jasper, Seth, and Cody’s since they were done. They thanked me as they kept talking. When I went to Axel, I sat on the chair next to him.
“You okay?” I kept my voice low and soft so that we didn’t attract the others' attention.
He offered me a strained smile before he glanced down and shrugged as he put his phone in his back pocket. “I knew I wouldn’t get to talk to Felicity much, but I haven’t heard from her at all.”
I blinked in surprise. She’d sent me a text earlier. I’d have to ask her what was up with her not talking to Axel. I touched his hand gently.
“I’m sure she’s just busy. I know her family is overbearing with her for some reason. Especially this summer.” I tried to offer the explanation, but I knew it didn’t help much when he just nodded slightly. An idea popped up into my head.
“Hey. Would you let me draw you? I could send it to Felicity to tease her?” I grinned at him. “Like the pose of ‘paint me like one of your French girls’?”
He turned to look at me full on. “Really? You think she’d like that?” He was pretty cute with how awkward he was about her for such a large man.
“Yeah! Of course!” I looked around, forgetting where I’d left my drawing pad. “We can start now if you’d like?”
“Wait. Wait!” Cody stood from his chair. He placed his hands on the table top as he leaned forward. “I want to be drawn too!”
Jasper and Seth looked over at me now. Seth’s lips were twitching as he fought a grin while Jasper just smirked.
“We do too!”
I groaned but laughed after. “Ok, I’ll draw all of you at some point this summer. Deal?”
Cody walked around the table to stand in front of me. He knelt on one knee and offered his hand. “I vow to be the best model of the four of us!”
