Page 8 of Torn Mate
Ada
I didn’t seeHuxley for the rest of the school day after lunch. I saw Noah though… How he knew where my classes were when he wasn’t even in any of them was strange. Did he have my schedule? When I started towards my car, I saw him standing there.
Saint-freaking-Wood.
I slowed down. He was leaning against my car like this was a normal everyday thing. It wasn’t, but the way he wore that tight white tee… his dark chocolate eyes watching me intensely. He wore shorts… like I had noticed most the shifters did. This was bad… “He would only break my heart,” I tried to remind myself. But it was like walking towards fire… I knew I would get burned but it would feel so warm as I did it. Ugh…
I almost felt naked the way Saint was eyeing me. I was in dark skinny jeans with a pink hoodie. Hoodies were my go-to these days. Plus, I had curled my hair a little this morning, but all the curls had dropped and it just hung limply. I pushed some behind my ear and I took a deep breath. I could deal with him.
“Hey,” I said nervously when he didn’t say anything. His facial expression didn’t change either. Was he mad at me? Wasn’t I mad at him? I had no idea about anything anymore. Everything was upside down and back to front when it came to Saint. One moment he was mean and I hated him, then he did something sweet and I liked him… He was like a yo-yo, up and down. I never remembered where we were from week to week, day to day.
“Give me your phone.” I got butterflies in my stomach. He was giving me his number too. I nervously pulled it out of my pocket and unlocked it before giving it to him so he could put it in there.
He started to type his number in but I wasn’t watching him anymore, I was watching all the girls from school. Olivia was studying us like she couldn’t quite understand what had happened today. The look on her face said she either wasn’t happy with Saint, or that he was here with me.
He handed my phone back and I thought I was going to giggle like a girl with a crush, but I held it in. I just stood there with him. He didn’t say anything, he just scanned the parking lot like he was looking for something.
But then he was gone, he didn’t even say goodbye. He just left me standing there, and he moved fast. He was gone so fast you wouldn’t think he was a human, that was certain. Lucky no one else seemed to notice… well, except Olivia.
I sat in my car and then I giggled like the girl with a serious crush. I had to, I needed to let all the happiness out before I burst.
“Oh my god,” I whispered to myself as I did a little dance. I had the phone numbers for the two guys I had crushes on. In one day. Like, never would I have dreamed that something like that could be real. I almost needed to pinch myself.
I wanted to text Huxley… so bad. But I didn’t want to be the girl who texted too fast. I heard that wasn’t good, that you’re supposed to wait, but how could I wait? He might be expecting a text from me, and he might have seen me with Saint just then and worried I didn’t like him and was choosing Saint over him. Ugh… this was so much harder than I thought. One boy… maybe it was best I handled one at a time, starting with Huxley.
I would text Huxley so he had my number, then I would leave it up to him if he wanted to text back. I flicked the contacts up and scrolled down to where Huxley had saved his number, except it wasn’t there. Panic started to rise in my chest. Did I delete it by accident when I put it back in my pocket? Or did he save it under a different name? I scrolled through and all I had was Lexi, Destiny, Mom, Dad, and Kiara.
Wait… where was Saint’s number? Didn’t he just put it in? Did I see him put it in… I was too busy watching Olivia getting all riled up at the sight of Saint Wood with me that I didn’t even look to see what he was doing. He…
That asshole deleted Huxley’s number! He came to school, which he didn’t even go to anymore, and deleted Huxley’s number from my phone right as I stood there trusting him, like the dumbass I was. Stupid me, I knew it. I walked too close to that fire and it got hot too fast. I had been burned bySaint-fucking-asshole-Wood.
When I gotto Lexi’s… well Galen’s—she was living with him now, I think? I didn’t know, but she seemed to be there more from the sound of it. Anyway, she was supposed to go on a date with Maverick, which I felt bad for messing up, but also… she was my bestie and I needed her. We needed to talk, and she could see Maverick any time.
Well… Maverick wanted to come out for our girl chat. I thought that was weird but Lexi mentioned not being able to go anywhere without one of them, so if one had to come I would have picked Maverick or Raff. Ranger would have been too full-on, he was a jokester, but he kinda got a little hot-headed at times. He wasn’t good with the serious talk I needed to do with Lexi.
Galen… well, that would be weird. He had all this long-lived knowledge of stuff and I didn’t think I needed that right now. He was too… teacher like. Yeah, I was sorry but he would forever be Mr. Donovani, the history teacher.
Maverick was actually the best one to come. I could maybe get some insider information on his bestie. He was quiet but he observed others, like me. He would know what to do in this situation.
When we got to the café, Maverick sat right with us. I didn’t know where to start with the whole Saint thing, and I kinda didn’t want him knowing what happened exactly and then go and tell Saint. Would he tell him? They were besties after all. Maybe this was a big mistake picking him. Galen would have been safer, even if he was a vampire. How was I going to word this so Lexi knew who I was talking about but Maverick didn’t? Code names… yeah. I could run with that.
I took a deep breath as Lexi smiled at me, eating the chocolate chip muffin she was desperately craving.
“So…Assdid something today,” I started.Asswas suiting for an asshole. I didn’t know where to start this so I quickly filled her in about Huxley, whom I referred to asH, giving me his number. She seemed to be able to follow along.
“Then I go to my car andAssis standing right there. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but like, after the whole caveman thing—” where he didn’t let me finish drying Huxley after he was first attacked, and then made me dry him, then didn’t talk to me like such an asshole caveman move “—I thought maybe he was going to say sorry, or like, ask me out.” Yeah, wishful thinking and I got burned.
“He tells me to give him my phone. Then I got butterflies, like this is it. Finally, after so long of having this crush, he sees me…. like, really sees me, Lexi!
“So I try and act all cool, like I’m not just dying of happiness inside, and I give it to him. He types something and then hands it back and just leaves… Yeah, he just walks away. Doesn’t say anything at all.”
Which really wasn’t a good sign if I think back to it. He wasn’t even nice. He didn’t say hello, he just wanted my phone and I ignored all the warning signs that said “caveman asshole.” Saint needed to walk around with a warning sign on his head so all girls could run… run far away.
I took a sip of my coffee to try and calm my nerves of how mad I was but it wasn’t working. It was giving me more time to think and stew over what he had done.
“What didAssdo?” I squeaked at Maverick’s words. Holy shit, for a moment I forgot he was even here, or even listening to me. I put my coffee down and stared at him, my heart racing. Did he knowAsswas Saint or was he really interested in my crazy day? Ugh… either way, I didn’t care anymore. I was going to ask him about Saint anyway. He can figure out why he did this to me.
“Well, I got in my car. I got excited, but like, I didn’t want to text him too fast. But then I didn’t want H to think I didn’t want to text him at all, like, in case he just saw me with Sai—Ass. So, I opened up my contacts on my phone and scrolled to Huxley—”Fuck…“—I mean, I scrolled to H and he isn’t there. The whole contact is wiped from my phone.
