Page 77 of Made of Steel (Made of Steel 1)

Eli and Patrick looked awkwardly back and forth between us.

I was not going to say the line Kins wanted me to say. I refused. We had already discussed this. All we had to do was stick with the food thing.

Kins cleared her throat. "Our periods have synced up and we've been in a mood all day."

"Sorry, babe," Patrick said. "Do you want us to get you anything while we're out?"

"No, I just need to lie down for a few minutes. We both do."

I couldn't even look up at Eli. I was mortified. Maybe Kins was fine talking about her menstrual cycle in front of Patrick, but I was not there yet with Eli.

"Yeah, we can go get the food," Patrick said. "We'll be back in a few minutes."

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Eli whispered to me. "Doesn't walking help with, you know...cramps and stuff?"

Besides for the fact that what he was saying was extremely awkward, it was also suspicious. Why didn't he want me to be alone in his room? "I was really just hoping to lie down for a bit." I tried to sound as innocent as possible. I even batted my eyelashes at him, even though acting sexy was out of the question since Kins had just said we were both on our periods.

"Okay," Eli said. Patrick was already by the door, but Eli didn't seem eager to follow him. "We'll be back as soon as we can." He glanced at his computer and then seemed to look over my shoulder at something.

"Dude, let's go," Patrick said.

He hesitantly let go of my waist. "I'll give you the full tour once I get back."

All I heard was, "Don't go through my stuff." I held my breath until the door was closed behind them.

"Geez, I thought they'd never leave," Kins said. She was sprawled out on Patrick's bed, already rummaging through his nightstand.

"I thought we had agreed to not lie about being on our periods?"

"No, you tried to tell me it was a bad idea, but obviously I was right that it was a fabulous idea." She gestured around the empty room. "Now what are we looking for exactly? It was a little weird that he didn't want to leave you alone in here with me, right?"

I bit the inside of my lip. "A little."

"Maybe he was just worried you'd bleed all over his stuff." She laughed.

Blood. I tried to push the image of the slippers out of my mind. "Ugh. You're being disgusting." I pulled out the top drawer of his bureau. It was filled with boxers. I felt weird lifting them up to see if there was anything underneath of them. "We're looking for anything that proves he isn't who he says he is."

Kins laughed. "He's definitely who he says he is. He's just hiding the fact that he's a super hot superhero behind all those button-up shirts he wears. Don't you think if it was him you'd be able to tell, though?"

I pulled out the second drawer. I didn't have time to talk right now. I needed to find proof that I could trust Eli. I needed him to be who he said he was. Nothing interesting in the second or third drawers. I opened up the bottom one.

"I mean, you've kissed both of them. The girls in those superhero movies always seem so dumb."

"He wears a mask on his face. The hood covers his eyes. All you can really see is his lips." His perfectly kissable lips.

"Right. So does he kiss like Eli?"

"No, not really. It's more...raw than that."

Kins whistled. "You found a bad boy. God, I'm so jealous."

I froze when I found a dark blue hoodie at the bottom of the drawer. I lifted it up. "The vigilante wears a hoodie like this."

Kins slid off the bed and crouched down next to me. "It's a really common hoodie. You can get it at any sporting goods store. I've seen tons of people around campus wearing that."

It reminded me of the fact that I was wearing clothes right now that Mr. Crawford had picked out specifically for me to blend in. Why the hell wasn't he calling me back when he went to such meticulous planning to make me blend in? "Right." After checking the pockets, I folded it and put it back in the drawer where I had found it. "There must be something else."

"I'll look under his bed."

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