Page 9 of The Hallows Boys

I press my lips together in embarrassment, raking my gaze down his body once more as I try to understand the words coming from his mouth. He’s slim, tattoos peek out from under his sleeves and the collar of his t-shirt, and the chain around his throat is thick and heavy. He doesn’tlookthe part; he looks like trouble and devilry. When our eyes lock once more, he shows me his teeth in a smile so sinister that chills run from my head to my toes. He’s dripping swagger, confidence and arrogance, giving mebad boyvibes that make my muscles clench. I want to peel his skin back and see what lives there, see if he’s just as cocky underneath it all.

He holds a hand out toward me. “Nice to meet you…?”

I blow the air from my lungs as I put my hand in his. “Sage.”

He smirks and drops my hand after a breath.“Sage.”

* * *

Igrit my teeth so hard they might shatter as he pushes the door to the office open, holding it so I can pass by him out into the sunshine. I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m uncomfortable right now. I’m tingling all over with lust and curiosity for this guy.

Noticing he isn’t following behind me, I turn around to ask him where to go, but his eyes are on my ass and his phone is in his hand. He smirks as he slides his phone into his pocket and looks over my head at something. Thinking someone is walking up behind me, I turn around but find no one in particular. There’re students all over the place, and he could have been looking at any one of them.

Questions burn in everyone’s eyes when I take a second to glance at some of their faces, most of them looking at Kaiden and I. I turn back again to see if he’s still looking beyond me, but his gaze has fallen back onto me. I clear my throat, looking up at him with a smile and moving from foot to foot a bit awkwardly. “Where to?”

He finally takes a step out of the shadow of the building, into the sun, and starts leading the way for me.

“Let’s start with academics,” he says, his voice thick like he needs to swallow through a lump or clear his throat.

I keep my mouth pressed closed, unsure if I can trust my own mouth to keep the inappropriate words that are swimming around my brain from popping out. My heels clip along the sidewalk as he guides me to the academics building, and when he pulls the door open, he finally speaks again.

“Where are you from?”

His question catches me off guard, but I walk through the door and answer him when he’s done the same. “California.”

“Why’d you move here?”

I turn to look at him. “I came to live with my grandmother.”

His gaze catches mine. “Why?”

I run a hand through my hair, unsure of what I should say. I search his eyes for answers to questions I didn’t know I had, feeling scared but somewhat safe enough to open up a crack. “My parents died.”

The wound opens a little more, making heat wash over me. He doesn’t respond though, just continues to walk down the hallway before he begins to point out some of the different departments in the building.

We cover everything from social studies to mathematics and then we’re walking through another set of double doors into the arts building.

“How old are you?” he asks as we’re passing the music department.

“I’m seventeen.”

We come to a wall covered from floor to ceiling with different types of artwork; posters for the school play, auditions for music performances, paintings, and drawings. A smile tugs up my lips – this is more my speed.

“You into the arts, Sage?”

I nod, finding his gaze glued to me when I look at him. “Somewhat.”

He points out all the different departments again, just like in the academics building, and I walk next to him in silence, observing the way his muscular arms flex every time he points to something.

When he holds the door open for me at the end of the hall to exit, I hold my breath as I pass by him to go back outside.A gentleman, Kaiden Thorne.

I feel a little more comfortable now, so I let myself speak first this time. “What’s next?”

He grins like a little boy. “Sports.”

I can tell he feels passionately about it with the way the word falls from his tongue, and I find myself smiling back at him involuntarily.

“Do you play any sports, Sage?”

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