Shadows

Chapter 13

When Bethany entered English class on Monday, she was one step away from full-on girl freak-out mode, especially when her eyes went straight to the desk behind her and latched onto Dawson.

Last night, he’d called and told her he’d explained everything to Daemon. Though he’d claimed everything went fine, the strain in his voice said otherwise.

Taking her seat, she dropped her bag onto the floor and dared a look at him. “Hey.”

He nodded in return, his gaze moving all around her. “Everything is going to be okay.”

And that made her more nervous. As it turned out, she had good reason. When Daemon stalked into the classroom, the look on his face promised all kinds of bad things. Bethany shrank back as her eyes met Daemon’s. It felt like being smacked by an icy wind.

Dawson leaned forward, wrapping his fingers around her arm. “Ignore him,” he whispered. “He’s fine.”

If “fine” were sporting a serial-killer glare, then she’d hate to see what “not fine” was. She dared another quick look over Dawson’s shoulder.

Daemon’s lips slipped into a one-sided smile that lacked humor or affection.

Swallowing against the sudden tightening in her throat, she spoke lowly. “Okay. He’s scaring me.”

Dawson rubbed her arm. “All bark, no bite.”

“That’s your opinion,” Daemon replied.

Bethany stiffened as her eyes widened. The bell rang and she swung toward the front of the class. Oh, this was going to be a long period. The back of her neck burned from the glare Dawson couldn’t block.

She felt Dawson’s fingers on her back, and she relaxed. Class discussion centered on the themes in Pride and Prejudice. Love was the main topic.

“What can you learn about love from Pride and Prejudice?” Mr. Patterson asked, sitting on the edge of the desk. “Lesa?”

“Besides the fact courtships took forever back in the day?” Tossing thick curls off her shoulders, she shrugged. “I guess love is only possible if it’s not influenced by society.”

“But Charlotte married for money,” Kimmy reasoned, as if that were something to be proud of.

“Yeah, but Mr. Collins was an idiot,” Lesa said.

“A rich idiot,” someone else said.

Lesa rolled her eyes. “But that’s not love — marrying someone for money.”

“All good points,” Mr. Patterson said, smiling. “Do you think Austen was being a realist or cynical in nature when it came to the theme of love?”

And then Daemon’s deep, smooth voice said, “I think she was pointing out that sometimes making decisions based on the heart is stupid.”

Bethany closed her eyes.

“Or she is showing that making decisions based on anything else ends badly,” Dawson replied, voice even. “That true love can conquer anything.”

Her heart sped up as she glanced over her shoulder, meeting Dawson’s gaze. He smiled, and she turned to mush.

“True love?” Daemon scoffed. “The entire concept of true love is stupid.”

The class erupted in a debate that went way off topic, but Bethany and Dawson were still staring at each other. True love? Was that what this was? Before meeting Dawson, she would’ve been on board with Daemon’s thinking. Now she believed in the gooey stuff.

Dawson’s eyes deepened, turning a mosaic of greens.

Oh, yeah, bring on the gooey stuff.

When class ended, Dawson waited for her to gather up her stuff and then offered his hand. “Ready?”

Aware of all the eyes on them, she nodded.

Daemon stomped past them, bumping into his brother’s shoulder. “You make my head hurt,” he said, scowling.

“And you make me all warm and fuzzy inside,” Dawson replied, threading his fingers through hers.

His twin glanced at Beth. “Be very careful, little girl.” And then he was out the door.

Beth’s mouth dropped open. “Whoa.”

“Believe it or not, that’s a toned-down version of Daemon.” He led her through the door. Out in the hallway, he squeezed her hand as he whispered. “We have to tell the rest…the rest of us who live outside the, well, you know.”

Fear tripped up her heart. “Are they going to be okay with it?”

“Daemon will make sure they are.”

“Really?” she asked, shaking her head. “He didn’t look very supportive.”

He reassured her, but she wasn’t buying it.

As they neared the stairwell, one of the blond twins came out of the double doors and looked at them. Evil alien twin or good twin? His golden-colored skin paled, and as he continued staring at them, he tripped over his own feet.

“Did he, uh, see my trace?” she whispered.

Dawson nodded. “You may get some…odd looks throughout the day. Just pretend like you have no clue why.”

Get some odd looks? Dawson hadn’t been kidding. A teacher in the hall during class change gaped at her. One of the administrative support ladies gasped. And during gym, the coach looked like he was a second away from a stroke.

She was surrounded by aliens.

Or she was becoming paranoid, because when Carissa waved at her with the paddle, she was half afraid the girl was going to chuck it at her head.

A ping-pong ball whizzed past her. Kimmy turned around. “I’m not getting it.”

“Of course not,” Bethany muttered.

While rooting around for her MIA ball, she heard the sounds of hushed whispering. Looking up, she squinted through the tiny cracks in the bleachers. She made out two forms — Dawson and the asshole Andrew.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Andrew demanded, leaning into Dawson’s face.

“It’s none of your business.”

Andrew laughed harshly. “Oh, yeah, are you really going to go there? Explain to me how this doesn’t have something to do with me or the rest of us.”

“I don’t owe you an explanation.”

Andrew looked dumbfounded. “You need to stay away from that human. She’s not good for you, for any of us.”

Resisting the urge to bum-rush Andrew and defend herself, she backed away from the bleachers. Wait. Screw this. Obviously all the little Luxen running around knew about her. She wasn’t going to let Dawson deal with this by himself.

A ping-pong ball smacked off the back of her head before she took another step forward. Whipping around, she rubbed her skull. “Ouch!”

Kimmy cocked her head to the side. “I’ve been calling your name for the last two minutes. God. Did you zone out or are you just that much of an idiot?”

A red-hot feeling slipped through her veins, a combination of the overheard conversation and Kimmy’s pure bitchiness. She picked up the ball and launched it back. The little round piece of plastic was like a heat-seeking tomahawk, finding Kimmy’s cheek. A very satisfying thud later, Bethany stalked past a twitching Kimmy.

“I can’t believe you threw that at my—”

“My paddle is next,” Bethany warned, flipping the paddle in her hand.

Carissa giggled from her partnerless table. “That was hilarious.”

Kimmy turned on the girl, about to pull a Linda Blair, no doubt. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Um.” Carissa pushed up her glasses. “I think so.”

“Oh, you just—”

Coach Anderson decided to interrupt then. “All right, ladies, eyes on the table — on the game.”

Beth squeezed the paddle and took a deep breath. Coach must’ve realized then that Carissa was all alone and headed toward her just as Dawson and Andrew reappeared, looking like they were two seconds from throwing down in the middle of the gym.

“Unless there’s a table behind those bleachers, I’m curious as to what you two were doing back there,” Coach said. “Get back to your assigned tables now.”

Kimmy smirked.

Dawson went to his side of the table, picking up his paddle. “You ready?” he asked Carissa.

She nodded, reaching for the ball, but Andrew’s hand swiped across the table, snatching it up. “Here,” he said, smiling. “Let me give it to you.”

Bethany had a real bad feeling about this.

A slow, cold smile crept across Dawson’s face, and she suddenly saw his twin in that expression. It was eerie. “Yeah, you do that.”

Andrew cocked back his arm so fast, it was a blur to Beth. He let loose and that little ball had to have broken the sound barrier. Good God, it zinged across the table like a bullet.

Without taking his eyes off the blond, Dawson snapped up his hand and caught the ball. There was a loud thud that made Bethany wince, but he didn’t flinch. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Christ on a crutch,” Carissa murmured.

Dawson grinned as he raised his arms and folded his hands behind his back. The shirt he wore rode up, exposing a flash of taut stomach muscles. Wow. No doubt he had a six-pack in kindergarten. He seemed oblivious to the fact that all three girls were staring at him.

To say the rest of the class was awkward was a massive understatement. After changing, she punched open the door and saw Dawson waiting for her.

His brows knitted. “You doing okay over there?”

“I think I should be asking you that question.”

He took her hand, pulling her to him. Bethany pressed her cheek against his chest. “It hasn’t been bad. I’ve gotten to see you.”

She smiled and lifted her chin. Their gazes locked. Heat flooded through her. “You always say the right things. A really good skill to have.”

His nose brushed along hers. “Only with you.”

A knot formed in her throat at the same moment a whole truckload of butterflies took flight in her stomach. “See. There you go again.”

“Hmm,” he murmured, wrapping his arm around her waist. Never before had she been big on PDA in the halls. Usually she rolled her eyes and made some kind of internal snarky comment whenever she saw it, but she was discovering that she liked being that girl with Dawson.

“Can I come over after school?” he asked.

“I was hoping you’d want to.”

“I’ll stop by after supper, okay?” He kissed her cheek and pulled back. Taking her hand, he walked her out to the parking lot. At her car, he lifted her hand and pressed his lips against her palm. “I have a feeling there’s going to be a meeting of the minds when I get home, so I might be a little late.”

She winced. “I wish I could be there with you. It’s not right that you have to defend yourself and me all alone.”

Tenderness filled his brilliant green gaze. “I’ve got it covered.”

“But—”

Dawson kissed her palm again, and the sweet gesture simply floored her. “Don’t worry about them. I don’t want you to worry at all.” He let go of her hand and started backing up. “I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

“I’ll be waiting.”