Crushed (4 page)

She’s waiting for me to smack her down
, he thought with a tinge of satisfaction. He wished he could do it, flatten her on the spot, but Morgan’s face floated through his mind. No matter what it cost, he had to protect his sister.

“It looks good on you.” He almost choked on the words. “Beautiful as always.”

Relief stole over her features. “Thank you.”

“No way,” Gina said, shaking her head. “I don’t believe it. This is a setup or a prank or something. No way have you been dating him without everyone in the school knowing about it.”

Kristen shrugged as she snuggled close to him, arm around his waist. She relaxed against his side and played her part to the hilt. A smug smile parted her lips. “I guess we’re better at hiding our feelings than most.”

Left without a choice, Zach draped an arm around her shoulders as if he’d done it a million times. He hated giving in to her. The arm around her showed they were together, but his hand dangled on the other side rather than touching her. It was a small display of rebellion, one he was sure no one would notice.

The crowd had grown to about a quarter of the school. Several students began to text the juicy news to their friends. Others blatantly started calling people. A few used their camera phones to take pictures of Kristen in Zach’s arms. She smiled for the photos.

Zach didn’t smile. His jaw tightened instead. There were grenades exploding inside his stomach. If he didn’t squelch his temper fast, a massive quake would turn the parking lot into a giant sinkhole that no one could explain. He took a few deep, slow breaths. His hands itched to rip the little witch’s head off. She was going to be very sorry she’d picked him to mess with.

Gina’s eyes reluctantly shifted to Zach. He recognized the fear and awe in her gaze. He’d worked hard to receive that look from his fellow Titan Warriors. She swallowed, obviously uncomfortable confronting him, but her notorious hatred for Kristen pushed her to the extreme. Last year, he’d watched this girl make problems for the little witch, and he had secretly cheered her on. They were on the same side, but he couldn’t let that show.

“When did this happen?” Gina asked. She stared straight into his eyes, demanding answers. “Why do you glare at her all the time if you’re dating? It doesn’t make any sense. Why would you date her when you only date older women? What is so special about her?”

Kristen Noah is a witch!
The words waited at the back of his throat, begging for release. He wanted to shout them at the top of his lungs. Hands clenched, he took another deep breath. It would be so easy to let go and yell the accusation, but then someone would alert the council. Witches weren’t accused that often these days. They’d become geniuses at hiding in plain sight. So, when it happened, the council demanded every detail. If he accused her of being a witch, the council would discover his secret, and Morgan would die.

Even if it cost him his sanity, he had to keep his mouth shut.

He hit Gina with a hard glare, turning his fury on her since he couldn’t blast Kristen with it. The dark-haired girl folded in an instant. He imagined she was remembering the stories about him blowing up houses and killing people. Her survival instinct won out over her hatred for Kristen.

She stormed off without another word.

Zach’s murderous stare went to the spectators. Laughter died. Smiles faded. The kids scattered like cockroaches at night when a light is turned on. Unfortunately, that left him alone with Kristen, his arm stiff around her shoulders. What now? What was he supposed to do in order to keep up the charade? How would an ‘enchanted’ boy act under these circumstances?

Kristen sighed, a wistful sound. She rested her head against his shoulder for a moment. The small token of intimacy pushed him over the edge. He couldn’t do it. There was no way in hell he was going to be nice to her.

He stepped aside, and she lost her balance, almost falling. Almost. When she looked up at him with a question in her eyes, he grabbed the jacket sleeve closest to him and gave it a vicious yank, stripping the jacket off her in one quick motion. 

She gasped.

He walked away, leaving her to stare after him while mentally giving himself a point on the invisible scoreboard in his mind. Bevian: 1. Noah: 0.

Somehow, Kristen made it to her last class, gym, without losing her temper again. Titan High kept the boys and girls separated for physical education, and the activities changed every month. Today, the boys were playing basketball while the girls ran laps in the gymnasium. They were supposed to be running on the track across the street, but it had rained last night, and the track was flooded—which was fine with Kristen. If she had to run, she’d rather do it inside.

Dressed in the school’s colors, red shorts and white shirts, Kristen and Brittany chose to walk so they could talk to each other. Brittany complained, “You weren’t supposed to crush anyone until Monday.”

“Sorry.” Kristen shrugged, and her ponytail bobbed. “Guess I got carried away.”

“Give me the 4-1-1. How’s it going with tall, dark, and scary? Have you asked him to do anything yet?”

Kristen’s eyes drifted to the boy in question, and she realized with disgust that she’d been waiting for a reason to cast her gaze in his direction. What was the matter with her? She couldn’t possibly be attracted to that hopeless, brain-dead jerk.

Zach stood off to the side of the basketball court, too cool to fight for the ball. They had split into two teams, skins against shirts. Naturally, he was on the topless team. His lean muscles glistened with perspiration.

There was a tattoo on his left arm. Kristen squinted, trying to figure out what it was without openly staring at him for more than five seconds. The tattoo had been put on with black ink, no color, and it seemed to have fluid curves like a long sentence written in cursive. It totally wrapped around his upper arm. She frowned, a bit disappointed; she’d expected him to have a dagger or dragon or some other wicked picture.

He called out to one of his teammates, demanding the ball. The boy turned and threw it to Zach without hesitation. No one from the other team tried to block him. Two of the players were supposed to be covering Zach, but they gave him a wide berth, obvious fear in their eyes.

A born athlete, Zach caught the ball with ease, bounced it once, and threw it hard. His teammates watched it sail over their heads and sink into the basket. A few of them smiled and gave each other high fives as if they’d had something to do with the two points.

“Good job,” the boys’ coach yelled encouragement from the sidelines.

Brittany repeated, “Have you asked him to do anything?”

Feeling smug, Kristen smiled as she gave her answer. “I got him to give me his precious leather jacket.”

“No way.” Brittany gaped at her for a moment. Then her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “So where is it?”

“Shut up.”

“You are such a liar.” Brittany said with a snicker.

“Am not. He gave it to me at lunchtime,” Kristen explained, “and half the school saw him do it. You can ask around if you don’t believe me. But after everyone walked away, he sort of took it back.”

“You can always order him to take me out this Saturday night. There’s a party I want to go to, and it would be super cool if he went with me.”

“In your dreams.”

Brittany formed an
L
for “loser” on her forehead. “Whatever. You probably couldn’t make him do it, anyway. You are weak, and you’re pushing him too hard. If you keep it up, you’ll break the spell before the semester ends. You are so going to lose this year.”

“If I were you, I’d be more worried about who you have to crush. I haven’t told you who your mark is yet.”

Cyndi ran past them. Making a sharp U-turn, she jogged in a circle around them and said, “You’re supposed to be running, not walking.”

“Teacher’s pet.” Brittany rolled her eyes in mock disgust. “Teacher’s pet.”

“What are you two talking about?” Cyndi asked, running backwards so she could face them while they talked to her.

“Kristen was just about to tell me who she wants me to crush this year. It’s for our side bet, you know.”

Cyndi nodded.

“Bobby Heckler,” Kristen said with a neutral expression, even though she knew she’d just dropped a massive bomb.

Cyndi gasped.

Brittany’s mouth tightened.

Bobby Heckler had publicly humiliated Brittany their sophomore year by dumping her at a crowded beach party. Since then, she’d gotten revenge by hitting him with several bad-luck spells. He was the last person Brittany would want following her around. Hopefully, their past relationship would make it difficult, if not impossible, for Brittany to give him orders, and Kristen would win.

Spinning around on one foot, Cyndi raced away from them.

Smart girl
. Kristen stiffened, preparing for her sister’s wrath. There was no way Brittany was going to be a good sport and let it go. She was going to want vengeance, immediate vengeance.

“Bitch!” Brittany shoved Kristen hard.

Kristen flew backwards, and her feet slipped on the shiny, wood floor. Any second that floor would rise up to smack her. It happened too fast for her to use a spell to cushion her fall. One second she was standing, and the next, she was flying through the air. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for impact.

It didn’t happen.

Instead, two strong arms caught her. She opened her eyes to find Zach Bevian glaring down at her. He had saved her from a nasty fall and possible injury. He had caught her on her way to the floor, so she was leaning backwards like a dancer being dipped by her partner. She stared up into his eyes, afraid to blink or move or speak and risk destroying the moment.

Slowly, the contempt drained from his gaze, and his features softened. His teeth raked over his bottom lip. Everything around them seemed to dissolve into nothing until they were the only two people left in the gym.

She stared at his mouth and wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Trying hard to figure out what she should do next, she searched for something intelligent to say.

A piercing whistle blew apart the romantic illusion.

A flash of hatred crossed Zach’s face half a second before he pulled her up and shoved her away from himself as if he were afraid he’d get a disease from touching her. He started to walk away, but she grabbed him by the wrist. No one looked at her like she was scum and got away with it.

Maybe a little public humiliation would knock him off his invisible throne. Plus, she was starting to get a bad feeling about him, like maybe the spell hadn’t worked after all. Maybe the spell had been broken by his strong will and her outrageous demand for his leather jacket. “Pat your head and rub your stomach.”

“What?” He blinked at her.

“Pat your head and rub your stomach while hopping on one foot. Do it now.”

For a second she thought he might actually take a swing at her. His eyes glazed over with violent hostility. One of his feet left the ground by slow inches, and he began to hop while rubbing his stomach with one hand and patting the top of his head with the other. There was no way Zach Bevian would do something like that in public unless he were hopelessly enchanted. Her fears faded.

Students stared at Zach, eyebrows raised, but no one dared to laugh.

Changing the order to a nicer one, she said, “I want to see you play basketball.”

He put his foot and arms down. “What?”

“You heard me.” Had the spell made him deaf? She leaned close and whispered the demands while twirling the end of her ponytail. Having Zach under her spell was kind of fun. Besides, she wanted Brittany to see how much power she had over Zach. She wanted Brittany to know she was going to lose this year—again. “I want you to go out there and play. Play hard. Get the ball and make basket after basket. Do it for me.”

Resentment filled Zach’s eyes again. His spine straightened, and he scowled at her until she thought she’d taken it too far. Maybe she should have quit while she was ahead. She had a whole year to build up her power through successfully completed tasks. There was no sense in breaking the spell on the first day just to show off in front of her sister.

Zach turned away. He went straight into the middle of the playing boys, stole the ball from the rival team, and made a basket with ease. The other students gaped at him but didn’t say a word. The coach encouraged him to do it again, beaming as if silently taking credit for Zach’s natural ability.

“Noah!” the girls’ coach shouted. “The boys aren’t here to entertain you. Move your butt!”

With a smile firmly in place, Kristen joined the other girls on their tenth lap. She weaved around a few until she reached Cyndi. The two of them ran together. Brittany had ducked out without anyone noticing, including Kristen. It was only the first day, and she was already up to her old tricks.

Deep in thought, Kristen didn’t hear the shouts to look out. The basketball blasted by her face, an inch from her nose. It almost took off her head. Stopping cold, she looked around to see who’d thrown the ball. It was impossible to tell because several boys were standing around, staring in her direction, including Zach. Hands on hips, he glared at her.

Could he have thrown the ball at her?

No way. Boys under the Crushed spell would rather die than hurt the witch who’d brewed the potion. On the other hand, he had that look of pure hatred in his eyes again. She had a sinking feeling that Zach Bevian was going to be harder to control than she’d thought, and Brittany was right about one thing. If she pushed him too far, she’d break the spell.

###

Zach was relieved beyond measure when class ended. Kristen Noah had been asking for it, taunting him with stupid demands. He’d wanted to burn her on the spot. Fortunately, he had learned to control his temper long ago. But how much more could he possibly take? It was only the first day, and she’d already ordered him to pull a humiliating stunt.

As fast as he could, he changed into his street clothes before ducking out of the boys’ locker room. He was eager to get home to Morgan. Although she seemed to be improving on a daily basis, he didn’t like leaving her alone. He stepped into the hallway and got another nasty surprise.

Kristen Noah was waiting for him. Leaning against the wall outside the girls’ locker room, her eyes were glued to the boys’ door as he walked out. Hoping she would leave him alone, he began to move fast in the opposite direction, but she raced to catch up with him. Her hand latched on to his arm, and she jerked him to an abrupt halt.

“I need a ride home,” she said.

He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans and stared at her. The girl had no shame. If he didn’t hate her so much, he might actually like her. “Don’t you have a car that you share with your sisters?”

“Britt took it. She’s pissed off at me right now, and…” Clamping her lips shut, Kristen glared up at him for a moment. Then she said, “Why am I explaining myself to
you
? Just give me a ride home.”

Another order. Zach glanced around the empty hallway. If they’d had an audience, he would have accused her on the spot. Morgan’s face popped into his mind, reminding him of his duty to her. He couldn’t expose Kristen no matter how bitchy she got. He wasn’t going to risk his sister’s life. Until he could come up with a sensible way out of this mess, he would have to play along.

“Follow me,” he mumbled.

Zach led the way through the double-glass doors and across the parking lot. When they neared his motorcycle, he gestured to it for Kristen’s benefit. She eyed his baby with distaste. The fearful expression on her face brought a grin to his. Maybe he wouldn’t have to give her a ride home after all. He handed her the helmet before swinging a leg over the seat to the other side.

“Wait a second.” She stared daggers at Zach. “I thought you had a car. I’m sure I’ve seen you driving a black sports car.”

“It’s a nice day, so I decided to ride the bike instead. Hop on.”

“No way am I getting on that thing.” She put a hand on her hip and gave his baby another dirty look. “I’d rather not die today.”

He grabbed the handlebars and prepared to start the engine. “I guess you’re walking, then.”

She glanced around the parking lot as if searching for someone else she could bum a ride from. Zach didn’t know why, but he suddenly wanted her to get on the bike. He wanted to drive her home. Maybe it was because he wanted to scare the crap out of her so she’d remove the spell and never speak to him again.