CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) (19 page)

***

Kade stood on the school’s front steps in the frigid cold, waiting for Jake, hands stuffed into her coat pockets.

He skipped down from the top step and put an arm around her shoulders. "Hey." Red blooms formed across his cheeks. "Ready?"

"Yeah. Um...my car's here." She pointed toward the dirt lot in the back of campus and noticed a large black bird perched in one of the barren pines lining the parking lot.

A falcon.

She forgot what she was saying and her arm dropped to her side.

“Kade? You all right?”

"Sorry. Yeah. Should I ride with you, or?” she asked in a voice that didn't sound like her own. Unbidden, her eyes shifted toward the tree again, but saw nothing.

"That's probably easier. I'll just bring you back to get your car." Jake led the way down the steps.

"So, where are we going?" Kade followed. Glancing around the parking lot, she hoped to spot Lindsey's car. Instead, her gaze fell on a black Jeep. Cole leaned against it, ankles crossed, arms over his chest, light eyes staring toward her. Their gazes locked, and she couldn't be sure, but it seemed like his jaw clenched.

Jake opened the car door to a dark blue Mustang, and Cole's gaze morphed into a glare. Kade slid into the passenger's seat.

"Thought we could go get some coffee? Hot chocolate? Break this chill." Jake grinned with an arc of his eyebrow and ran to the driver's side. Kade had to smile. He really did seem like a nice guy, regardless of his jerk friend.

“Thanks for asking me to hang out. I don't really know anyone besides Giselle and Lindsey yet,” she said, as he cranked the engine and the car rumbled to life. Jake backed out.

"Sure thing. I know how hard it is to be the new kid in school.” Jake shifted the Mustang into first gear and slowly moved forward in the line waiting to pull away from campus. "Been there."

"Yeah?" She rubbed her hands together, still freezing, wondering if she'd ever be warm again.

He turned the heat up and directed one of the vents toward her face.

"Thanks."

"Yep." He pulled out onto the main road. "So, yeah, I moved here a couple years ago. It sucked for a while. Not knowing anyone. But then I met Alex and Kyle. It got easier."

"Which one is Kyle again?"

"He's the one with really dark hark. Big guy.”

"Oh, right." The asshole-bully from the hallway. Good to know.
"I wasn't sure who was who."

"Kyle can be kind of intense sometimes. He's a good guy,
though."

Sure he is
. Kade thought of mentioning what the jerk said to her in the hallway, but she didn't know Jake well enough.

"But Alex is my boy. We've been tight since I moved here."

Regardless of his friends, there was an odd sense of comfort being around Jake.

"So what about you?" he asked. "Miss Utah?"

"Sometimes. I don't know if I'd call Utah home. I probably lived
there the longest."
Not really, but whatever.
"Boulder's fine. The
mountains are the same here."

After a few awkward moments of silence, they pulled into a parking spot downtown on Pearl Street. The outdoor mall was lined with flower boxes covered in snow and tons of little shops. Jake directed Kade toward a cafe that read,
The Brew
, in white neon. Kids she recognized from school were crammed into the small space. The chalkboard menu had about a hundred different coffees, teas, and
hot chocolates. Dark chocolate, white chocolate, mint chocolate. Even cherry chocolate. Yuck. Kade ordered a dark chocolate mocha, and Jake got plain coffee. They squeezed into a corner near the front
window.

Jake talked about living in Arizona, where he was from, and how much he liked snowboarding. "No one really does that around here, though. Well, they do, just none of the people I hang around with."

"No?" That seemed a little weird. To live in the mountains, some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, and never ski or snowboard. Not that Kade was an expert. "What do your friends
do?"

Jake glanced out the window. "Other stuff.” Eyes narrowing, his shoulders squared.

The front door of the coffee shop opened with a high pitched ding. Jake’s stare fixed toward the door, and Kade turned around. Cole walked into the coffee shop.

A girl with white-blond hair had her arms wrapped around his waist and they ambled inside and got in line.
He has a girlfriend?
The idea had never even crossed her mind. The girl's hand slowly edged underneath the hem of Cole's jacket, and onto the hard planes of his stomach. Kade's pulse went into overdrive and she suddenly wanted to hurl.

"How do you know Cole?" Jake snapped her out of shock.

"I don't." She tore her gaze away, heart hammering, hands sweaty. "I mean,” she couldn’t catch her breath, “we just met." For some reason that sounded
wrong
. "Why do you hate him?"

Jake gave a tight lipped grin. "Long history."

"How long could it be if you just moved here two years ago? Sorry, none of my business.” She bit back her next question.
What were you fighting with him about on Saturday night?
Jake's face looked
better, less red and more skin color, but the scratches were still
visible. She wondered if Jake and Cole were part of the gangs her dad had mentioned a few days before. If so, her not too close friendship with both of them would be over faster than it started.
She was used to that happening, though.

"It's okay,” Jake said. “I knew Cole before I moved to Boulder. Never liked him. Still don't." Unease coursed off his body like a snake uncoiling. He tipped his coffee cup up, draining the contents. "Ready? It's kind of stuffy in here."

"Sure."

Reaching for her hand, Jake weaved through them crowd
toward the exit.

Cole's gaze caught Kade’s as they passed and shifted down her arm to her hand, held in Jake's. His jaw tightened and a mask fell over his expression like a veil.

"Why were you looking at
her
?" The girl Cole was with directed his attention away, holding his jaw with her hand.

Her?
God, Kade hated being the new girl.

***

Daylight was fading as they left the coffee shop and made their way through the outdoor mall. The mountains loomed in the distance, white snow caps glistening under gray cloud cover.

"So, thanks for the coffee." Kade retied her scarf.

"Sure. Maybe we could do it again sometime?" Jake stopped beside his car.

"Yeah, maybe."

The loud grumble of a revving engine shifted Kade's attention toward a 4x4 truck parking in the space beside them. Jake grinned as the big guy who'd confronted Kade in the hallway stepped out of the driver's side. Kyle. Rolling her eyes, Kade groaned under her breath. Jake's other friend exited the passenger's side.
Great.

"What's up, Alex?" Jake held out his fist, and Alex tapped it with his own.

So, Alex was the good looking one with brown hair and blue eyes—the one with the severe burn down his neck, Kade thought.

"Not much. Hey, Kade," Alex said.

She gave a small smile, surprised he acknowledged her.

The thug, Kyle, hit the keyless alarm, his dark eyes directed toward Kade. "Glad to see the new girl knows how to listen."

"What was that?" Jake's smile vanished.

"Getting coffee?" Kade asked, cutting Jake off, as she eyed Kyle. "Or are you here to see the urgent care doctor? I noticed a 24-hour one around the corner." She glanced at his taped up hand, his black, swollen eye, and toward Alex, who truly did look like he could desperately use some salve for that disgusting burn on his neck, not to mention all the tiny cuts dotting his face. "Because it looks like you got your ass beat.” Energy swelled inside of her. “Who should I thank for that?"

“Kade—“Jake’s brows cinched. She could've easily thrown his roughed up face into the mix, but decided against it. He'd only been nice to her so far.

"Watch your mouth, new girl." Kyle overshot Jake's words. "It's going to get you into more trouble than you can handle."

"You have no idea what I can handle." The edge of her jaw twitched underneath her skin, and her rising anger egged her on, pushing her to yield to its will and turn her into the
thing
she truly was. Not a human girl staring a bully in the face, but the monster that lurked inside of her. Waiting to lash out and expose her.

Jake shifted in front of Kade. "You don’t want to go there, Kyle." His tone was deadly. "She was just joking. Weren't you, Kade?"

A snicker caught her attention before she could say, “hell no,” and Cole strolled down the sidewalk. The girl from the coffee shop was snuggled against him.

"Really, Kyle, Sparrow was just pointing out the obvious," Cole chuckled. "Wish I could tell her she could thank
me
." He grinned, a devilish smile that made her face heat. "But she'll have to thank Danny for handing you your ass."

"You bitch." Kyle's hand shot forward. Kade swayed to the left.
One of his fingernails grazed her cheek, and before she registered that he'd cut her, the windows of his truck shattered. One by one with deafening blasts. Kade blocked her face from flying glass; something black blurred in her periphery, and Cole was beside her. His hand wrapped around Kyle's throat and he lifted him off the ground, and slammed his massive body against the side of Jake's
Mustang.

"I swear to the gods and all that is celestial," Cole growled, an inhuman sound, inches from Kyle's face, his light eyes darkened to black. "Track me if you think you can take me—we both know you can’t—but if you ever,
ever,
touch, talk to, or even get near Kadence again, it will be the last thing you do."

Kade's jaw hit the ground.

Cole released his grip, one finger at a time, and Kyle dropped to his knees on the concrete, gasping. Cole eyed Jake. "Don't give me any more shit about this if you can't handle your own. Ward rules or not, I will not yield to
any of you
in this situation." His gaze shifted to Kade and back. "Understand?"

Ward rules?

Jake glared, but gave a curt nod.

Kade stood in utter shock as Cole’s gaze shifted back to her. He grinned. He actually
smiled
. "Try not to start anything else, Sparrow. I can't be everywhere all the time." He turned back toward the
sidewalk.

Wait...what? What just happened?

"What the hell?" Kyle rubbed his neck. "You're just going to let him walk off?"

Jake opened the car door for Kade without a word, and she slid inside. Alex climbed in the backseat behind Jake, and they backed
out, leaving Kyle sitting in the parking lot surrounded by broken glass.

Holy crap,
Kade thought.
I moved to a town full of gangs.

"YOU DID
WHAT
?"
Danny stood in the Brotherhood's driveway, open mouthed.

Cole rolled his eyes and continued washing his Jeep. Freezing or not, he wasn't down with it being covered in mountain dust. "What'd you expect me to do?" He rinsed the driver's door with the hose.

"I..." Danny shook his head. "Jesus. Going to Kadence's house was bad enough. Then breaking the Doctrine. Now this? I
knew
I should have just wrestled your ass to the ground instead of letting you go over there. None of this would be an issue if I had."

"Like you could have wrestled me to the ground." Cole smirked. "And I don't think we want to discuss what might have happened if I hadn't gone over there again."

"This is bad, dude. This is so bad. The Ward will find out. Kyle will make sure of it."

"I'm not worried about Kyle telling them." Cole yanked on the
hose, and it popped Danny in the leg. He smiled and directed the water toward the tailgate. "Jake and Alex left him lying in the parking lot. Did I tell you that?"

Danny's eyebrows hit his hairline.

"No? Well, they did." He dragged the hose back to the common house and turned it off. "If Kyle says anything, Jake will argue against him. That's a promise. Kyle tried to slap Kadence.
Slap her
." Cole tried not to picture Kyle's meaty fingers touching her face again. He still hadn't talked himself out of driving to the Kinship and beating the living shit out of him.

"As much as I hate Jake, he'll never let Kyle get away with what he did." Cole winded the hose up. "Jake would've done the same thing I did if I'd given him the chance. I just got to Kade faster than
he did."

"That's what I don't get." Danny helped dry the Jeep. "You said Jake was standing in front of her? How'd you get there before he
did?"

"I'm just that much of a badass."

Danny mumbled something about asses. "It doesn't make sense."

He was right. It hadn't made sense. Jake was beside Kade and he hadn't reacted as fast as Cole had. Truthfully, he wasn't sure if Jake had reacted
at all
, which made the least amount of sense. "It's done. Kade's okay, and that's all I'm worried abo—" His hand stilled on the spot he was drying, as he realized what he was about to say.

Shit.

Danny dropped his towel in the wet driveway and stared like Cole was a complete stranger.

"That's not what I meant—"

"Yeah, it's exactly what you meant." Danny's green eyes darkened.

"Dan—"

"Don't even." He rested his hands on top of his head, eyes
directed
toward the cloudy sky. "Oh, my god, Cole. You can't,
can't
, get involved with Kadence." He dragged a hand through his dark hair.
"They'll
throw you out of the Ward. You know that, right? I mean...you
seriously
understand that. Right?"

"I'm not getting involved with her." Cole picked up the wet towel Danny had dropped and threw it toward the front steps.